IAS Series Volume 3:

Islam and Politics in Russia and Central Asia :

Early to Late Twentieth Centuries

Published October, 2001

KOMATSU Hisao, Stephane A. DUDOIGNON, eds.

Contents

This volume contains the proceedings of the third international colloquium held by the Islamic Area Studies Project in Tokyo on October 13-14, 1999. The colloquium aimed to gather from different countries historians, political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists dealing with modern and contemporary history of Central Eurasia, for a common reflection on various phenomena that led to a political valuation of Islam under non-Muslim domination, whether Russian or Chinese, since the beginning of the 18th century. As to present time, a comparative approach of the current situations in the Russian Federation and the new independent states of Central Asia has allowed us to study the various modes of political instrumentalization of Islam, by both political power and opposition, in such various areas as the Ferghana Valley in Uzbekistan and the Volga-Urals region of Russia.

In their papers, the contributors have commonly tried to reverse or at least to nuance current stereotypes on the supposed consubstantiality between religion and politics in contemporary Islam. Most of the studies collected in the present volume have focused on the role which has been played by state policy in the evolution of Islam and its institutions in Central Eurasia (hence the title “Islam in Politics”), with a special attention for European Russia and Central Asia, from the early 18th-century reforms of Peter the Great, to the political use of religion by Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia or Islam Karimov’s in Uzbekistan.

The book, containing 15 articles, as well as the colloquium itself has been divided into four parts: “1. Community Building in the Russian Dar al-Harb;” “2. Towards a Restoration of the Dar al-Islam?;” “3. The Role of the Religious (ulama) and the Literati (udaba);” “4. Contemporary Issues: Islam and Political Mobilization, from Tajikistan to the Suburbs of Moscow.”

The Editors

Stephane A. DUDOIGNON, born in 1962, former JSPS research fellow in the University of Tokyo (1998-2000), now research fellow in the CNRS, Strasbourg, works primarily on the social history of the intellectual and spiritual authorities in Muslim Central Eurasia (Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia), from the 18th century until now. Has published many papers on this topic, and directed Le Tadjikistan existe-t-il? Destin politique d'une "nation imparfaite" (Paris: CEMOTI, 1994); Le reformisme musulman en Asie centrale, du premier renouveau a la sovietisation (1788-1937) (Paris: EHESS, 1996); L'islam de Russie. Conscience communautaire et autonomie politique chez les Tatars de la Volga et de l'Oural, du XVIIIe siecle a nos jours (Paris:Maisonneuve & Larose, 1997; in Russian, Kazan: Panorama, 1997); En Islam siberien (Paris: EHESS, 2000).

KOMATSU Hisao, born in 1951, graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1980. After working at Tokai University and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, he was appointed professor at the University of Tokyo in 1996. Since 1997 he has worked as the General Secretary of the Islamic Area Studies Project. He specializes in the modern history of Central Asia from the 19th century until now. Number of major publications: 20. Yuzyil Baslarinda Orta Asyada Turkculuk ve Devrim Hareketleri, Ankara: Turhan Kitabevi, 1993; co-author: M. Haneda & T.Miura ed., Islamic Urban Studies: Historical Review and Perspective, Kegan Paul International, London-New York, 1994; Revolutionary Central Asia: A Portrait of Abdurauf Fitrat, University of Tokyo Press, 1996; KOMATSU Hisao, OBIYA Chika and John S. SCHOEBERLINE eds., Migration in Central Asia: Its History and Current Problems, The Japan Center for Area Studies, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka-Japan, 2000. Recently edited A History of Central Eurasia, Yamakawa Shuppansha, Tokyo, 2000.