02.11.2015

Sharia in the Russian Empire: An International Symposium (II)

International Conference, Convener: Paolo Sartori

During the second half of the 19th century the Russian Empire was a multi-confessional polity that was home to fourteen million Muslims. The imperial state sponsored a regime of legal pluralism that sanctioned a number of bodies of law including sharia. The institutional arrangements allowing for the application of sharia in the Empire were various. Although it has long been noted that, in the Russian Empire, Muslims inhabited a space of differentiated jurisprudence, little has been done to clarify what was the law that contemporaries called ‘sharia,’ to appreciate the legal diversity existing within the Islamic juridical field itself, or to examine these differences comparatively. How did Muslim imperial subjects conceive of their legal entitlements? How did the Russian Empire’s legal pluralism bring about new alliances among Muslims jurists and new patterns of circulation of Islamic legal knowledge?

This conference is organized by the network “Sharia in the Russian Empire”. The network is an interdisciplinary research group that aims to encourage research on sharia and legal diversity across the Russian Empire by creating a space where scholars can discuss new research, primary texts, theory and ideas with others who have experience or interest in Islamic and imperial legal history. The network is based in Vienna and it will host a series of workshops in different academic venues.


List of participants

  • Ulfat Abdurasulov (Institute of Iranian Studies, Vienna)
  • Bakhtiyar Babadjanov (Institute of Oriental Studies, Tashkent)
  • Vladimir Bobrovnikov (Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow)
  • Allen J. Frank (Takoma Park, Maryland)
  • Rozaliya Garipova (University of Pennsylvania)
  • Prof. Michael Kemper (University of Amsterdam)
  • James Pickett (Yale University and University of Pittsburgh)
  • Danielle Ross (Utah State University)
  • Paolo Sartori (Institute of Iranian Studies, Vienna)
  • Shamil Shikhaliev (Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography, Makhachkala, Dagestan)
  • Nathan Spannaus (University of Oxford)

 


PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

November 2nd, 2015
18:00
Keynote Speech
Prof. Michael Kemper (University of Amsterdam): One or Two Islamic Discourses in the Russian Empire?

November 3rd, 2015
9:30
Welcome and Opening Comments by Paolo Sartori (Institute of Iranian Studies)

09:45-11:15 Panel 1
James Pickett (Yale University and University of Pittsburgh): Who Were the ʿUlama of Bukhara?: High PersianateIntellectuals in the Abode of Knowledge
Allen Frank (Takoma Park, Maryland): Islamic Legal Scholars in the Kazakh Khanate: a Reevaluation of Islamic Law in the Nomadic Environment
Nathan Spannaus (University of Oxford): The Islamic Legal Tradition and Social Change: The Construction of Fiqh Discourse and Religious Authority under Russian Imperial Rule

Comments and discussion on the papers

12:30-14:00
Lunch break

14:00-15:30 Panel 2
Danielle Ross (University of Utah): The production and use of legal books in the Volga-Ural madrasas
Shamil Shikhaliev (Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography, Makhachkala, Dagestan): Fatwas in Russian Imperial Institutions: Hasan al-Alqadari and his Legal Opinions (in Russian)
Paolo Sartori (Institute of Iranian Studies, Vienna): What do we talk about when we talk about Taqlid in modern Central Asia?

Comments and discussion on the papers and the theme

November 4th, 2015

9:30 – 10:30 Panel 3
Vladimir Bobrovnikov (Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow): Sharia and ‘Adat in Imperial Lawmaking: The Provisional Statuses of Village Communities in Dagestan
Bakhtiyar Babadjanov (Institute of Oriental Studies, Tashkent): “Sharia cannot be predetermined!” Russian Orientalists and Islamic Law in Turkestan (in Russian)

10:30-11:00
Comments and discussion on the papers

11:15 – 12:15 Panel 4
Ulfat Abdurasulov (Institute of Iranian Studies, Vienna): Believe in the Paper: Conflict Resolution and Bureaucratic Anxiety in the Protectorate of Khiva
Rozaliya Garipova (Princeton University): Overlapping jurisdictions: handling inheritance cases in the Volga-Ural Muslim community in the late Russian imperial period

Comments and discussion on the papers and the theme

13:00-14:30
Lunch break

14:30-15:30
Roundtable

 

Zeit:
02.-04.11.2015

Ort:
Seminarraum 1 (Parterre), Institut für Iranistik
Apostelgasse 23, 1030 Wien

Downloads:
Programm