ABSTRACT

‘Migrants bring more than their nationalities with them; they also bring their religion,’ according to Philip Connor. But after moving to a foreign country, a migrant’s religion changes. Is religion important for Georgian migrants in their everyday life? How is the religious expression and significance of religion changing among Georgian migrants during their lives in the new society? The questions are also relevant in light of religiosity in Georgia. Contemporary Georgian society is characterized by the importance of religion in everyday life, the intensity of religious practices and the authority of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The importance of religion in terms of cultural and national identity is an idiosyncrasy of religious culture in Georgia.

This chapter explores how a secular and pluralistic society influences the religious identity and religious practices (frequency of attendance at religious services) of second-wave Georgian migrants in Paris. The diaspora includes mostly students and labor migrants. This situation is constantly changing in contrast to the first wave Georgian diaspora (the descendants of Georgians who migrated to France after the Soviet occupation of Georgia in 1921).

Every Georgian newcomer, in spite of his or her religious life in Georgia, is expected to visit the Georgian Orthodox Church in Paris. For many migrants, ‘going to church is like being in Georgia for a while.’ Under the emotional stress of adapting to a new culture, values and urban life, religion plays a significant role in migrants’ everyday life. Religion has an integrating function. Later on, religion becomes less important in everyday life, in which a migrants’ religiosity tends towards privatization. This research finds the influence of the process of individualization, which subsequently changes their religiosity while living in French society: ‘I am too busy to go every Sunday to church, but I burn a candle at home.’ Some migrants separate religion from their public life: ‘I do not speak about my religion with my French colleagues, it is not common here.’ In contrast to believers living in Georgia, religion becomes a private matter for the migrants. During the process of integration into the new society, the rate of religious participation decreases, and individuals form their religious orientations more independently. They are then less likely to be linked with institutional religion and religious authorities.

In accordance with Luckmann’s thesis, modernization and individualization lead to a change in the social forms of religion but not to its disappearance. A Georgian migrant’s religion might become ‘invisible’ in French society, but it maintains one’s ties with Georgian culture. In other words, religion remains an important marker of a migrant’s identity. Belonging to Christianity is considered significant for their national identity (belonging without going). Celebrating national feasts in the Georgian Orthodox Church or protesting the occupation of Georgia as a member of the Georgian Church community is a manifestation of this linkage.