sikorsky diss. on russ-americans

[Max Pyziur]

At 12:46 AM 3/16/98 EST, SRogosin wrote:
>A person I interviewed for my work on older Russian communities mentioned
that
>Sikorsky's daughter did a master's or doctoral dissertation on Russian-
>Americans, with special emphasis on Connecticut, at Yale(?).
Unfortunately, he
>knew neither the title nor her full name (or whether she was using a married
>name by that time.)  Does this ring any bells? I've checked the Yale on-line
>catalog using author and keyword searches but came up empty. Any leads would
>be much appreciated.

Now this is interesting.  I've been wondering about Russian-speaking
communities here in the U.S., (pretty much as an outsider looking in)
trying to develop some sort of understanding beyond the anecdotal.  One of
the things which fuels my interest is being of Ukrainian extraction and
being vigilant for manifestations of Ukrainian-American life, the usual
ones being churches, cultural/social centers, with this group expanded to
include bars & restaurants, resorts, fraternal/research organizations,
schools, scouting organizations, newspapers, etc.  From what I can tell
many of these institutions sprang up from sort of defensive mindset - the
need to preserve some sort cultural way of life, if anything, something
Ukrainian in name.

The other thing which spurs the curiosity is the visiblity of
Russian-speaking communities here in the U.S.  Currently, I live in NYC
(Manhattan) and occasionaly traipse out to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn (the
visible nexus of NYC's Russian-speaking community), sitting out on the
boardwalk at some restaurant taking in the setting sun's evening rays
wondering about the social order ambling around me (of course, I don't do
this in winter).  In addition, there are at least four Russian language
dailies sitting at most newstands all over town and somewhere there was the
figure bandied about that there are about 450,000 Russian-speaking people
*alone*!  I also lived for an eon in St. Louis where again there was a very
visible Russian-speaking population (mostly along Pershing Avenue between
Union and DeBaliviere and Delmar around Eastgate, for those interested in
those sorts of details).

What interests me is how does this very large group of people perceive
itself, does it see/know itself as a community, with one or a set of common
interests and what might those be? Does it have an interest in preserving
itself in some sort of institutional way and with what sort of
institutions?  How does it want to integrate or keep itself apart from the
rest of American society?

______________
>Serge Rogosin
>93-49 222 Street
>Queens Village, NY 11428
>tel. & fax (718) 479-2881
>e-mail: srogosin at aol.com

Respectfully,


Max Pyziur
pyz at panix.com