An exploration of an embodied, practice-centered, and continuous process through which Orthodox Christian women in the American South cultivate a compelling religious womanhood.
Becoming Orthodox is a multi-lingual, ethnographic study of two Orthodox Christian communities in the U.S. Utilizing interview material, participant observation, and participant participation, Kravchenko argues that Russian women who immigrate to the United States and American women who convert to Orthodox Christianity engage with the materiality and visuality of the Orthodox Church to embrace conservative gender roles of a patriarchal tradition in a way that propels them to actively advocate for the equality, freedom, and empowerment of women.
Becoming Orthodox adds a new angle to the literature on the conservative religious women because of its attention to the intersection of religion, gender, and ethnicity. By attending to how Russian immigrant and American convert women - in the midst of their simultaneously sympathetic and antagonistic relationships - made choices about what icons to venerate, what prayers to use, how to dress, what food to cook, and how to raise their children, the book demonstrates that the project of becoming a good Orthodox woman was entangled in the project of defining what it means to be authentically "Russian" and "American." Through performative ethnographic writing, the book illuminates how, in the social context of immigration and conversion, Russian and American women commonly sought to create a place of belonging by constructing meaningful ethno-religious homes and producing their respective Russian Orthodox and (Un)Russo-American Orthodox identities.
| ISBN: | 9781531513887 |
| Publication date: | 4th August 2026 |
| Author: | Elena V Kravchenko |
| Publisher: | Fordham University Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 384 pages |
| Series: | Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought |
| Genres: |
Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches Gender studies, gender groups Politics and government |
An exploration of an embodied, practice-centered, and continuous process through which Orthodox Christian women in the American South cultivate a compelling religious womanhood.
Becoming Orthodox is a multi-lingual, ethnographic study of two Orthodox Christian communities in the U.S. Utilizing interview material, participant observation, and participant participation, Kravchenko argues that Russian women who immigrate to the United States and American women who convert to Orthodox Christianity engage with the materiality and visuality of the Orthodox Church to embrace conservative gender roles of a patriarchal tradition in a way that propels them to actively advocate for the equality, freedom, and empowerment of women.
Becoming Orthodox adds a new angle to the literature on the conservative religious women because of its attention to the intersection of religion, gender, and ethnicity. By attending to how Russian immigrant and American convert women - in the midst of their simultaneously sympathetic and antagonistic relationships - made choices about what icons to venerate, what prayers to use, how to dress, what food to cook, and how to raise their children, the book demonstrates that the project of becoming a good Orthodox woman was entangled in the project of defining what it means to be authentically "Russian" and "American." Through performative ethnographic writing, the book illuminates how, in the social context of immigration and conversion, Russian and American women commonly sought to create a place of belonging by constructing meaningful ethno-religious homes and producing their respective Russian Orthodox and (Un)Russo-American Orthodox identities.
Becoming Orthodox features in the following genres: Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, Gender studies, gender groups, Politics and government
Becoming Orthodox is available in Hardback, Paperback
Becoming Orthodox was written by Elena V Kravchenko and published by Fordham University Press
Becoming Orthodox has 384 pages
Yes it is part of Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought series
£27.90