Multiple cultural encounters of urban youth in Russia’s muslim regions

Abstract

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The article presents the results of studies of urban youth culture in two Russia’s predominantly Muslim regions. Gerard Delanty’s theory of cultural encounters and the cultural scene approach form the theoretical base of the work. Its empirical base is the research project entitled ‘Fields of positive interethnic interactions and youth cultural scenes in the Russian cities’. Fields of interactions are regarded as contact zones where some combination of practices and agents produces a potential for bridging ethnic divides. The results of two case studies conducted within the project are discussed in the article. First, a case study of a Tatar post-folk metal group demonstrates that elements of ethnic culture can be used as a resource for creating communicative ties among young people. Second, a study of animé fans describes the formation of a new youth cultural style in Makhachkala and the difficulties in interaction of its carriers with a mostly conservative environment.