DOCSLIB.ORG

Anabaptist to Zwieback: Textual Access and Exclusion In

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Anabaptist to Zwieback: Textual Access and Exclusion In ANABAPTIST TO ZWIEBACK: TEXTUAL ACCESS AND EXCLUSION IN RUSSIAN MENNONITE COMMUNITY COOKBOOKS OF SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS by Amy Harris-Aber A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of English Middle Tennessee State University August 2020 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Rhonda McDaniel, Chair Dr. Julie A. Myatt Dr. Kate Pantelides Dr. Jordynn Jack ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am thankful for my Mom, who kept reminding me that finishing this degree and this dissertation is an accomplishment that no one can ever take away. I am thankful for my Dad who is a gentle, supportive, strong force of good in this world. I am thankful for the evenings before bed when he’d tell stories about The Wizard of Oz. It included, among other things, being scooped up and whirled around in a “tornado.” I realize now that Dad told me stories so that someday, I’d tell my own. I am thankful for my chosen sisters who believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself. Stephanie Owen-Aiken, Maggie Borders, Jessy Changstrom, and Rachel Donegan – four names that mean home to me. I am thankful to my advisor Dr. Julie Myatt, who gave me her time and guidance and care throughout this process. I am thankful to my committee members, Jordynn and Kate. I am thankful to Rhonda McDaniel whose warmth and intellect are unmatched. I am thankful for Jeremy. You cannot find people like Jeremy. They simply find you and bless you forever. He’s the reason my heart beats. I’m the reason for at least half of his gray hair. Last but not least, I hold this line – this space – in gratitude of my grandmother, Lila. In all the ways that matter, this project is for her. ii ABSTRACT Russian Mennonite immigrants who settled south central Kansas in the late 19th century and their descendants naturally developed a discourse community that differentiates them from the dominant culture in which they reside. Changing regional dynamics regarding diversity along with continued acculturation impacts this ethnoreligious community in a kind of dual displacement; the descendants of these Russian Mennonites not only live in the shadow of their ancestors’ collected memories and traumas related to migration, but have and are currently witnessing further shifts away from the once agricultural lifestyle they previously observed. Therefore, heritage preservation is increasingly vital for stakeholders engaged with the history of Anabaptist life in Kansas. My dissertation attempts to elucidate aspects of the Russian Mennonite discourse community of south central Kansas by engaging with regional foodways as they appear in community cookbooks. I combine interview and text analysis data with John Swales’ concepts of discourse communities to further define how cultural insiders worked in previous decades to create community through the production of food focused texts. By analyzing the Zwieback recipes from eight community cookbooks produced within the same cultural group, I examine which texts exclude certain audiences, and which are meant to provide an access point for cultural “outsiders.” I maintain that due to acculturation and shifting population demographics in the region, long term regional and familial proximity to the Russian Mennonite community of south central Kansas determines understanding of high-context cultural practices. Establishing digital archives for Kansas Mennonite community cooking texts is also the most accessible form of preservation for all stakeholders. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ANABAPTIST TO ZWIEBACK: TEXTUAL ACCESS AND EXCLUSION IN RUSSIAN MENNONITE COMMUNITY COOKBOOKS OF SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS ............................................................................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ iv LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I – ANABAPTISTS TO ZWIEBACK AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN: AN EXPLORATION OF DISCOURSE, COOKBOOKS, AND COMMUNITY IN KANSAS ............................................................................................1 Literature Review: Discourse, Literacies, and Place ............................................................ 8 Wider Con(texts): Many Literacies, Many Voices ............................................................. 10 Problematizing Primary Materials: Aligning Research and Archival Artifacts.............. 12 No Unsacred Places: Food and Food Texts as Home ......................................................... 15 Overview of Chapters ............................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER II – CROSSING WATER AND CONTINENTS: THE RUSSIAN MENNONITES IN KANSAS .........................................................................................24 Memory: Ritual (8 y.o.) .......................................................................................................... 24 Dass wir ziehn nach Amerika ................................................................................................ 25 The Mennonite Game and Misperception ............................................................................ 30 Wandering and Wheat: Journey of the Mennonites............................................................ 