Diaspora in the Countryside: Two Mennonite Communities and Mid-twentieth Century Rural Disjuncture
Royden Loewen. University of Toronto Press, 2006. 361 pages. |
This study by Royden Loewen, history professor and chair of Mennonite studies at the University of Winnipeg, reveals how two Mennonite communities of Kleine Gemeinde origin – in Kansas and Manitoba – responded to the cultural transformation of North America’s rural society between 1930 and 1980 (known as the “Great Disjuncture”). Whether moving to town or city in two national contexts, or re-constructing “old” ways in Mexico or British Honduras, these communities employed a variety of economic, religious, and cultural strategies to negotiate identity and faith in a changing world. Loewen skillfully sets the telling detail into broader patterns in each place, and is deeply appreciative of “the resilience and ingenuity of humans as they recrafted and regrounded their worlds” along diverse paths.
—Dora Dueck
“The Prodigal Appetite” by Steve Prince. |
The Invisible Dignity Project, an art exhibit envisioned by Cornelius Buller of McIvor MB Church, Winnipeg, was held at the Mennonite Heritage Gallery in Winnipeg this fall. The exhibit highlighted the humanity of marginalized or oppressed people, featuring works by gallery curator Ray Dirks, Gerald Folkerts, Jo Cooper, Yisa Akinbolaji, and Steve Prince. Prominent reformational aesthetics teacher Cal Seerveld called the event very important. “This is what Christian art should be about, and no one else has the chutzpah to go against the grain in the same way,” said Seerveld, noting that Christian artists are usually enticed towards mainstream themes and galleries, or relegated to church backwaters. Seerveld’s lectures included a look at Michelangelo and Botticelli’s Christian conversions and subsequent changes in style. The event coincided with the second annual day of prayer and fasting for victims of human trafficking.
—invisibledignity.org
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