Andrew Donskov, John Woodsworth and Chad Gaffield, ed.: the Doukhobor Centenary in Canada.

Ottawa: The Slavic Research Group and the Institute of Canadian Studies at the University of Ottawa, 2000. xiii + 365 pp.

Once again the Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa, this time in conjunction with the Institute of Canadian Studies, has produced swiftly, neatly and efficiently a book composed of the proceedings of a conference. Most of the papers are in English, two of them translated from Russian originals, and two are in French. The volume is, on the whole, well and attractively produced. But not all bibliographical references are duly footnoted and a few misprints persist: e.g. "patriarchy" for patriarchate (p. 13, n. 28) and "soul" for Son (p. 118, n. 9).

The conference was called to celebrate the centenary of the arrival in Canada of the Russian Doukhobors, one of several groups that have found a home, if not always a welcome, within what is now an officially multicultural society. And, as with other groups, there are inherent difficulties to the study of Doukhoborism: is it to be defined as a set of doctrines, a way of life, a form of culture or society, a linguistic group? Even if one grants that centrality of what Popoff calls its "life-concept," one is constantly frustrated by the giving of uncommon …