36 CHAPTER III – WOMAN’S WORTH, WOMEN’S WORK: FOOD, COOKBOOKS, AND GENDER ....................................................................................44 Five Loaves, Two Fishes: Food and Public Consumption ................................................ 49 Communities, Cooks, and Bakers: The History of Food and Women’s Work ............... 53 Honoring Tradition, and the Trials of Trailblazing ............................................................ 57 Identity Recognition and Cookbook Collaborations .......................................................... 61 Interlude: Buak Fru ................................................................................................................ 66 iv CHAPTER IV – CLAIMING A PIECE OF TRADITION: COMMUNITY DISCOURSE IN RUSSIAN MENNONITE COMMUNITY COOKBOOKS AND RECIPES ..........................................................................................................................69 Nourishing Traditions: Food Index for Faspa ..................................................................... 69 Zwieback ................................................................................................................... 70 Borscht ....................................................................................................................... 71 Peppernuts (Pfefernuesse) ......................................................................................... 72 Fruit Moos ................................................................................................................. 73 Verenika (Verinike) ................................................................................................... 74 Communities, Clauses, and Recipes ..................................................................................... 74 Recipe Content and Evaluation Clauses ............................................................................... 75 Cookbook Analysis: Construction, Content, and Contributors ......................................... 83 Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread (1964) ............................................................... 87 Goessel Centennial Cook Book [sic]: Including Traditional Low German Recipes Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Coming of Mennonites 1874-1974 ... 93 Kitchen Medley: A Collection of Recipes from the Congregation (1981) ................. 97 Book for Cooks: Favorite Recipes From [sic] Ladies Attending Koerner Heights Church of the Mennonite Brethren (1982) .............................................................. 101 T.G.Y.F. Cookbook: Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread (1982) ............................ 106 Sharing Together: Hesston Mennonite Church Cookbook (1984) .......................... 110 From Pluma Moos to Pie, 3rd ed. (2007) ................................................................. 113 Reminisce Cookbook: 110 Recipes Celebrating 110 Years. (2008) ........................ 117 Recipe Engagement .............................................................................................................. 120 Narrative Structures of Zwieback Recipes: ............................................................. 123 Implications of Recipe Analysis ......................................................................................... 140 CHAPTER V – THE MORE (WITH LESS) THINGS CHANGE: ALTERATIONS, ENCULTURATION, AND PRESERVATION OF RUSSIAN MENNONITE FOOD TRADITIONS IN KANSAS..........................................................................................145 Mindfulness and Mennonites: Conducting Research and Applying an Ethics of Care145 The Interviews ......................................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Playing the Sacred Harp: Mennonite Literature As Confession (The
    Playing the Sacred Harp: Mennonite Literature as Confession Ann Hostetler Borrowed hymnal in hand, I walk into the one-room white clapboard church that vibrates with loud singing, past dozens of onlookers and would-be participants hovering at the doors like honeybees. My daughter and her partner and their two-week-old baby, and a friend of theirs, follow me as we squeeze into the standing room at the back of the sanctuary next to a row of Old Order Mennonites. Sacred Harp music is sung a cappella and needs a body of singers to come to life in a corporeal act of worship, creating what an alternative healer might call a highly-charged energy fi eld. One of my more worldly friends who is a Sacred Harp devotee describes it as a form of yoga, centered on breathing. Surrounded by the fi erce organ of many voices, I have visions of seraphim and cherubim vibrating with the music of the spheres. Someone less inclined to ecstatic merger might recall Huck Finn’s opinions of Aunt Polly’s heaven – that if the saints were singing for eternity, he would rather spend his time elsewhere. We have chosen to stay for the day. Sacred Harp singers travel. They come from many places, denominations, even faiths to gather at conventions or at singings in many parts of the country. They hold local sings and long-distance sings. The only rule is respect for the music and each other. The content of the songs, sung fi rst by rural Southerners and then Midwestern pioneers during the nineteenth-century singing school movement, is profoundly religious, focusing on death and salvation.
