Spatiality and Symbolic Characteristics: Dynamics of Collective Religious Rituals among Sunni Muslims and Russian Orthodox Christians in Kazakhstan during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The article’s purpose is to discuss on a cross-disciplinary plane whether the space’s changing dimension (in terms of social distancing), caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, could affect religious symbols’ characteristics and rituals, leading to new symbolical representation. This is analyzed by addressing the influence of the pandemic on conducting religious practices (Friday Prayer, Namaz, Ramadan, Qurban-ait (Eid al Adha), Sunday Sermon, Easter) among the Sunni Muslims and Russian Orthodox Church believers in Kazakhstan. Theoretically, it seeks to correlate inner dynamics of the typology, or ‘production of space’ vis-à-vis symbolic characteristics and elements of ritual. The proposed hypothesis is that (1) if there is a direct correlation between spatiality and symbols (that are ‘deployed’ in rituals), (2) then change of spatiality can affect the performance of symbol’s each characteristic, and the rituals. The following research methods have been used: online group interview in the religious focus groups differed in religious makeup (Sunni Islamic and Russian Orthodox Church) and thematic analysis. The empirical findings support the hypothesis and show that social distancing triggered the fluctuation and changes pertaining to the figurative quality and perceptibility of the symbol, following the modification of religious rituals and the appearance of a wide range of perceptions, respectively. Though the full-fledged symbolization of the changes of religious rituals due to the pandemic is not the case in today’s Kazakhstan, some elements of new evolving attitude are evident

Of Culture and Religion : The Conversion into Christianity in the XIXth-century Kazakh Steppe (1800 -1850)

Ce chapitre traite de la diffusion de la chrétienté orthodoxe au sein des populations nomades de la steppe kazakhe dans la première moitié du XIXe siècle, à une époque où l’empire russe commençait à développer dans sa périphérie une politique visà - vis des affaires religieuses. Bien que cette politique fût encore imprécise, elle rencontra un accueil spontané de la part des populations locales. Basé sur un corpus d’archives provenant des Archives centrales d’État de la république du Kazakhstan, dont beaucoup sont présentées pour la première fois, le chapitre analyse le processus d’interaction entre les systèmes culturels de « soi -même » et de « l’autre » ainsi que les résultats de leurs influences réciproques.This chapter deals with the spread of Orthodox Christianity among the nomads of the Kazakh Steppe during the first half of the XIXth century, a time when the Russian empire began to formulate on its periphery a policy towards the religious sphere. Although this policy was still vague, it met a spontaneous reply from the local population. Based on the archival materials of the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, many of which are introduced for the first time, the chapter analyses the process of interaction between the ‘own’ and ‘other’ cultural systems, as well as the results of such inter -influence.В статье рассматриваются вопросы распространения православия среди кочевников казахских степей в первой половине 19 века, в эпоху, когда Царская Россия в приграничных зонах на своей периферии стала более активно артикулировать политику в религиозной сфере. Несмотря на то, что данная политика все еще была довольно расплывчатой, она получила некоторый отклик со стороны местного населения. В статье на обширном фактическом архивном материале, представленном впервые из фондов Центрального Архива Республики Казахстан, анализируется процесс взаимодействия между культурными системами, « мы -другие » и результаты данного взаимовлияния