Master 2024/2025

Modern Muslim Societies: Anthropology of Migration

Type: Compulsory course (Muslim Worlds in Russia (History and Culture))

Area of studies: History

Delivered by: Department of History

Where: Faculty of Humanities

When: 2 year, 2 module

Mode of studies: offline

Open to: students of all HSE University campuses

Master’s programme: Мусульманские миры в России (История и культура)

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 40

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This discipline aims to introduce students to various approaches to the study of migrations on the example of Muslim communities and introduce them to the problems of the anthropology of migrations. It is at the junction of the anthropology of migration and the anthropology of Islam. The modern Muslim world is no longer limited to the Middle East, Maghreb, Pakistan, Central Asia, Indonesia and some other regions traditionally associated with Islamic culture. Muslim communities are found throughout the world, and in some Western countries constitute a significant portion of the population. According to mainstream academic approach to the anthropology of Islam it is important to reject the generalization, the recognition of the Muslim space as religiously, socially and culturally heterogeneous, a shift in the scope of research towards the study and analysis of certain practices of individuals. Besides, in the course it is focusing on the personal experience of informants, their religious introspection and their own interpretations of Muslim and regional traditions and the relationship between the former and the latter. One of the central focuses of the course is a discursive approach to migrations, that is, to language (both special and ordinary) and its ability to build hierarchical relationships. In the light of migration and the Muslim world, such key anthropological subjects as gender, materiality, agency and others are considered. Special attention is given to Muslim communities living in Russia.