    [Show full text]
  • Theoretical Implications of the Beachy Amish-Mennonites DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Th
    Theoretical Implications of the Beachy Amish-Mennonites DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Cory Alexander Anderson Graduate Program in Rural Sociology The Ohio State University 2014 Dissertation Committee: Joseph Donnermeyer, Advisor Richard Moore Edward Crenshaw Copyrighted by Cory Alexander Anderson 2014 Abstract One of the hallmarks of social science is the interaction of theory and methods/data, the former guiding the latter and the latter refining the former, in a cyclical relationship. The goal of theory is to provide explanations for and even predict a range of human behaviors. One potential cause of theoretical stagnation is an over focus on a singular, usually easily accessible group. Given the persistence of plain Anabaptists like the Amish as a highly distinct subgroup in American society, their utility for refining sociological theories is persuasive, but has rarely been employed to this end because of their social inaccessibility, shyness towards social science research, and the popular interpretive frames placed on them that distract would-be investigators. Even with Amish-focused scholarship, the emphasis has been largely on describing the population or applying theory to understand the Amish case, but not returning findings back to theory in critique and revision. This dissertation introduces and contextualizes the plain Anabaptists, then describes the Beachy Amish-Mennonites, a group within the Amish religious tension, but dealing markedly with tensions between separatism and assimilation. Following this introduction are three independent studies that demonstrate the use of plain Anabaptists to refine theory.
    [Show full text]
  • ALEMANA GERMAN, ALEMÁN, ALLEMAND Language
    ALEMANA GERMAN, ALEMÁN, ALLEMAND Language family: Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, German, Middle German, East Middle German. Language codes: ISO 639-1 de ISO 639-2 ger (ISO 639-2/B) deu (ISO 639-2/T) ISO 639-3 Variously: deu – Standard German gmh – Middle High german goh – Old High German gct – Aleman Coloniero bar – Austro-Bavarian cim – Cimbrian geh – Hutterite German kksh – Kölsch nds – Low German sli – Lower Silesian ltz – Luxembourgish vmf – Main-Franconian mhn – Mócheno pfl – Palatinate German pdc – Pennsylvania German pdt – Plautdietsch swg – Swabian German gsw – Swiss German uln – Unserdeutssch sxu – Upper Saxon wae – Walser German wep – Westphalian Glotolog: high1287. Linguasphere: [show] Beste izen batzuk (autoglotonimoa: Deutsch). deutsch alt german, standard [GER]. german, standard [GER] hizk. Alemania; baita AEB, Arabiar Emirerri Batuak, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgika, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brasil, Danimarka, Ekuador, Errumania, Errusia (Europa), Eslovakia, Eslovenia, Estonia, Filipinak, Finlandia, Frantzia, Hegoafrika, Hungaria, Italia, Kanada, Kazakhstan, Kirgizistan, Liechtenstein, Luxenburgo, Moldavia, Namibia, Paraguai, Polonia, Puerto Rico, Suitza, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Txekiar Errepublika, Txile, Ukraina eta Uruguain ere. Dialektoa: erzgebirgisch. Hizkuntza eskualde erlazionatuenak dira Bavarian, Schwäbisch, Allemannisch, Mainfränkisch, Hessisch, Palatinian, Rheinfränkisch, Westfälisch, Saxonian, Thuringian, Brandenburgisch eta Low saxon. Aldaera asko ez dira ulerkorrak beren artean. high
    [Show full text]
  • Reception D Study
    Reception d Study Harry Loewen University of Winnipeg For all the skills they have shown for centuries in the practical arts, Mennonites have failed to develop among themselves an appreciation for the literary arts and even less for literary artists.' This is not to say that Mennonites did not read books. As Jacob H. Janzen wrote with affection- ate irony some forty years ago: "They [Mennonites] liked to have good books. They bought Menno Simons' writings and laid them away to become dust covered on the corner ~helf."~Not only did Mennonites in Russia know the writings of Menno Simons; they also read other works written by non-Mennonites, even works of fiction, especially those which appealed to their sense of religious piety and practical concerns. Works like Jung-Stilling's Das Heimweh were not only appreciated by nineteenth-century Russian Mennonites, but were occasionally taken in a literal sense which could result in strange historical consequence^.^ During the nineteenth century Russian Mennonites did produce a few poets who achieved respect and popularity among the practically- minded Mennonites. The most outstanding among these was Bernhard Harder (1832-84) of the Molotschnaya who as preacher, teacher and poet spoke and sang his evangelical concerns into the hearts and minds of his people. Harder deserves his rightful place among the emerging Men- nonite writers, but as a poet he saw himself more in a didactic and moralizing role than as an artist. The Mennonite literary artist was unknown among the nineteenth-century Russian Mennonites.* It has been suggested that Mennonite literature not only grew out of the Russian-Mennonite tradition, but that in its appeal to Mennonite readers it was in part successful because there was a community which accepted this literature, however rel~ctantly.~This is no doubt true with regard to the kind of literature which was largely didactic and pietistic in Journal of Mennonite Studies Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Resilience and Shadow of Collective Trauma: the Mennonites' Great
