Historical context, Islam, and ethnic culture in the religious identification of ethnoterritorial groups of Tatars

Abstract

This article presents the findings of a study of ethnoreligious identification among Tatars residing in Siberia and the Republic of Crimea. The study aims to identify and analyze the impact of several key factors, namely: a) the effect of the socio-political environment on the specific features of ethnoreligious identification within these groups; b) the influence of the ethnic group’s social history on the interlinking of ethnic culture and Islam in identification processes; c) the role of codifying agents, including the state; d) the impact of Islamic globalization. The study is grounded in a secondary analysis of data from ethnosociological investigations into Tatar identity, conducted in Tyumen, the Tyumen Region, and the Republic of Crimea in 2016–2019. Some of these materials have been previously used and published earlier by the author. In conclusion, it is necessary to highlight the significance of Russian historical conditions — in particular, the Soviet-era institutionalization, which fostered the integration of elements of ethnic culture with Islamic practices. State support for national cultures contributed to the emergence of “folk” Islam. Through the mechanism of familial transmission of religious values, this phe-nomenon helped sustain ethnoreligious identification among the studied Tatar groups amid the officially promoted atheism of the Soviet period. Furthermore, the pronounced entanglement of ethnic identity and Islamic practices revitalized the discourse surrounding “traditional” Islam in the context of post-Soviet re-Islamization in Russia. This dynamic continues to shape the religious identification of Muslim Tatars today.