Islam in the North Caucasus: Re-Islamization, Mosaicization, and the Problem of “Tradi-tionality”

Abstract

This article is a result of many years of research into the contemporary diversity of cur-rents and forms of Islam in the North Caucasus, which tends to increase further. The work is based on ethnographic field research conducted regularly since the late 1990s in Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia, Stavropol Territory, and Dagestan. We also used the results of focus groups conducted with students and working youth in Dagestan, Kara-chay-Cherkessia, and Moscow. The authors conclude that there has been a reIslamization in the North Caucasus, rather than a revival of “traditional” forms of Islam in the North Caucasian regional communities, which explains the spread of new (“non-traditional”) forms of Islam in the North Caucasus. New forms of Islam in these regions of Russia are emerging as a result of globalization processes that are gradually changing the Islamic field in the North Caucasus. The competition between different forms of Islam observed here is connected with the geopolitical processes in the Middle East and does not fit into the simplistic dichotomy of “traditional” and “non-traditional” Islam for the regions of the North Caucasus. In this context, it is important for the state to find the right forms of interaction with Islamic communities and avoid the marginali-zation of certain confessional groups.