Islamic Historiography and "Bulghar" Identity among the Tatars and Bashkirs of Russia

Allen J. Frank,

Islamic Historiography and "Bulghar" Identity among the Tatars and Bashkirs of Russia. Leiden: Brill, 1998. ix + 232 pp.

ISBN-10: 9004110216

ISBN-13: 978-9004110212

This text deals with the development of Bulghar regional identity among Tartars and Bashkirs — Muslims living in the Volga-Ural region. Based on locally-produced Islamic manuscripts, the book examines how these Muslims manipulated legends, conversion narratives, and sacred geography to create a body of sacred historiography that expressed a meaningful regional identity, and one which responds to the changing relationship between these Muslims and the Russian state over the 19th century. The book also traces the debate between traditionalist supporters and reformist detractors of this sacred historiography in the 19th century, and addresses the fate of Bulghar identity in the 20th century, including its transformation in Soviet and post-Soviet times into a secularized national identity.

This extremely timely book deals with the development of Bulghar regional identity among Tatars and Bashkirs, i. e. Volga-Ural Muslims.

Based on locally-produced Islamic manuscrips, the book examines how these Muslims manipulated local legends, conversion narratives, and sacred geography to create a body of sacred historiography that expressed a meaningful regional identity, and one which responds to the changing relationship between these Muslims and the Russian state over the nineteenth century.

The book also traces the debate between traditionalist supporters and reformist detractors of this sacred historiography in the nineteenth century, and addresses the fate of Bulghar identity in the twentieth century, including its transformation in Soviet and post-Soviet times into a secularized national identity.

Allen J. Frank, Ph. D. (1994) in Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, has published widely on issues of religion and ethnic relations among the Muslims of the Volga-Ural region and Siberia.

Review

'Frank's painstaking philological analysis provides an entirely fresh basis for research on the indigenous historiography of the Volga-Ural region. His study is an important revision of Western research to date, as well as of the prevailing national interpretations of history in the new republics of Tatarstan and Bashorstostan. Furthermore, Frank sheds important new light on teh self-image of Sufis and 'ulamā' under Russian rule, providing a valuable new impetus for scientific research on Islam in the Russian colonial context. '

Anke von Kügelgen, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2000.

'This highly specialized, carefully argued, detailed, and well-documented treatise illustrates the ultimate displacement of Bulghar sacred Islamic identity by a nationalistic and ethnic Bulghar identity. '

Charles C. Kolb, Religious Studies Review, 2001.

Links

• Islamic Historiography and "Bulghar" Identity among the Tatars and Bashkirs of Russia // Amazon.com
• Islamic Historiography and "Bulghar" Identity among the Tatars and Bashkirs of Russia // Google-Books

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