Description
Book SynopsisIn the late nineteenth century, as a consequence of imperial conquest and a mobility revolution, Russia became a crossroads of the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. The first book in any language on the hajj under tsarist and Soviet rule, Russian Hajj tells the story of how tsarist officials struggled to control and co-opt Russia''s mass hajj traffic, seeing it as not only a liability but also an opportunity. To support the hajj as a matter of state surveillance and control was controversial, given the preeminent position of the Orthodox Church. But nor could the hajj be ignored, or banned, due to Russia''s policy of toleration of Islam. As a cross-border, migratory phenomenon, the hajj stoked officials'' fears of infectious disease, Islamic revolt, and interethnic conflict, but Eileen Kane innovatively argues that it also generated new thinking within the government about the utility of the empire''s Muslims and their global networks.
Open Access edit
Trade Review
This is an impressively researched book, and many of the arguments are compelling. [Russian Hajj] makes an important contribution to debates around the reaches and limits of imperial rule in practice.
* H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online *
Eileen Kane’s account of the Russian Hajj taps into a fascinating story that Daniel Brower had once called 'a blind spot in studies of Russian colonial rule' (Daniel Brower, 'Russian Roads to Mecca,' Slavic Review 55(3) (1996): 568)... Kane does an excellent job providing evidence to support her account of the Russian Hajj as one of 'toleration' and 'sponsorship' in line with the past two decades’ 'imperial turn' in historiography.
* Canadian-American Slavic Studies *
[F]ascinating details of the organizational efforts behind Russia's sponsorship of the hajj are examined in this concise and informative volume on an often-overlooked chapter in Russian history.
* AramcoWorld *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Russia as a Crossroads of the Global Hajj1. Imperialism through Islamic Networks2. Mapping the Hajj, Integrating Muslims3. Forging a Russian Hajj Route4. The Hajj and Religious Politics after 19055. The Hajj and Socialist RevolutionConclusion: Russian Hajj in the Twenty-First Century
