Everyday Islam

Religion and Tradition in Rural Central Asia

Sergei P. Poliakov, Martha Brill Olcott

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780873326742
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315490199
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Central Asian History

With a rapidly growing population, deteriorating economic and environmental conditions, and an unstable imperial centre, Soviet Central Asia would seem destined to become one of the world's trouble spots. Why then the apparent political quiet? This book argues that this perception is, in itself, a reflection of our ignorance of the region. Instead, argues the author, Islamic traditionalism has not only survived but has flourished and is resurgent in Central Asia. This book includes chapters on marital customs, the care of children, communal decision making, social prestige and values, and the "second" economy in Central Asia. Poliakov demonstrates the resilience of an "un-Soviet" way of life which is supported by underground institutions, fostered by "unofficial" clergy, and protected by the infiltration and subordination of government and party organs.

Index of Subjects

Adat (customary law), 17, 29, 78

Agriculture, 24, 39, 43–44

• child labor, 59, 60–61, 123–24
• climate conditions, 24
• collective farms, 14 (Table 2), 17, 23, 28, 30, 103, 140–41
• crops, 24–25
• family labor, 27
• farm machinery, 27
• government transport, use of, 27
• industrialization in, 115–16
• irrigation system. See Irrigation systems,
• land-plots. See Land-plots.
• narcotic substances grown, 25
• public versus private interests, 117
• seasonal workers, 119
• state farms, 14 (Table 2), 23, 28, 30, 43, 44, 141

Angora goats, breeding of, 26, 48

Apricot orchards, 30, 34, 63, 116

Arabic language, 74, 110, 133

“Asiatic feudalism,” 11, 12

Avlod (clan), 15, 17, 76, 100, 140

Barthold, V.V., 10

Basmachi movement, 18–19, 100n, 136–37, 140

Bibiotun (female religious figure), 72, 73 (Table 7)78, 89

• pro-Islamic agitation by, 112
• role of, 74, 109–10
• training for, 110

Birth rate, 56

Black market, 46

Bribery

• amount of bribes, 47
• attempts to end, 47
• crop prices, 11 In land-plots, acquisition through, 29, 49
• “legality,” 91
• police activities, 49
• prevalence of, 46–47
• public opinion, 47, 49
  
  

Caliphs, 100n, 133

Capitalism, 13, 15

Carrot crops, 30

Cemeteries. See Graveyards.

Central Asia

• areas included in study of, 6
• ethnic representation, 8 (Table 1)

Central Asian Expedition of the History Faculty of Moscow State University

• areas ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• List of Tables and Figures
• Map of Central Asia
• Glossary
• By Way of Introduction
• I. Background
• II. Economic Bases of Traditionalism
• III. Traditionalism and the Family
• IV. The Role of Religion in the Community
• V. Social Dynamics of Traditionalism
• Notes
• Index of Subjects
• Index of Place Names