Brief Resume – 2006

Koozma J. Tarasoff

Ottawa, Ontario

Born in Saskatchewan, Koozma J. Tarasoff is a scholar who has studied the Doukhobor social movement in Canada, USA and the former Soviet Union for over 50 years. With a dozen books and countless articles on the subject, he has provided flesh and bones to many Doukhobor pioneers of the 20th century who have given spirit to their heritage. His writings have been complemented with extensive photography, ethnography and the spoken word, with major archival collections found in the Saskatchewan Archives as well as in the BC Archives where his historic photos reside. His website www.spirit-wrestlers.com provides a link to the past and the present. Koozma Tarasoff believes that the accumulated wisdom of the elders, the struggle of the Spirit within one’s own heart, and the challenge of adhering to the principle of non-violence in an increasingly violent world are issues as timely today as they were over a hundred years ago when 7,500 Russian Doukhobors first settled on the Canadian prairies.