11 Sep Episode 6 – Interview with Eileen Kane (pt3)

This year’s Hajj safarnameh (travelogue) on Radio Islam with Umm Abdillah is extracted from Russian Hajj: Empire and the Pilgrimage to Mecca (2015) by Eileen Kane. Professor of Russian and Eurasian history at Connecticut College, Kane writes of how 19th century tsarist officials and later Soviets exploited Russia’s hajj traffic, which they perceived as both a liability and an opportunity for the state. This book provides vital insights into Muslims in the Russian empire and a fascinating window into the relationship between the colonisers and the colonised in the context of the Russian empire.

(Originally aired on Radio Islam on 11/09/2016)