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In contemporary Russia, the state-instituted atheism of the Soviet Union has been replaced by a growing religiosity.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，苏联的国家制度化无神论已经被日益增长的宗教信仰所取代。 社会科学研究人员发现，俄罗斯社会中宗教信徒的比例显著上升。 与此同时，俄罗斯继续就从苏联继承的联邦结构进行谈判，这种结构在从共产主义向民主过渡期间促进了有名无实的群体之间身份的地域化。 民族主义运动的发展有一系列的政治和文化目标，从自治到重新起草语言法。 只有在车臣的情况下，一个民族共和国对中心的反对才导致冲突，但总的来说，这些地区在后苏联时期成为中心与边缘讨价还价的关键互动场所。 最近，宗教已成为政治行动和抵抗的关键基础，第二次车臣战争和北高加索持续不断的冲突就表明了这一点。 由于这些因素和其他离心因素，俄罗斯的长期凝聚力远未得到保证，当国家未来面临挑战时，联邦共和国将处于推动替代政治和经济项目的地位。 本博士论文研究项目将分析宗教和领土作为俄罗斯联邦卡尔梅克、图瓦和布里亚特三个佛教民族共和国民族主义动员的预测因素。 博士生将寻求以下研究问题的答案：（1）在多大程度上做有名无实的和俄罗斯国民在三个共和国支持政治自治的形式，从俄罗斯的联邦结构的权力增加到自治或独立？ (2)具体就有名无实的群体而言，在后苏联时期，佛教徒的宗教复兴程度如何，这种做法与对领土和民族的更强烈依恋之间是否存在可证实的关系？ (3)还有哪些其他因素，包括社会经济地位和对群体间关系的态度，影响到对改变每个共和国在俄罗斯联邦等级制度中各自地位的支持？ 为了回答这些问题，学生将采用混合方法，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。 调查结果预计将展示宗教复兴在三个选定的共和国的力量，并进一步探讨宗教作为俄罗斯政治动员力量。 与之前关于俄罗斯联邦国家生存能力和民族宗教社区挑战的工作不同，之前的工作主要侧重于民族企业家作为政治支持组织者的重要性以及伊斯兰教作为主要宗教挑战的重要性，该项目将收集居住在联邦佛教民族共和国的个人的调查答复，以便调查这些地区的本地化特征，与政治行为最为相关。 在这样做的过程中，该项目将提供新的见解的地理，文化和宗教背景下，动员可能发生，分解俄罗斯的民族领土划分，为三个地区的特别重要的更深入的研究。 更广泛地说，这项研究将解决宗教身份和巩固领土为基础的民族身份之间的关联，这是在政治地理学文献中研究不足的主题。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。 该项目由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。