    ABSTRACT RESILIENCE AND SHADOW OF COLLECTIVE TRAUMA: THE MENNONITES’ GREAT TRAUMATIC TREK TO CANADA Mennonites living in Russia at the start of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 entered into a climate of almost relentless violence. Mennonites are a Protestant group that formed during the 16th century Reformation. Long-term psychological implications of these events continue for remaining survivors and their offspring to this day. In this study, four memoirs of Mennonite survivors were analyzed to learn how traumatic experiences were narrated in their lifetime. A literature review explored features associated with individual and collective experiences of trauma. Placing each writer into their shared historical context was presented to understand both collective and unique features of their experiences. Common themes that emerged in the memoirs demonstrated both resilience and challenges in expressing emotions, facing physical challenges, processing transitions, and coping. Lastly, differing experiences with attachment were discovered for each writer and inferences were drawn to the intergenerational transmission of trauma. The findings of this study can speak to how social workers may contextualize trauma with biopsychosocial intakes that are broad in scope. Therapeutic interventions were presented that take collective features of trauma into consideration instead of solely individualizing trauma outcomes. Macro-level social work practice with geriatric populations, organizational transformation, and policy change were recommended. Jeanine
    [Show full text]
  • Mennonite Life
    MENNONITE LIFEJUNE 1991 In this Issue The Mennonite encounter with National Socialism in the 1930s and 1940s remains a troubling event in Mennonite history, even as the memory of World War II and the Holocaust continue to sear the conscience of Western civilization. How could such evil happen? How could people of good will be so compromised? Mennonites have been a people of two kingdoms. Their loyalty to Christ’s kingdom has priority, but they also believe and confess, in the words of the Dortrecht Confession (1632) that “ God has ordained power and authority, and set them to punish the evil, and protect the good, to govern the world, and maintain countries and cities with their subjects in good order and regulation.” The sorting out of heavenly and worldly allegiances has never been simple. Rulers in all times and places, from Phillip II in the Spanish Netherlands to George Bush in the Persian Gulf region, have claimed to fulfill a divine mandate. In his time Adolf Hitler offered protection from anarchy and from communism. There should be no surprise that some Mennonites, especially recent victims of Russian Communism, found the National Socialist program attractive. In this issue three young Mennonite scholars, all of whom researched their topics in work toward master’s degrees, examine the Mennonite response to National Socialism in three countries: Paraguay, Germany, and Canada. John D. Thiesen, archivist at Mennonite Library and Archives at Bethel College, recounts the story as it unfolded in Paraguay. This article is drawn from his thesis completed at Wichita State University in 1990.
    [Show full text]
  • The German Identity Op Mennonite Brethren Immigrants in Canada, 1930-1960
    THE GERMAN IDENTITY OP MENNONITE BRETHREN IMMIGRANTS IN CANADA, 1930-1960 by BENJAMIN WALL REDEKOP B.A., Fresno Pacific College, 1985 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF HISTORY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA September 1990 ©BENJAMIN WALL REDEKOP, 1990 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of l4i£4p/' The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date DE-6 (2/88) ii ABSTRACT Little scholarly research has been done on the function of Germanism among Mennonites who immigrated to Canada from Russia in the 1920's, and what has been done often relies on an oversimplified "desire for separation" to explain the phenomenon. At the same time, it has been argued that the enthusiasm for Nazi Germany among Mennonite immigrants in Canada is to be understood as part of a larger "Volks-German awakening". In fact, the Mennonite experience of brutal treatment during the Bolshevik Revolution, the economic conditions of the Great Depression, and assinflationist pressures from Canadian society put them in a naturally receptive position for the cultural, political and ethnic ideas associated with the "new Germany".
