APPLICATION OF NETNOGRAPHY METHODS IN THE STUDY OF MUSLIM PILGRIMS AND VISITORS TO THE HOLY PLACES OF THE REPUBLIC OF BASHKORTOSTAN

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.