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December 13, 2012鈥擜n unlikely research proposal led Masha Goncharova (C鈥�14) to a community keeping their Imperial Russian traditions alive and well in Paris.

This past summer Goncharova, an major and minor, conducted research for the , an initiative by the and the . Now in its third year, the project investigates the 鈥渋ntersection of education and social justice,鈥� Goncharova explained. The project provides students with fellowships to research how religious communities advance development through education.

鈥淥ver the years, [the project鈥檚] been fortunate enough to include more fellows and more topics,鈥� Goncharova said. Many research projects originally focused on work at Jesuit institutions. 鈥淢ine was one of the projects [that] got to branch out from the original scope of the project.鈥�

Goncharova is a native speaker, but she also speaks and . As she looked for a possible research topic, she tried to link her language skills and knowledge of Russian Orthodoxy. Online research led her to a youth organization of Russians in France, ACER-Russie (l鈥橝ction Chr茅tienne des Etudiants Russes).

鈥淚 learned that there鈥檚 a huge Russian expat community in France, one that鈥檚 been developing for 100 years now,鈥� she said. This community descends from Russian immigrants who fled persecution during the Bolshevik Revolution. 鈥淭hese people were the ones whose cultural and intellectual efforts built up Imperial Russia. They were forced to flee what they created,鈥� she continued. Goncharova went to Paris to answer one question, 鈥淗ow did they end up in Paris still together, after all these generations?鈥�

She discovered that community members would gather at the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church in Paris. 鈥淭hrough the church, they consolidated their communities and survived through faith, which I found fascinating.鈥�

As these Russian immigrants realized that the Bolsheviks would remain in power, they lost their citizenship and began to establish lives in France. 鈥淚 think one of the most important things to be a just society is to have an identity. I think these people preserved a moment in time and an identity鈥攂ecause Imperial Russia clearly no longer exists, but it does [for them].鈥�

Goncharova interviewed three generations from the Russian community in and around Paris to learn how they passed down their traditions. 鈥淭hese kids in [later] generations were educated in a completely Russian Orthodox tradition,鈥� she said. The community established Russian schools, seminaries, and summer camps.

They no longer had the social or financial status that they did in Russia, but the generations refused to let go of their ideals. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e famous for becoming cab drivers because they were the most polite. They would open the door for you and make polite conversation. They were enacting Imperial Russian manners,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat was their approach to everything.

鈥淭he greatest challenge I saw them overcome was figuring out the day-to-day basics of life without political, social, or financial status.鈥�

Of course, many in the community adapted and changed over generations. 鈥淭hey have different summer camps and different churches. Some take a Western approach, and others take a Russophile approach,鈥� she said. Goncharova found close-knit communities that may prefer to speak French, but pray in Russian and have never let go of their religion. 鈥淚 think [faith] is the one thing that could tie these people together,鈥� she explained. 鈥淓very activity they were engaged in was connected to the church in some way.鈥�

Over the course of her research, Goncharova was most surprised by her own reaction to the community. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 expect to become so emotionally tied to these people,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am also a Russian immigrant; I came to the United States when I was nine. I felt ties to that very first generation who had to move, but I never had a community around me.鈥� In her small town in California, she didn鈥檛 have neighbors who spoke Russian or believed in Orthodoxy.

鈥淗ad I kept [all] that I think it would have been an overwhelmingly different experience for me,鈥� she said.

After three weeks of research, interviews, and new friends, Goncharova wrote a report about all three generations, and they have encouraged her to continue the project. 鈥淧eople who were older said, 鈥榊ou have to keep telling our story.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 really inspiring, and I hope to do more with this because I felt like my work wasn鈥檛 really done at all.鈥�
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