Research output
Complete citation
Marat, Erica, and Emin Poljarević. “Muslim Immigrants from Post-Soviet States in Europe: Community Building along Religious Identities.” Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst 8, no. 8 (19 April 2006): 12–13.
Status
Published
Publication type
Public scholarship / commentary
Overview
This field report examines how Muslim migrants from Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and southern Russia formed communities after settling in Europe following the Soviet Union’s collapse. It asks why religious identity often became a stronger basis for association than nationality, ethnicity, profession, or a shared Soviet past. The report argues that migration opened access to freedoms of religion and association that Soviet rule had suppressed, while the European setting encouraged new and sometimes non-traditional forms of Muslim belonging. Migrants joined mosques, religious schools, cultural organisations, and informal networks that connected them with Middle Eastern, North African, Balkan, and Turkish Muslim communities. These ties could support social integration but also expose migrants to political and theological currents unfamiliar from their countries of origin. The report’s contribution is an early account of how post-Soviet Muslim identities were reconstructed through migration, transnational religious networks, and minority life in Europe.
Research question or central concern
Why did religious identity become an important organising principle for Muslim migrants from post-Soviet societies living in Europe?
Main argument, approach, and contribution
The report argues that post-Soviet migration enabled a revival and reconstruction of Muslim identity through European freedoms of association and transnational religious networks. It combines migration analysis with attention to institutions, informal participation, and changing forms of belonging.
Keywords
post-Soviet Muslims; migration; Europe; religious identity; community building; transnational networks; integration
Emin Poljarević 