    [Show full text]
  • Religious Nationalism in an Age of Globalization: the Case of 1
    74 Religious Nationalism in an Age of Globalization: The Case of 1 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2236-463320161405 Benjamin W. Goossen History Department of Harvard University, Cambridge MA, Estados Unidos da América [email protected] Abstract: This article uses the example of Mennonite nation-building in Paraguay during the 1920s and 1930s to argue that state formation is not inherently modernist. Tracing nineteenth and early twentieth-century discourses of Mennonite colonies in Imperial e essay advocates a reevaluation of theories of modern statehood advanced by thinkers like James C. Scott and Ernest Gellner. As conservative, pacifist Mennonites traveled from North America to the Paraguayan Chaco to escape the pressures of assimilation in democratic society, their migration paved the way for coreligionists fleeing persecution in the Soviet Union to join internationally, characterized by deep religious observance, and conceived in opposition to high modernist projects. Keywords: State-building, nationalism, Mennonites, modernity, diaspora, globalization 1 This essay draws on research for my forthcoming book, Chosen Nation: Mennonites and Germany in a Global Era. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017, conducted with funding from the Fulbright Commission, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and Harvard University. I wish to thank Uwe Freisen of the Menno Colony Archive and Gunolf Niebuhr of the Fernheim Colony Archive for providing primary sources, as well as Rachel Waltner Goossen for her comments. Except where otherwise noted, all translations are my own. While all qualifications in brackets are mine, italicized words are emphasized in the original documents. Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.74-90 dossiê scales of global history 75 During 1936 and 1937, the German geographer Herbert Wilhelmy visited German- speaking settlements across southern Latin America.
    [Show full text]
  • Definitionen in Wörterbuch Und Text
    Definitionen in W¨orterbuch und Text: Zur manuellen Annotation, korpusgestutzten¨ Analyse und automatischen Extraktion definitorischer Textsegmente im Kontext der computergestutzten¨ Lexikographie Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Philosophie an der kulturwissenschaftlichen Fakult¨at der Technischen Universit¨at Dortmund vorgelegt im Mai 2010 von Irene Magdalena Cramer geboren in Frankfurt am Main Stand Februar 2011 Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Einleitung3 2 Zum Wort Definition, seiner Bedeutung und Verwendung9 2.1 Zum Einstieg in die Definitionstheorie................ 12 2.2 Ursprunge¨ der Definition oder: Wozu?................ 14 2.2.1 Zur Etymologie........................ 14 2.2.2 Platon............................. 14 2.2.3 Aristoteles........................... 16 2.3 Definitionen als Werkzeug des Erkenntnisgewinns.......... 17 2.4 Mehr zum Wozu: Blaise Pascal und John Locke........... 19 2.4.1 Blaise Pascal.......................... 20 2.4.2 John Locke.......................... 21 2.4.3 Zusammenfassung....................... 22 2.5 Vom Wozu und Wann: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Definitionen und Spracherwerb........ 23 2.5.1 Ludwig Wittgenstein und die verweisende Definition..... 23 2.5.2 Definitionen und Spracherwerb................ 25 2.5.3 Zusammenfassung....................... 27 2.6 Wozu und Wann in Lexikographie, Terminographie, den Wissenschaften und im Alltag. 29 2.6.1 Die Funktion der terminologischen Definition........ 29 2.6.2 Die Funktion der wissenschaftlichen Definition........ 31 2.6.3 Die Funktion der lexikographischen Definition........ 36 2.6.4 Die Funktion der Alltagsdefinition.............. 44 i ii 2.6.5 Zusammenfassung....................... 48 2.7 Die Pragmatik des Definierens.................... 49 2.8 Was definieren Definitionen?..................... 55 2.9 Bestandteile.............................. 57 2.9.1 Der Definitor: grundlegende Annahmen........... 57 2.9.2 Definiendum und Definiens: grundlegende Annahmen.... 63 2.10 Definitionstypen von Isidor de Sevilla bis heute...........
