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- Convenors:
-
Oleg Yarosh
(National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)
Marintha Miles (George Mason University)
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- Theme:
- REL
- Location:
- Posvar 3911
- Start time:
- 26 October, 2018 at
Time zone: America/New_York
- Session slots:
- 1
Long Abstract:
In this panel, we explore how Muslim entrepreneurs in present-day Central Asia and Russia understand, articulate, and implement certain moral imperatives suggested by Islam with regard to economic activities, social relations, and society as a whole. Central to this discussion is the notion of social justice in the context of (semi)-free markets, transitioning and/or fluctuating economies, and (semi)-authoritarian regimes that underlie the economic and social conditions within which the entrepreneurs operate. We examine some of the ways these entrepreneurs make sense of and negotiate their identities as successful business practitioners, observant Muslims, and ensurers of economic (and therefore moral) balance in their respective societies where structural problems allow them to prosper but pose a challenge to the notion of social justice. In this panel, we present qualitative research carried out in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Russia (Tatarstan).
Accepted papers:
Session 1Liliya Karimova (NVCC, Annandale)
Paper long abstract:
In Tatarstan's capital Kazan, a small number of successful entrepreneurs who identify themselves as observing Muslims help disabled or poor individuals and support a Muslim charitable foundation that cares for the disabled, the elderly, and the orphans. I suggest that engaging in charity work enables the businessmen to build moral capital in three distinct ways. Sharing the wealth with those in need is an individual act that merits savab, a reward from God for doing a good deed, a moral capital of sorts. Secondly, supporting a charity and those in need and thus spreading the wealth "purifies" the capital and legitimizes its multiplication, a common belief among Muslims in Russia. Finally, engaging in charity work allows businessmen to build a positive reputation for themselves and their businesses—among colleagues, customers, and public officials—an important (moral) social capital in a close-knit society where being introduced in a positive light and being connected plays an important role. The paper is based on ethnographic research (observations and interviews) conducted in Kazan in 2015 and 2016.
Yana Pak (University of Hong Kong)
Paper long abstract:
Since the 1970s, after the oil boom, the Islamic economy has grown significantly. Through the transformation and confessionalization of solidarity groups in Kazakhstan, we will try to see if the islamized economy offers a new framework of economic organization and redistribution of wealth, valuing and mobilizing both, private initiative and solidarity, on the scale of the whole social body. This paper, based on fieldwork research conducted in the South of Kazakhstan between 2014-2017, explores how Halal economies and Muslim entrepreneurs are being driven not only by market demands and economic opportunities, but also by religious thinking and contest, which leads progressively to the emergence of new forms of non-institutionalized organization, nourished by Soviet morality and Islamic values.