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Medieval Nomads and the Process of Islamization in the North Caspian Steppe Region

Seminario de investigación
Irina Shingiray

Mañana 12:00 - 14:00
Incipit, Sala 008

Islam spread into the North Caspian Steppe Region by the tenth century CE. And the first early medieval urban sites are reported to have emerged there by the same time. Although the process of Islamization in this region is still poorly understood, conventional explanations for the rise of Islam in this region treat this historical process as an urban phenomenon. Such suppositions are mainly based on available medieval textual sources and compilations, the authors of which never visited the North Caspian territories in person. In contrast to these sources, available archaeological evidence suggests that the spread of Islam in this region was more likely a product of extensive nomadic networks which expanded far beyond any permanent settlements.

In this presentation, I will briefly discuss the historical conditions of the Islamization process in this region. And I will highlight the important role of archaeological evidence in our understanding of the Islamization process in those northern frontier lands of the Islamic world. I will focus on archaeological evidence derived from non-urban and urban contexts and explore extant and potential interactions and intersections between nomadic non-urban and city populations in the Lower Volga Region of the Caspian Steppe. The paper will explore variations in Islamic practices of these communities based on their diverse cultural preferences and connections. I will also discuss how the Islamization process in that region took place in several waves following the migrations of new people into the region.

Irina Shingiray is a historical and anthropological archaeologist, who specializes in medieval Eurasian nomadism, nomadic empires, and their relations with the sedentary world. She received her PhD at Boston University (USA) and held a research appointment in the ERC project “Nomadic Empires” at the Faculty of History, University of Oxford (2015-2019). Currently she continues her interdisciplinary research as an associate member at the Faculty of History, while she is also an affiliate at the Oxford Nizamy Ganjavi Centre for the Study of the History, Languages, and Cultures of Azerbaijan, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Her particular focus is on the early medieval Khazar Empire and on the Islamization of the nomadic people of the Western Eurasian Steppe. Her main archaeological expertise is landscape and burial archaeology.

"La fosa abierta" [taller de lectura]

Taller

22/06/2026 12:00 - 14:00
Incipit, Sala 8

En el próximo taller de lectura comentaremos La fosa abierta de Brigitte Vasallo.

Resumen del libro: Brigitte Vasallo impugna en este libro dos silencios: el de la historia familiar, impuesto por la violencia de género, y el de la historia política, impuesto por la dictadura y la Transición. Una memoria sin monumento que arranca en el lugar de origen de su familia, la sierra de Chandrexa de Queixa, y se expande hacia los márgenes de la historia oficial. Su eje es el desmantelamiento del campo precapitalista en el sur de Europa con la llegada de los llamados milagros económicos de los años cincuenta, y la identidad de las mutantes descendientes de aquella diáspora, huérfanas de sentido.

Con el fin de reclamar la historia esquiva de su madre, Vasallo contacta con Gilles Charmat, el niño que aquella crió en París como empleada doméstica. Las cartas que le escribe, y el silencio de él, son el hilo conductor de La fosa abierta y encarnan la dificultad de los sujetos subalternos para acceder a su propia historia, custodiada siempre por las clases dominantes.

La autora busca un lenguaje que aúne dos mundos: el de la tradición oral y el de la literatura escrita, el de la memoria individual y el de la posibilidad del relato colectivo. La identidad txarnega, queer en sí misma y reapropiada, es el prisma desde el que se estructura el análisis que acaba por crear un espacio de enunciación propio. Desde esta posición de subalternidad, Vasallo construye un artefacto literario que no solo recupera una historia silenciada, sino que nombra lo que fue sepultado para confrontar las narrativas hegemónicas sobre el progreso, el género y la historia.