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AbstractThis article advances a framework aimed at capturing the political life of ethical intensity by putting autonomist theory in resonance with ethnographic material pertaining to quietist Muslim milieus in post‐Soviet Russia. The emancipatory and prefigurative potential of collective projects of self‐legislation – in this case, 'halal living' – are explored through the notions of ethical form of life and Rule/Law. It will be argued that autonomist theory (a) is helpful in conceptualizing the friction between ethical projects (however quietist) and dominant moral/political orders; (b) has the potential to broaden anthropological conversations on virtue beyond existing fault lines (notably between what I call 'traditionist' and 'liberal' theoretical families) as well as conceptual silos ('religion', 'secularity'); and (c) can help us envision a radical, politically engaged anthropology of ethics.

"Traditional Islam" has emerged in the post-Soviet Republic of Tatarstan (Russian Federation) as a powerful if contentious discursive trope. In this paper, I look at traditional Islam and its conceptual twin, "non-traditional Islam", as normative governmental tools aimed at defining acceptable or unwelcome form of religious commitment in an environment in which the rapid success of Sunni piety trends after socialism's end has exacerbated the anxieties of both state institutions and a predominantly secular public. Traditional Islam's multiple facets are explored, with particular attention given to the aspects of heritage-making, at the local (republican) level, and loyalty-fostering at the national (all-Russian) level. The concept's genealogy, spanning different phases of Soviet and post-Soviet history, is analysed in detail. In addition, I focus on the reception of the traditional/non-traditional Islam discourse amongst grassroots pious Muslims, highlighting instances of criticism, lampooning, rejection, but also qualified acceptance. The concluding sections of my paper touch on "theological" traditional Islam's potential and limitations for expanding civil society and harnessing grassroots enthusiasm.

The 'halal movement' is an orientation predominantly mobilised by urban youth and by the emerging urban middle class in Tatarstan. It articulates a cosmopolitan, universal Islamic discourse, explicitly separates ethnicity and Muslimness, and stages religion as an ethical issue, tied neither to a nation nor to a theological doctrine.

The border between Italy and Slovenia changed several times but only in the last century the relations between the two respective cultures were conditioned by political situations. The aim is to analyze the difference between the two literatures in an ethnically mixed territory with reference to their mutual relationship in two periods: after the First World War, in the fascist period, and after the Second World War, when Istria and Dalmatia have been incorporated in Yugoslavia. At the same time, we can find an alteration of the use of the language along the border, but over the last twenty years the two linguistic minorities, Italian in Slovenia and Slovenian in Italy, recognized and protected by European laws, tend to talk to each other rather than in English, as they show the studies of linguistic landscape.