This article was downloaded by: [University of Victoria]On: 18 November 2014, At: 23:00Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Contemporary ReligionPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjcr20

Growing Up in the North Caucasus:Society, Family, Religion and EducationKen Robertsa

a Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies,University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UKPublished online: 09 Sep 2014.

To cite this article: Ken Roberts (2014) Growing Up in the North Caucasus: Society,Family, Religion and Education, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 29:3, 562-564, DOI:10.1080/13537903.2014.945766

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2014.945766

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about the more unfortunate aspects of Jehovah does not make much sensewhen there is not much biblical faith around anyway.

DAVID MARTINLondon School of Economics (Emeritus), University of London, London, UK

© 2014 David Martinhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2014.945762

REFERENCES

Casanova, Jose. “Ethno-Linguistic and Religious Pluralism and Democratic Construction inUkraine.” Eds. Barnett Rubin, and Jack Snyder. Post-Soviet Political Order: Conflict and StateBuilding. London: Routledge, 1998. 75–96.

Christ, Carol P. Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality. New York: Routledge,1997.

Wanner, Catherine. Communities of the Converted: Ukrainians and Global Evangelism. New York:Cornell UP, 2007.

Wasyliw, Zenon. “Orthodox Churches in Ukraine.” Ed. Lucian N. Leustean. Eastern Christianity andPolitics in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge, 2014.

Growing Up in the North Caucasus: Society, Family, Religion and EducationIRINA MOLODIKOVA & ALAN WATT, 2014Abingdon & New York: RoutledgeCentral Asian Studies 28xviii + 205 pp., £85.00, US$145.00 (hb)ISBN: 978–0–415–68592–4 (hb), ISBN 978–1–315–85683–4 (eb)

It is rare to be offered this kind of glimpse into what it is like to grow up andlive in the North Caucasus. The region is best known for the wars betweenRussia and Chechen separatists in the mid-1990s and at the end of that decade.The North Caucasus was then dangerous, no-go territory. Since the beginningof the 2000s, the region has made headlines with bombs exploding in Moscowand other Russian cities and, most spectacular of all, the hostage crisis at aschool in Beslan (North Ossetia) in 2004, which ended with 355 people deadand 386 in hospital.

We must be grateful to Irina Molodikova and Alan Watt for producing abook that allows us to judge whether life in the region is really as grim andhazardous as the headlines suggest. The answer seems to be ‘yes’. There areborder disputes between the different republics and disputed land claims bythe scores of non-titular ethnic groups that share the region, which ismountainous, largely rural, and desperately poor. Young people know thatthey will not obtain proper jobs without connections. Individuals with jobs orbusiness contracts to award are expected to favour their own people. This is aregion of blood feuds and bride abductions. Some girls say that this is fine ifthe girl and her family have given prior consent. Others argue that it is allright in any case because it proves that the husband-to-be is really keen on thegirl. The main faith in the region is Islam; up to a fifth of Muslims, dependingon the republic, say that they are willing to die for their faith. Males are

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expected to be strong and good at sport (especially wrestling) and (unlikemost Russians) they are keen to do military service. Men are expected tosupport one another—the family, the clan, and the ethnic group. Parents worrythat their sons will ‘leave for the forest’ and join a militia.

Vladimir Putin is not alone in deploring the break-up of the SovietUnion. Most North Caucasians appear to agree. They express nostalgia forthe internationalism of Soviet times when they were all Soviet citizens.The ‘Rossiiki’ identity that the state currently promotes (Russia as a civicstate, the homeland of many nations and ethnic groups) has little purchasein the North Caucasus, especially among Moslems. They know that theyare viewed negatively by Russians. This reinforces their need to sticktogether.

