Emancipating ethics: an autonomist reading of Islamic forms of life in Russia

Abstract

This article advances a framework aimed at capturing the political life of ethical intensity by putting autonomist theory in resonance with ethnographic material pertaining to quietist Muslim milieus in post‐Soviet Russia. The emancipatory and prefigurative potential of collective projects of self‐legislation – in this case, ‘halal living’ – are explored through the notions of ethical form of life and Rule/Law. It will be argued that autonomist theory (a) is helpful in conceptualizing the friction between ethical projects (however quietist) and dominant moral/political orders; (b) has the potential to broaden anthropological conversations on virtue beyond existing fault lines (notably between what I call ‘traditionist’ and ‘liberal’ theoretical families) as well as conceptual silos (‘religion', ‘secularity’); and (c) can help us envision a radical, politically engaged anthropology of ethics.

Epiphenomenal suasion: Jehovah's Witnesses and the politics of preaching against the state

“…Candea 2011) or the ‘cosmopolitical’ (e.g. Blaser 2016; de la Cadena 2010), or even the ‘emancipatory’ (Benussi 2022). Rather than contribute to a discussion of what theopolitics is, I find Brody's rendering of theopolitics helpful in conceptualizing what it is Witnesses are up to when they claim they are subjecting themselves to a theocratic kingdom because it allows for an understanding that does not deny the reality of power relations in‐the‐world but does deny their legitimacy.…”

Ethical Endeavours

“…As this brief summary shows, many of these 'curious utopias' are state-led and entail large-scale infrastructure projects, which oft en rely heavily on new technologies. By contrast, the contributors to the special issue on 'Egalitarian Life and Lifeforms' (edited by Rio et al 2022) focus on small-scale attempts to create alternative political systems and life forms (see also Benussi 2022). Starting from the assumption that 'the debates surrounding the egalitarian idea -so closely connected with a grand vision of equality and liberation from constraint, enslavement and oppression -have made great contributions to better futures for humanity, but rarely without their inherent contradictions' (Rio et al 2022: 2), the editors set out to reveal the struggles and paradoxes that come with establishing and maintaining egalitarian systems.…”