20 Projects in 20 Years: New Millennium Mosques of Russia
Unique ID
ICMA-P1403
Comment
“20 Projects in 20 Years” – A Review
Overall, the paper is rich with information and also lacking a conceptual or theoretical perspective.
This paper is a helpful summary of technical, stylistic, and fiscal aspects of mosque architecture in certain regions of the Southern Federal District and the Volga Federal District in Russia, including regions with either a predominately Muslim or Russian population, and interpretive comments about symbolic aspects linked to historical and/or contemporary socio-political dynamics. As a summary of twenty different mosque projects in eleven different regions (esp. Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan), this paper is both enlightening and challenging to read.
This reader identifed the following weaknesses of the paper:
1. Although the purpose of the paper is fairly clear - a survey of 20 significant mosque projects over 20 years - and there are many very interesting and enlightening factual items and interpretive comments, there is no clear thesis. What are the author's principal conclusions and what is the author trying to tell us about these significant and varied projects?
2. The abstract itself (and the bulk of the paper) is simply descriptive and not analytic. As a summative report, it is interesting, but very much a work in progress.
3. The organizational structure, including the dominant sections, need to be more clearly defined or demarcated. There is an adequate, but limited, abstract, a brief introduction, and no clear conclusion; otherwise, it is primarily a catalog of notes regarding each of the mosque projects.There is no discussion of sources and no bibliography. The reader may benefit by the information, but has no means to follow-up with his or her own review or critical assessment of the author's facts and interpretations.
4. The English-language style is sometimes difficult and needs copyediting, sometimes for sentence construction and other grammatical issues - sometimes for clarity of meaning.
“20 Projects in 20 Years” – A Review
Overall, the paper is rich with information and also lacking a conceptual or theoretical perspective.
This paper is a helpful summary of technical, stylistic, and fiscal aspects of mosque architecture in certain regions of the Southern Federal District and the Volga Federal District in Russia, including regions with either a predominately Muslim or Russian population, and interpretive comments about symbolic aspects linked to historical and/or contemporary socio-political dynamics. As a summary of twenty different mosque projects in eleven different regions (esp. Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan), this paper is both enlightening and challenging to read.
This reader identifed the following weaknesses of the paper:
1. Although the purpose of the paper is fairly clear - a survey of 20 significant mosque projects over 20 years - and there are many very interesting and enlightening factual items and interpretive comments, there is no clear thesis. What are the author's principal conclusions and what is the author trying to tell us about these significant and varied projects?
2. The abstract itself (and the bulk of the paper) is simply descriptive and not analytic. As a summative report, it is interesting, but very much a work in progress.
3. The organizational structure, including the dominant sections, need to be more clearly defined or demarcated. There is an adequate, but limited, abstract, a brief introduction, and no clear conclusion; otherwise, it is primarily a catalog of notes regarding each of the mosque projects.There is no discussion of sources and no bibliography. The reader may benefit by the information, but has no means to follow-up with his or her own review or critical assessment of the author's facts and interpretations.
4. The English-language style is sometimes difficult and needs copyediting, sometimes for sentence construction and other grammatical issues - sometimes for clarity of meaning.