Biography
Richard Byington is a first-year graduate student in the joint Master of Arts in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies/Master of Science in Library and Information Science Program and a 2022-2023 REEEC FLAS fellow, studying Russian. Before coming to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Richard received his B.A. in History from Ferris State University and his M.A. in Comparative History of the Circumpolar World from Northern Arctic Federal University (Arkhangelsk, Russia).
This summer, as a Summer Research Laboratory Associate, Richard completed research on a project titled “Comparative History of Arctic Indigenous Peoples’ Interaction with Missionaries.” As an M.A./M.S. dual degree student, his research focuses on the Komi people of Northwestern Russia, with an eye towards a comparative approach. He is most interested in exploring Arctic Indigenous Peoples and how their interactions with missionaries influenced their cultural development and worldviews.
Research Interests
Imperial Russian History
Russian Religious History
Russian Northern Indigenous Peoples
Arctic History
Arctic International Relations
Education
BA from Ferris State University in History
MA From Northern Arctic Federal University in Comparative History of the Circumpolar World (Arkhangelsk, Russia)