In this article, I look at how political ethnography can contribute to the study of religious dynamics within conservative religious communities. Based on fieldwork conducted in Tajikistan within conservative Muslim circles, I take a reflexive stance by arguing that my informants used my status as a single foreign woman to steer interactions toward those of my religious conversion and need for marriage. Their repeated efforts and our interactions exposed the depth of their religious beliefs and its precedence over other identity markers such as ethnicity and language. This close access also allowed me to witness the exclusion and distrust that conservative Muslims face from the rest of the society as well as state authorities. Ultimately, I argue that political ethnography enables the production of a more nuanced portrait of conservative Muslims communities, which are often represented as hermetic and hostile. Political ethnography can be particularly useful to investigate sensitive issues such as religious identities and their complex relations to structures of power.

在本文中，我研究了政治民族志如何对保守宗教社区内的宗教动态进行研究。基于保守派穆斯林圈子在塔吉克斯坦进行的实地考察，我持反身态度，认为我的线人利用我作为单身外国妇女的身份来引导人与人之间的互动，以实现宗教信仰和婚姻的需要。他们的反复努力和我们的互动暴露了他们宗教信仰的深度及其在其他身份标记（例如种族和语言）上的优先地位。这种亲密接触也使我目睹了保守派穆斯林面对社会其他成员以及国家当局的排斥和不信任。最终，我认为，政治人种学可以使保守的穆斯林社区产生更加细微的差别，这些穆斯林社区通常被表示为封闭和敌对的。政治民族志对于调查敏感问题（例如宗教身份及其与权力结构的复杂关系）特别有用。