The North Caucasus is still regarded as a high-risk region to visit and itspeople are suspicious of all outsiders. So how did this book come about?From 2008, one of the authors (Irina Molodikova) worked on an OpenSociety project which trained teachers in how to cope with marginalisedand disturbed children. She visited all seven North Caucasus republics, butmost of the evidence gathered for this book is from North Ossetia,Ingushetia, and Chechnya. Teachers supplied information about trends ineducation since communism ended (the general picture is of decay) andopened access for interviews with students, for questionnaires to bedistributed in classes, and for essays to be written by the young peopleabout their lives and aspirations. A total of 1,365 students took part in theresearch.

The book is a gem. There is an introductory chapter on the authors’theoretical approach and methods, then two chapters on education(information mainly from teachers), followed by chapters on each of the threefactors that the young people felt had been most important in theirupbringing. These were religion (especially among Muslims), families, andtraditions. Religion was taught in state schools and religious schools. A streamof young men had been sent abroad to train as Imans, which had led to a glutof clerics, all preaching their versions of the true faith. Families werepatriarchal. Males took all major decisions, but women were responsible forbringing up the children. The traditions and honour of the family, clan, andnation had to be defended. Young women were expected to remain virginsuntil married. However, traditions were being challenged, especially in thecities. Mobile phones enabled boys and girls to contact each other discreetly.The internet was allowing young men to access pornography. In so far asreligion, families, and traditions were losing influence, what was replacingthem? All too often it seemed to be social and psychological stress anddisorganisation.

The authors conclude with the sobering assessment that change in the regionwill be a long haul. The question posed throughout the book is whether theoverall trend is modernising or archaising. Readers are left to decide. TheNorth Caucasus seems to be like no other place on earth. The South Caucasuscountries are very different. So is Central Asia. This book will help readers tounderstand why so many citizens in the former Soviet republics prefer

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managed democracy with a strong leader to the West’s preferred liberaldemocracy.

KEN ROBERTSDepartment of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies,

University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK© 2014 Ken Roberts

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2014.945766

Christianity and the University Experience: Understanding Student FaithMATHEW GUEST, KRISTIN AUNE, SONYA SHARMA & ROB WARNER,2013London & New York: Bloomsbury244 pp., £65.00, US$120.00 (hb), £21.99, US$34.95 (pb)ISBN 978–1–78093–601–7 (hb), ISBN 978–1–78093–784–7 (pb), ISBN 978–1–78093–621–5 (eb)

There has been a recent surge of interest in religion in higher education on thepart of academics, policy makers, and the media. Issues surrounding the placeof religion on campus have come under scrutiny, not least in the light of therecent controversy surrounding external (religious) speakers and their right torequest that the audience be segregated by gender. This controversy reached apoint at which the Prime Minister intervened, calling upon Universities UK (anorganisation which understands itself as the voice for universities in the UK—ithad commissioned the guidelines) to revoke its advice that religious speakersshould be allowed to have students segregated during talks and lectures.

With this in mind, the publication of Christianity and the University Experienceis timely. The field of religion in higher education has so far lacked acomprehensive study of the complexities of religious students’ experiences ofuniversity. One limitation of the present study is, however, the authors’exclusive focus on Christianity and, while there are plausible reasons for thisfocus (given the cultural residue of Christianity in many UK universities), astrong case could be made for the inclusion of a range of faiths, which wouldhighlight common issues across all faith groups as well as faith-specific issues.

The book is usefully divided into eight chapters, taking the reader on ajourney which begins with the historical, cultural, and scholarly context ofuniversities and then addresses key issues relating to the beliefs, practices, andvalues of Christian students on campus. Most striking about the authors’research is the sheer magnitude of their data: they incorporate over 4,000survey responses and 75 in-depth interviews, spanning 13 universities, all withvarying institutional contexts (traditional elite universities, inner-city red-brickuniversities, 1960s campus universities, post-1992 universities, and CathedralsGroup universities).

The authors’ aim is to provide a “snapshot” (4) of Christian studentsstudying at universities in England in order to establish their characteristics as

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