Islamic Historiography and 'Bulghar' Identity Among the Tatars and Bashkirs of Russia

Book excerpt: This extremely timely book deals with the development of Bulghar regional identity among Tatars and Bashkirs, i.e. Volga-Ural Muslims. Based on locally-produced Islamic manuscrips, the book examines how these Muslims manipulated local legends, conversion narratives, and sacred geography to create a body of sacred historiography that expressed a meaningful regional identity, and one which responds to the changing relationship between these Muslims and the Russian state over the nineteenth century. The book also traces the debate between traditionalist supporters and reformist detractors of this sacred historiography in the nineteenth century, and addresses the fate of Bulghar identity in the twentieth century, including its transformation in Soviet and post-Soviet times into a secularized national identity.