The question of the process of developing national or local forms of Islam is often approached through the lens of the domestication of Islam and by emphasising the role of the state or Muslim officials close to the state in this process. In my analysis of the process, undertaken by certain Tatar Muslim representatives in Russia, of developing what I call a localised Islamic orthodoxy, I aim to study shifts in the debate on ‘traditional Islam’ towards a more theological understanding of the term. I examine attempts to develop a local interpretation of Islam that, while based on universal religious fundaments, is not in opposition to Tatar national traditions and a secular modern lifestyle. The representation of an ‘orthodox traditional Islam’ is necessarily paradoxical to the extent that a localised orthodoxy claims to be timeless, ‘natural’ and established but still needs to be defined, learned and taught following decades of Soviet atheist policies. Furthermore, this representation relies on the projection of orthodoxy onto the past in a process in which certain elements of a complex Tatar Muslim identity are made visible and emphasised (in particular, the Hanafi tradition), while others are obscured. By referring to the literature on orthodoxy in the anthropology and sociology of Islam and in Islamic studies, I aim to examine the theological dimension of the process of defining a local Islam that is currently being pursued by certain Tatar Muslim representatives in Russia.
The article aims at analysing the transfer of anti-corruption norms and standards as well as the instrumental use of anti-corruption efforts in Georgia. Drawing on the literature on anthropology and development, I use Georgia as a case study to analyse how an anti-corruption discourse is translated into local agendas. In the first part, I analyse three different perspectives on the fight against corruption in Georgia. In the second part, I examine three different types of anti-corruption interventions to illustrate the various agendas pursued by actors in the anti-corruption field. First, I study the implementation of the national anti-corruption strategy as an example of a conflict between two actors (government and international organisation) to assert the pre-eminence of a particular anti-corruption expertise. Second, I examine the reform of the Chamber of Control of Georgia (CCG), in particular the confrontation between the CCG and the Ministry of Education (MoE) in 2007, as an example of how an external anti-corruption agenda is adapted to local political struggles. Third, I analyse civil society anti-corruption projects as examples of the attempt to maintain a particular donor discourse.
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