The Muslim Population of Ufa. Analysis and Visualization of the Data of the "Religious Census" of the NKVD in 1923

Abstract

The subject of the analysis is the materials of the 1923 census of Muslim religious organizations in Ufa, compiled by the author into database «Muslims of Ufa according to the 1923 NKVD census». The issues of socio-territorial localization of the Muslim population are considered in the context of the functioning of a religious parish as an element of the urban structure. NKVD census (1923) testifies the territorial distribution of Ufa Muslims in accordance with the social characteristics of the parishioners, the most distinctive of which are class affiliation, type of labor activity, knowledge of the Russian language. Muslim parishes of the 1920 differ from modern ones. The former socio-territorial confessional organization turned into an ethno-confessional association without territorial boundaries and social homogeneity. Main conclusions: 1) the materials of the «religious census» of the NKVD (1923) have a high information potential for historical, socio-anthropological, religious studies; 2) 1923 data fixed social homogeneity of Muslim parishes in Ufa. A hundred years ago, the urban parish was the same organizational unit of the Muslim population as the rural one, uniting Muslims of a certain territory, social status, types of work, lifestyle, language of communication; 3) the materials of the «religious census» of the NKVD are important as a source for studying the social topography of the city, the history of religious organizations. The results of the analysis can be used in the study of ethno-confessional processes, in the teaching of history.