Application of Netnography methods in the study of Muslim pilgrims and visitors to the holy places of the Republic of Bashkortostan

DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2023-4-4-105-112

УДК 394

ББК 26.89

Tatiana A. YAVNAYA

Key words

sacralization, archaeological sites, cyberethnography, holy places of the Southern Urals, Islam

Abstract

The number of pilgrims and visitors to the holy places of the Republic of Bashkortostan increases every year. New objects of worship are being built in the region every year and old ones are being improved. This article is devoted to the study of pilgrimage in Bashkiria at the present stage.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the reasons for the increase in the number of pilgrims and the existing trends of religious tourism in Bashkiria.

Materials and methods. Within the framework of the study, the materials of the field expedition were used, which were achieved through such methods as questionnaire, survey and overt observation. The methods of cyberethnography were also applied: the analysis of the Internet community, whose actors participate in events organized at the holy sites of the Southern Urals, was carried out.

Scientific novelty. This work is the first to study a sharp increase in pilgrimage in Bashkiria after 2019. In addition, the author applied overt observation in the expedition, which was last carried out by ethnographers on these monuments in 2010. Currently, foreign and domestic scientists are actively implementing the method of cyberethnography in the study of modern trends, the author of the article for the first time uses the method of cyberethnography in the study of religious pilgrimage in the Republic of Bashkortostan.

Study results. During the expedition, a survey of tourists, guides and pilgrims was conducted at the mausoleum of Kuseynbek and Tura Khan in Chishminsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and at the Ilchigulovo-IV burial mound (sacred mountain Narystau) in Miyakinsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan, a questionnaire was also compiled for a group of tourists from Ufa and an analysis of pilgrims by gender and age using cyberethnography methods was carried out. As a result of the conducted research, it was found that the flow of pilgrims and tourists to the holy places of the region increases annually.

Conclusions. The most active visitors to the holy places are the Muslims associated with Sufi brotherhoods. Most of the Muslims’ holy places are organized on the site of archaeological sites of the XIV–XV centuries. According to demographic characteristics, tourists are mostly middle-aged and elderly women, which shows the need to improve the infrastructure for leisure and walking.

References

1. Aldar batyr Rukhy tyuпan erenае кaitty! [The spirit of Aldar-batyr has returned to his homeland]. In: Sufi RB: группа в соц. сети «ВКонтакте». 2022. 10 авг. [Sufi RB: group in the social network “VKontakte”, 2022, Aug. 10]. Available at: https://vk.com/wall-78436717_2100?w=wall-78436717_2100 (Access Date: 2023, Feb. 2).
2. Belorussova S.Yu. Kiberetnografiya: metodologiya i tekhnologiya [Cyberethnography: methodology and technology]. Etnografiya, 2021, no. 3(13), pp. 123–145.
3. Garustovich G.N., Nechvaloda A.I. Srednevekovye kamennye mavzolei Bashkorto-stana [Medieval stone mausoleums of Bashkortostan]. Ufa, Kitap, 2020, 400 p.
4. Golovnev A.V., Belorussova S.Yu., Kisser T.S. Virtual’naya etnichnost’ i kiberet-nografiya [Virtual ethnicity and cyberethnography]. St. Petersburg, 2021, 280 p.
5. Informatsiya o religioznoi situatsii i gosudarstvenno-konfessional’nym ot-nosheniyam na territorii Respubliki Bashkortostan na 01.01.2021 [Information about the religious situation and state-confessional relations on the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan on 01.01.2021]. Available at: https://goo.su/0OkUWI (Access Date: 2023, Feb. 2).
6. Istomina A.G. Kratkosrochnoe vklyuchennoe nablyudenie: opyt dostizheniya rolei s vysokoi stepen’yu vovlechennosti [Short-term included observation: experience in achieving roles with a high degree of involvement]. Sotsiologiya: metodologiya, metody, matematicheskoe modelirovanie, 2013, no. 37, pp. 75–103.
7. Kamen’ Aldar batyru! Burzyanskii raion [The Aldar Batyr Stone! Burzyansky district]. In: Sufi RB: gruppa v sots. seti «VKontate». 2022. 31 iyulya [Sufi Republic: a group in the VKontakte social network. 2022, July 31]. Available at: https://vk.com/wall-78436717_2066?w=wall-78436717_2066 (Access Date: 2023, Feb. 2).
8. Kratkie itogi Vserossiiskoi perepisi naseleniya 2020 goda po munitsipal’nym raionam i gorodskim okrugam Respubliki Bashkortostan: statisticheskii byulleten’ [Summary results of the All-Russian Population Census of 2020 for municipal districts and urban districts of the Republic of Bashkortostan: statistical bulletin.]. Ufa, Bashkortostanstat Publ., 2023, part 1, 48 p. Available at: https://02.rosstat.gov.ru/folder/49063# (Access Date: 2023, Jan. 18).
9. Sobranie musul’man na gore Narystau 12 iyunya 2022 g. [Muslim gathering on Mount Narystau on June 12, 2022]. In: Sufi RB: gruppa v sots. seti «VKontate». 2022. 14 iyunya [Sufi Republic: a group in the VKontakte social network. 2022, Juny 14]. Available at: https://vk.com/wall-78436717_1983?w=wall-78436717_19830 (Access Date: 2023, Feb. 2).
10. Tishkov V.A. Rekviem po etnosu: Issledovaniya po sotsial’no-kul’turnoi antro-pologii [Requiem for Ethnos: Research on Socio-cultural Anthropology]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2003, 542 p.
11. Chislo religioznykh organizatsii, zaregistrirovannykh v Respublike Bashkorto-stan [The number of religious organizations registered in the Republic of Bashkortostan]. Available at: https://goo.su/86sU2 (Access Date: 2023, Feb. 2).
12. Panos D. “I” on the Web: Social Penetration Theory Revisited. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2014, vol. 5, no. 19, pp. 185–205.

Information about the author

Tatiana A. Yavnaya – Trainee Researcher, R.G. Kuzeev Institute of Ethnological Research, Ufa Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia, Ufa (yavnaya-t@mail.ru; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9825-523X).

For citations

Yavnaya T.A. APPLICATION OF NETNOGRAPHY METHODS IN THE STUDY OF MUSLIM PILGRIMS AND VISITORS TO THE HOLY PLACES OF THE REPUBLIC OF BASHKORTOSTAN. Historical Search, 2023, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 105–112. DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2023-4-4-105-112 (in Russian).

Download the full article