Transnational Cultural Ties: Zinaida Shakhovskoy at the Crossroads of Russian Émigré Networks

• In Event: Modernist Network between the North and the East

Abstract

This paper offers a renewed perspective on the role of individual mediators in facilitating cultural exchange among Russian émigrés during the interwar period in Belgium, focusing on the example of Zinaida Shakhovskoy and her family. By adopting the horizontal approach, which challenges these hierarchical center-periphery models (Piotrowski, 2009), this paper conceptualizes Russian emigration as an interconnected network rather than isolated centers. As a case study, it examines the life and professional activities of Princess Zinaida Shakhovskoy, who fled Russia in 1920 and settled as a refugee in Belgium, a northern country far from her eastern origins.

Author

• Elizaveta Berquin, U libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)