Recitation of sacred text in rites of passage among the Muslims of Volga-Ural Region (XIX – XXI centuries)

Genesis исторические исследования ◽

10.25136/2409-868x.2020.3.32420 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 60-66

Author(s):

Oleg Sokolov

Keyword(s):

Rites Of Passage ◽

Great Majority ◽

Ural Region ◽

Volga Region ◽

Sacred Text ◽

Muslim Population ◽

Continuous Contact ◽

Prayer Books ◽

Xix Century ◽

Volga Ural Region

The subject of this research is the rites of passage among the Muslims of Volga-Ural Region in historical perspective. Ritual practices of the Muslim population of Volga Region are of particular interest since they developed in the conditions of continuous contact with non-Muslim population, and religious was often a key factor of national self-identification. Examination of the patterns of inclusion of the sacred text fragments into Muslim rituals in Volga-Ural Region has not previously been a topic of separate research within the Russian and Western anthropology. Analysis of functionality of the sacred text in rites of passage among the Muslims of Volga Region was conducted within the framework of methodology of diachronic analysis through comparing the records from Arabographic manuscripts and modern editions of prayer books. It is underlined that the prayers presented in manuscript of the XIX century are formulaic and repetitive, consisting usually of brief repeating fragments – epithets of Allah, names of prophets and chapters Ayats. Modern prayer books contain the whole Ayats and Surahs, or citations from Hadith. Such difference can be explained by widely accessible printed literature and expansive increase in the literacy level among population of the region comparing to the XIX century. The author notes that the great majority of prayers in both types of sources are in Arab language, which emphasizes a sacred significance of Arab language in the Muslim culture.

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Kazan Tatar Teacher School: The Global Entanglement of A Local Imperial Institution in The Late Russian Empire

Past & Present ◽

10.1093/pastj/gtz022 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 245 (1) ◽

pp. 153-185

Author(s):

Mustafa Tuna

Keyword(s):

Russian Empire ◽

Ural Region ◽

Government Service ◽

Russian Government ◽

Muslim Population ◽

Language And Culture ◽

Islamic Studies ◽

Political Problem ◽

Pedagogical Goals ◽

Volga Ural Region

Abstract This article examines the ‘global life’ of a teacher school that Russian imperial officials opened in 1876 to Russify the tsarist empire’s Turkic-speaking Muslim subjects in the Volga-Ural region. Interventions and transformations at the local, imperial and transregional scales over the next several decades altered the context in which this imperial institution the Kazan Tatar Teacher School operated. The school’s effectiveness in achieving its pedagogical goals turned into a political problem for the tsarist center as a result. A Berlin-born German Turkologist in Russian government service designed the school’s curriculum to offer European-inspired secular knowledge. He called it ‘Russian knowledge’ and introduced it to his superiors as a gateway to Russification. He also incorporated Islamic studies and some Muslim daily practices into the school programme to avoid a backlash from the local Muslim population. Over time, a small but vocal cohort of progressivist Muslims took advantage of this programme to acquire conversance in the language and culture of the empire’s evolving cosmopolitan public. As Eurocentric transregional movements from socialism to nationalism permeated that culture, however, the Kazan Tatar Teacher School served as an incubator for politicization among Russia’s Muslims to the ire of the tsarist regime’s centrist advocates and agents.

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Present day bio-invasions in the Volga-Ural Region: from the South to the North or from the East to the West? Cameraria ohridella (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in the Lower and Middle Volga

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4624.4.9 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4624 (4) ◽

pp. 583-588

Author(s):

VASILIY ANIKIN

Keyword(s):

Ural Region ◽

Volga Region ◽

Leaf Miner ◽

Horse Chestnut ◽

The West ◽

The North ◽

Middle Volga ◽

Chestnut Leaf ◽

First Time ◽

Volga Ural Region

The occurrence of the invasive horse-chestnut leaf miner, Cameraria ohridella, in the cities of Saratov and Samara in the Volga Region was recorded for the first time in 2018. Possible pathways of species penetration from the southern parts of European Russia are discussed.

