Crimean Tatar Religiosity: Between Privacy and Politics

This article analyzes how forms of collective religiosity have transformed Crimean Tatar communities throughout the twentieth century, and especially since the political events of the last few years. As a result of forced secularization during the Soviet period, some aspects of religiosity reproduced within local communities went through a process of “domestication” (using the term of T. Dragadze). The most widespread family rituals involved collective prayers, or Dua, including canonized religious texts and the performance of certain ritual acts. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, these collective religious practices co-existed with institutionalized forms of Islam. Today, under the influence of political repressions by the new Russian administration, these collective religious practices have taken on defined political meanings and are used by the Crimean Tatars as a manifestation of resistance and disobedience.