Russia and the Muslim World: To the Problem of Studying the Cultural and Integrative Potential of the Regions (On the Example of the Volga Region)

The article analyzes the problem of finding ethno-confessional concord in the modern world. The problem follows from the dilemmas of mondialization and globalization, on the one hand, and the balanced functioning of society and regions, on the other. Today, the invasion of Islam into global geopolitical processes is drifting towards new horizons not only due to demographic challenges and an increase in the proportion of Muslims in the number of inhabitants of the globe. The Islamic world has a special position in relation to globalization. The article aims to determine the role of the cultural and integrative potential of confessions as a factor of sustainable development. It is important to take into account that modern globalization is extremely relevant to the imperative of interaction. Cultural globalization, being the process of constituting common value spaces of morality, art, communication, lifestyle, behavioral stereotypes, ambiguously perceived at different times, meets opposition from adherents of traditional religions, including Islam. The facts and processes of the history of cultural contacts in the Volga region in the Middle Ages and the New Time form the basis for the analysis. The author uses the methods from the arsenal of oriental science, ethnology and area studies. Racial, religious and national conflicts have not ceased to be a constant in the modern world. The relevance of the theme of mobilizing the potential of ethnic and religious harmony and interaction stems from the dilemmas of modernization and globalization, on the one hand, and the sustainable operation of society and regions, on the other. The research of historians, anthropologists, ethnologists on the topic of collective cultural identity, as well as diverse identities at the level of personal choice, form the basis of its design in post-Soviet Russia. Studying the complementarity potential, the adherence to the positive images of the other ethnic groups among the Volga Muslims as part of the Muslim world and at the same time part of Russia in the realities of globalization and the situation of religious challenges assumes combining the methodological tools and efforts of representatives of various humanities and involving Western issues in the discursive field. This is a prerequisite for an adequate analysis of Russian identity in the context of cultural and religious processes.

Keywords

Authors

References