Young Muslim-Tatar Girls of the Big City: Narrative Identities and Discourses on Islam in Postsoviet Russia

Abstract

This article deals with the growing interest towards the 'new Islam of practising Muslim women' among young Tatars in Moscow. I analyse this through their inclusion in the reproduced and reformatted Islamic discursive tradition, as well as through the creation of a unique biography and identity for the 'lady in the headscarf'. A definitive understanding of this phenomenon can be gained from an analysis of the changing environment of narrative expectations towards young people, expectations held by the government, parents, ethnic groups and adults in general, which I shall also consider in the context of the predominant trends in the structure and culture of young people in postsoviet Russia. The biographical narratives of ten women attending courses on the Quran at various mosques around Moscow will, therefore, form the focus of the present article.

Religious Socialization Of Muslim Children In The Context Of Homeschooling In Russia

“…In Russia, problems and prospects for the development of homeschooling have just begun to be studied in the recent years (Lialikova, 2018;Rimmer, 2014;Yashina, 2017). Confessional aspects of education in Muslim communities are covered through the issues of the state of Islamic educational institutions and Mosque courses (Almazova, 2017;2019), comparison of religious and secular education (Suleymanova, 2015), issues of formation of Islamic identity of Muslim girls (Karimova, 2013;Sabirova, 2011).…”

“…The cases of non-acceptance of the Muslim headscarf on the heads of schoolgirls confirm the idea of Sabirova that the headscarf turns out to be a sign of the struggle for recognition of its Islamic identity in a harmless or foreign religious space. Indeed, sometimes hijab becomes a special test for young Muslim women who are sensitive to the reaction of others towards themselves (Sabirova, 2011). Schoolgirls could remove their hijab at school while out of their parents' sight.…”

The Institutionalization of Mobility: Well-being and Social Hierarchies in Central Asian Translocal Livelihoods

“…Habiba, on the other hand, perceives her father's demands to wear the hijab not as a welcome protection against the uncertainties while coming of age in a contradictory world in between 'modern' urban Moscow and 'traditional' urban Tajikistan. To the contrary, because her exposure to Muslim faith is strongly determined by her parents, Habiba, unlike other young Muslim women in urban Moscow, cannot perceive religion as a source of agency or emancipation (see Sabirova 2011). Therefore, Habiba has experienced Islam primarily as an obstacle in her efforts to socialize with non-Muslim (Russian) peers and to develop an adolescent individual identity, where a 'European lifestyle' not at all contradicts 'being Tajik'.…”

Can the Other Speak? Mediated Counter-Narratives of Tatars and Mappilas

“…If the men on screen are judged by their stereotyped roles, their religious authority and activities have invited diverse responses in the field. As Sabirova noted,"Eastern men" are usually stereotyped, as a famous Soviet song goes: "if I were a Sultan, I would have four wives" (Sabirova, 2017). Dimitry, taking me to Qulsharif Mosque at Kazan Kremlin for Friday prayer, pointed to such otherness of the religious leaders and their incapability to deal with the everyday life of the people.…”