The Russian Roots of “Sovietological Islamology”

Andrew Stone
University of Washington, Seattle

Abstract:
This article responds to Devin DeWeese’s review article on “Sovietological Islamology," in which DeWeese identifies a number of problematic analytical frameworks and conceptions used to discuss Islam in Central Asia.  DeWeese argues that previous writings on Central Asian Islam have been dominated by a particularly “Sovietological” approach.  Written by specialists in Soviet studies or political analysts with little or no specialized training in religious studies, this body of scholarship has failed to place Central Asian Islam within the wider context of the Islamic world, artificially separated communal, religious, and national identities, tended to ignore Islam’s social context, and uncritically adopted a number of Soviet terms and frameworks that have led to continuing misconceptions about Central Asian Islam. 
This article takes up DeWeese’s critical stance regarding scholarship on Central Asian Islam, but argues that the roots of many of these problematic conceptualizations can be traced to the longer history of Islam in the Russian empire.  Examining the history of writing about Islam in the Russian empire, it argues that many common perceptions regarding Islam in Central Asia, including the widespread characterization of Kazakhs and Kyrgyz as “superficial Muslims,” originated at an earlier time.  It therefore argues that rethinking enduring misconceptions about Central Asian Islam requires not only critically engaging the legacy of Sovietology, but also reexamining the entire history of Islam in the Russian empire.