Russia's regions and republics with Muslim majorities (e.g. Tatarstan/Volga region; Daghestan/North Caucasus), have traditionally been studied in isolation from each other, with the result that also the particular practices and concepts of Islam have been understood as "national". In recent years scholars and activists have established overarching cupola constructions like "Russian Islam", "Traditionalism" or "Islamic Eurasianism". Does the concept of entangled histories provide us with an alternative perspective -- one that acknowledges multiplexity, hybridity, transformation and mobility?
Michael Kemper is professor of Eastern European Studies at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, and director of the Faculty's Amsterdam School for Regional, Transnational and European Studies (ARTES).