Mennonite Studies program celebrates anniversary

The 25th anniversary of the Chair in Mennonite Studies at the University of Winnipeg was celebrated Oct. 18 with a one-day conference, “Mennonites and the Challenge of Multiculturalism,” held at the university.

Harry Loewen, former Chair of Mennonite Studies

The elderly Dr. Harry Duckworth, president of the University of Winnipeg in 1978, gave a charming chronology of the Chair’s beginnings. At that time, he said, Canada was “on a multicultural binge.” The government encouraged the establishment of multicultural chairs at universities with significant grants if matched by the institution and/or donors.

David Friesen, founder and owner of Qualico Homes, offered $300,000 toward setting up a Chair of Mennonite Studies. “There was no champagne” at the inaugural celebration, Dr. Duckworth recalled, “but the coffee was strong.”

The conference’s keynote address was given by the Honourable Jean Augustine, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism. She placed the Chair’s founding in the context of former Prime Minister Trudeau’s vision of a “just society.” She also talked about a survey her department had done to see how the multiculturalism policy is working.

The Honourable Jean Augustine, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism

Although the results were not surprising – the longer people live in Canada, the more attached to Canada they are, for example – the survey also provided “benchmarks” for the racism some people continue to experience, which needs to be addressed. It is most often felt in the workplace.

Al Reimer reminisced on his experiences “between the departments of English and Mennonite Studies” and Hans Werner described the vision of David Friesen. A businessman and scholar, Friesen had observed the pull of universities on Mennonite youth and “puzzled over” how to integrate Mennonite experience and the larger professional world. The Chair’s establishment would offer “the power of historical consciousness.”

Harry Loewen, first holder of the Chair, reflected on what had been important to him. He valued freedom in teaching, he said, rejected a triumphalist view of Mennonite history, did not propagandize, stressed Mennonites’ societal contributions, sought to make Mennonite Studies a respectable academic discipline, and worked consciously from the background of a minority group.

Several students – Mennonite and non-Mennonite – reflected on their experience in Mennonite Studies courses. A group of singers presented a taste of the rich musical tradition of Mennonites. Ted Regehr recalled the founding of the Journal of Mennonite Studies, and Hildi Froese Tiessen spoke of the considerable influence literary voices have exerted in the Mennonite community.

James Urry, a New Zealand scholar who has done extensive study of the Mennonites, referred to the benefits of being an “outsider.” Even Mennonite academics have “a surprising number of blind spots,” he said. He recalled the once-lively debate between Mennonites who wanted to be “ethnic without religion” and those who wanted to be “religious without ethnicity.” He had wondered, he said, why Mennonites were part of multiculturalism, which he said was “nationalism in disguise.”

Royden Loewen is the second and current holder of the Chair in Mennonite Studies, appointed in 1996.

—Dora Dueck