Shifting Frontiers Islam and Christianity in Post-Soviet Ajaria

Abstract

In the Caucasus as elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, religion gained important momentum after the abolishment of stateatheism and the demise of communism. The renewed importance and visibility of religion in this region is often explained as a return to, or revival of, pre-Soviet religious practices and beliefs. However, the religious dynamics in Georgia's southwestern autonomous region Ajaria radically contest such explanations. Here, the borders between Islam and Christianity are shifting in favour of the latter following increased confrontations with post-Soviet Georgian nationalism.