Modern Muslim Societies: Anthropology of Migration

2024/2025

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

ECTS credits

Delivered by:

Department of History

Type:

Elective course

When:

2 year, 2 module

Instructor

Капустина Екатерина Леонидовна

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 formerand 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.

Learning Objectives

• The main goal is to demonstrate relevant modern approaches to the anthropology of migrations, through the prism of Muslim societies.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Students are required to know history of different waves and mobility in Russia.
• Students know basic theories of anthropology of migration, history of the discipline.
• Students must prove their knowledge of basic anthropological theories and notions.

Course Contents

• Mobility/migration, history of concepts.
• Anthropology of Islam: specifics and limits of the discipline Discourses and practices.
• Transnationalism and Diaspora. Muslim communities through the borders and the unity of the ummah.
• Migration and the State. Illegality and Deportability. Islamophobia
• Economy and Beyond: economic migration, social capital and ethnic economy.
• Migration and family. Migration, Islam and Gender.
• Material turn and migration.
• Religious migration. Pilgrimage as a Form of Mobility.

Assessment Elements

• Final essay
  The final written work is an essay on a topic agreed with a professor and based on the topics covered in the course seminars. Essay should be between 1200 and 2000 words, the research question, the methodology for collecting material should be spelled out in the paper, relevant theoretical approaches should be considered, conclusions should be presented. The essay should present the historiography on the topic and the main arguments of the author, qualitatively present empirical material. By agreement with the professor, instead of an essay, a historiographic review can be made on a topic related to the course, the evaluation criteria for which in this case will be specified separately in accordance with the project assignment.
• Work at seminars
  Activity in class and good attendance at seminars will influence the final grade.

Interim Assessment

• 2024/2025 2nd module
  0.7 * Final essay + 0.3 * Work at seminars

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Abramitzky, R., Boustan, L. P., & Eriksson, K. (2014). A Nation of Immigrants: Assimilation and Economic Outcomes in the Age of Mass Migration. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.88D9ED36

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Bowen, J. R. (2004). Beyond Migration: Islam as a Transnational Public Space. Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies, 30(5), 879–894. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183042000245598
• Marranci, G. (2008). The Anthropology of Islam. Berg Publishers.

Authors

• KAPUSTINA EKATERINA LEONIDOVNA
• LYUBAVINA SVETLANA VYACHESLAVOVNA