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Характеристика народов Поволжья по данным дискретно-варьирующих признаков посткраниального скелета

Вестник антропологии (Herald of Anthropology) ◽

10.33876/2311-0546/2021-53-1/219-237 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 219-237

Author(s):

Е.А. Вагнер-Сапухина

Keyword(s):

Extreme Values ◽

Ural Region ◽

Volga Region ◽

Dental Morphology ◽

Postcranial Skeleton ◽

Specific Complex ◽

The One ◽

Metric Traits ◽

Volga Ural Region ◽

Good Agreement

Статья посвящена изучению изменчивости дискретно-варьирующих признаков в поволжских популяциях. В качестве теоретической основы были взяты гипотезы о происхождении народов Волго-Уральского региона, сформулированные в результате анализа данных о морфологии зубной системы. Материалом для данной работы послужили 11 остеологических серий близких к современности групп – 7 по народам Поволжья и 4 сравнительных, общей численностью 626 индивидов. Методика исследования включала в себя фиксацию 64 признаков на посткраниальном скелете, 16 из которых были использованы при статистической обработке материала. Эмпирический анализ данных показал значительную вариабельность большинства признаков. При описании их изменчивости удалось обнаружить некоторые тенденции: например, башкирская и бурятская серии часто оказывались в пределах крайних значений частот ряда признаков. Группа мордвы-мокши также обладала особой специфичностью. Две группы удмуртов, как и чувашей, оказались достаточно близки между собой, а русские Старой Ладоги не отличались от поволжских групп. Многомерные статистические анализы позволили уточнить эмпирически сформулированные гипотезы. Полученные результаты по распределению дискретно-варьирующих признаков длинных костей скелета хорошо согласуются с одонтологическими данными. Буряты обладают специфическим комплексом признаков, который крайне далек от комплекса, характерного для поволжских групп. Башкиры оказались отделенными от поволжских популяций не только по одонтологическим данным, но и по частотам неметрических признаков посткраниального скелета. Близость саамов к поволжским сериям также согласуется с данными по морфологии зубной системы. The study of the variability of non-metric traits in Volga region populations is based on the hypotheses about the origin of the peoples of the Volga-Ural region, formulated through the analysis of data on the dental system morphology. The material for this work consists of 11 osteological groups close to modernity – 7 for the Volga region peoples and 4 comparative groups, with a total number of 626 individuals. The research method included recording 64 traits on the postcranial skeleton, 16 of which were used in the statistical analysis. Empirical analysis of the data revealed significant variability of most traits. Some trends could be detected: for example, the Bashkir and Buryat samples often demonstrated extreme values of frequencies of a number of traits. The Mordva-Moksha group was also specific. The Udmurtian samples, as well as the Chuvash groups, were quite close to each other, and the Old Ladoga Russians did not differ from the Volga groups. Multidimensional statistical analyses allowed to refine empirically selected hypotheses. The distribution of non-metric traits of long bones is in good agreement with odontological data. Buryats have a specific complex, which is very far from the one characteristic for the Volga groups. Bashkirs turned out to be an outlying group not only according to odontological data, but also according to the frequency of non-metric traits of the postcranial skeleton. The proximity of the Saam to the Volga samples is also consistent with the data on dental morphology.

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The features of the skeleton of the population in the early bronze age of the Volga-Ural Region

Samara Journal of Science ◽

10.17816/snv202094203 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 224-231

Author(s):

Artem Petrovich Grigoryev

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Ural Region ◽

Volga Region ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

Forest Steppe ◽

Left Bank ◽

Body Type ◽

Late Stone Age ◽

Group A ◽

Volga Ural Region

The paper is devoted to the study of a series of postcranial skeletons from the Early Bronze Age burial grounds on the steppe and forest-steppe territory of the Volga and Ural Rivers basin. Using the standard osteometric technique in the processing of the material and statistical techniques in its analysis, the morphological originality of the male part of the population was revealed. Within the group a robust tall type of constitution dominates, more or less found among the representatives of the early pastoral groups in the Ural-Volga Region. The specificity of the group originating from the territory of the left bank of the Sok River is revealed; it consists in the gracile of the skeleton. Compared to the chronologically synchronous groups of the Early Bronze Age, the Volga-Ural group has a somewhat more massive skeleton structure, especially on the background of the gracile sample of the Lower Don. The author has revealed similarity with the Eneolithic group of the Dnieper-Donets Region. The dominance of the hypermorphic body type in the group of the Early Bronze Age in the Volga-Ural Region is genetically associated with the population of the Late Stone Age in the Dnieper Region. The population of the Khvalynsk Eneolithic culture of the Volga Region, considered by some specialists as ancestral for the Early Bronze Age pastoralists, has a noticeably more gracile osteological constitution and morphologically approaches the Neolithic population of Central Europe.

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