Doctoral Dissertation Research: Geography and Identity Among Russia's Buddhist Populations

博士论文研究：俄罗斯佛教人口的地理和身份

• 批准号: 0928871
• 负责人: John O'Loughlin
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-15 至 2011-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0928871&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Geography; Identity

In contemporary Russia, the state-instituted atheism of the Soviet Union has been replaced by a growing religiosity. Social science researchers have found a significant rise in the proportion of religious believers in Russian society. At the same time, Russia continues to negotiate the federal structure inherited from the USSR, which facilitated the territorialization of identities among titular groups during the transitional period from communism to democracy. The nationalist mobilizations that developed had a range of political and cultural goals, from autonomy to the redrafting of language laws. Only in the case of Chechnya did an ethnic republic's opposition to the center lead to conflict, but taken together, these regions have served as key sites of interaction in center-periphery bargaining during the post-Soviet period. More recently, religion has emerged as a key basis for political action and resistance, as exhibited during the second Chechen war and the ongoing conflict in the North Caucasus. As a result of these and other centrifugal factors, Russia's long-term cohesion is far from assured, and when future challenges to the state emerge, the federal republics will be positioned to promote alternative political and economic projects. This doctoral dissertation research project will analyze religion and territoriality as predictors for nationalist mobilization in the three Buddhist ethnic republics of the Russian Federation, Kalmykia, Tuva, and Buryatia. The doctoral candidate will seek answers to the following research questions: (1) To what extent do the titular and Russian nationals in the three republics support forms of political self-governance, from increased power in Russia's federal structure to autonomy or independence? (2) With respect specifically to titular groups, what is the degree of religious revival among practicing Buddhists in the post-Soviet period, and is there a verifiable relationship between such practices and stronger attachments to territory and nation? (3) What other factors, including socioeconomic status and attitudes regarding intergroup relations, influence support for changes to each of the republics' respective positions in the Russian federal hierarchy? To answer these questions, the student will employ a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative analysis of survey results with a qualitative approach using focus groups. The findings are expected to demonstrate the strength of the religious revival in the three selected republics and further explore religion as a politically mobilizing force in Russia. Diverging from previous work on state viability and the challenge of ethno-religious communities in the Russian Federation, which has primarily focused on the importance of ethnic entrepreneurs as organizers of political support and Islam as the principal religious challenge, this project will collect survey responses from individuals living in the federation's Buddhist ethnic republics in order to investigate the localized characteristics in these regions that are most relevant to political behavior. In doing so, the project will provide new insights into the geographical, cultural, and religious contexts in which mobilization can occur, disaggregating Russia's ethno-territorial divisions for a more in-depth study of three regions of particular importance. More broadly, the research will address the association between religious identity and the consolidation of territorially-based national identities, a topic that is understudied in the literature in political geography. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career. This project is jointly supported by the NSF Geography and Spatial Sciences Program and the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering.

在当代俄罗斯，苏联国家建立的无神论已被日益增长的宗教信仰所取代。 社会科学研究人员发现，俄罗斯社会的宗教信徒比例大幅上升。 同时，俄罗斯继续谈判从苏联继承的联邦结构，这促进了从共产主义到民主的过渡时期，众多群体之间身份的领土化。 发展的民族主义动员具有一系列的政治和文化目标，从自主权到语言法的重新编写。 只有在车臣对中心的反对造成冲突的情况下，这些地区才成为后苏联时期中心讨价还价的关键互动场所。 最近，正如第二次车臣战争和北高加索地区正在进行的冲突中所展示的那样，宗教已成为政治行动和抵抗的关键基础。 由于这些和其他离心因素，俄罗斯的长期凝聚力远未确保，当未来对国家的挑战浮出水面时，联邦共和国将被定位为促进替代性的政治和经济项目。 该博士学位论文研究项目将分析宗教和领土，以作为俄罗斯联合会三个佛教民族共和国，卡尔米基亚，图瓦和葬于的民族主义动员的预测指标。 博士候选人将寻求以下研究问题的答案：（1）三种共和国的名义和俄罗斯国民在多大程度上支持政治自治的形式，从俄罗斯联邦联邦结构的力量增加到自主权或独立性？ （2）专门针对名义群体，后苏联时期实践佛教徒的宗教复兴程度是什么，这种做法与对领土和民族的牢固依恋之间有可验证的关系？ （3）其他哪些因素，包括社会经济地位和有关群体间关系的态度，影响对俄罗斯联邦等级中每个共和国各自立场的变化的支持？ 为了回答这些问题，学生将采用混合方法方法，将调查结果的定量分析与使用焦点小组的定性方法相结合。 这些发现预计将证明三个选定共和国的宗教复兴的力量，并进一步探讨宗教在俄罗斯的政治动员力量。 与以前关于国家生存能力的工作以及俄罗斯联邦中民族宗教社区的挑战不同，该联盟主要集中于民族企业家作为政治支持和伊斯兰的组织者作为主要宗教挑战的组织者的重要性，该项目将收集生活在联邦族裔公会中的个人的调查，以调查这些地区的佛教特征，以调查这些地区的行为，以调查这些地区的行为，这些地区是最大程度地相关的，这些地区是最大程度地相关的。 在此过程中，该项目将为可能发生动员的地理，文化和宗教背景提供新的见解，从而将俄罗斯的民族领域分割分解，以对三个特别重要的地区进行更深入的研究。 更广泛地说，这项研究将介绍宗教身份与基于领土的民族身份的巩固之间的关联，这一话题在政治地理文献中被研究了。 作为博士学位论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立强大的独立研究职业。 NSF地理和空间科学计划和NSF国际科学与工程办公室共同支持该项目。