    [Show full text]
  • Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia
    Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Vol. 5, No. 3 Fall 1982 TABLE OF CONTENTS REDACTIONS: THE EDITOR'S PAGE .........….....………........................ i ICH BIN AUCH EIN DEUTSCHER AUS RUSSLAND Norbert R. Dreiling ...............……........................…………................... 1 PIONEERING IN DAKOTA TERRITORY Reuben Goertz ........................……….............…………...................... .5 THE FATE OF A WEALTHY WARENBURG FAMILY Emma Schwabenland Haynes ............................…………................. 13 MY RETURN TO RUSSIA Jacob Hieb, Sr. .....................……….................………......................16 THE VOLGA GERMAN REFUGEES OF 1921-1922 Adam Giesinger............................………........…………........................21 ESCAPE FROM STARVING RUSSIA Edward John Amend.............................................………….……..........27 AUS HEIMAT UND LEBEN: ABOUT MY LIFE AND HOMELAND David Weigum Translated by Leona Pfeifer .......………….....................31 VILLAGES IN WHICH OUR FOREFATHERS LIVED Adam Giesinger..............................................…………….………...........35 THE STYLE OF LOW GERMAN FOLKLORE Katie Funk Wiebe ................................…….……………..........................45 VOLGA GERMAN CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE Lawrence A. Weigel. ..................................………………....................... .53 ANNA BARKMAN: A CHILD PILGRIM Wesley J. Prieb ....................................………………….........................58 THE HISTORY OF AHSGR: THE EVENTFUL YEAR 1971 Adam Giesinger..........................................…………………................
    [Show full text]
  • Secular Mennonites and the Violence of Pacifism Miriam Toews at Mcmaster
    Secular Mennonites and the Violence of Pacifism Miriam Toews at McMaster Maxwell Kennel Hamilton Arts and Letters 13.2 (Fall 2020). Special Issue edited by Grace Kehler. (https://samizdatpress.typepad.com/hal_magazine_thirteen-2/miriam-toews- violence-of-pacifism-by-maxwell-kennel-1.html) On February 25th of this violent year – just before the novel coronavirus and protests against police killings became definitive of 2020 – a far more peaceful event unfolded at McMaster University when Canadian author Miriam Toews spoke about her recent novel Women Talking in dialogue with three McMaster professors: event organizer, Grace Kehler (English & Cultural Studies), Petra Rethmann (Anthropology), and Travis Kroeker (Religious Studies).1 The council chambers in Gilmour Hall were filled with interested students, professors, and Hamiltonian literati who were eager to hear Toews read from Women Talking and respond to questions about the novel’s main motifs and tensions. 1 Both Kehler and Kroeker have published articles on Miriam Toews’ work. See: Grace Kehler, “Miriam Toews’s Parable of Infinite Becoming,” Vision 20.1 (2019), Grace Kehler, “Making Peace with Suicide: Reflections on Miriam Toews’s All My Puny Sorrows.” Conrad Grebel Review 35.3 (Fall, 2017), Grace Kehler, “Heeding the Wounded Storyteller: Toews’ A Complicated Kindness.” Journal of Mennonite Studies 34 (2016), Grace Kehler, “Representations of Melancholic Martyrdom in Canadian Mennonite Literature.” Journal of Mennonite Studies 29 (2011), and P. Travis Kroeker, “Scandalous Displacements: ‘Word’ and ‘Silent Light’ in Miriam Toews’ Irma Voth.” Journal of Mennonite Studies 36 (2018). 1 The room became very quiet when Toews began to read from page nineteen of Women Talking.
    [Show full text]
  • Literature: Mennonite Studies Engages the Mennonite Literary Voice
    Critical Thought and Mennonite Literature: Mennonite Studies Engages the Mennonite Literary Voice Nildi Froese Tiessen, Conrad Grebel University College This paper was given its initial generic title - "Critical Thought and Mennonite Literature9'- when Royden Loewen invited me to participate in this symposium, "Mennonites and the Challenge of Multiculturalism: A 25 Year Retrospective," months ago.U1I rather like the implied conflation of critical thinking and literature that such a title suggests, especially when we consider "literature" as we find it among Mennonites, where the "critical thinking" of creative writers has not always been welcome. I recall, in this context, the fact that when my colleague Jim Reimer, a few years ago, developed a new course on twentieth century Mennonite theology at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, he unselfconsciously named the course "Contemporary Mennonite Thought," as if to claim all serious Mennonite thinking for theology alone. Indeed, there was a time when any Mennonite critical thinking that attracted serious attention, within the community or without, did originate in conventionally masculinist disciplines like theology, for example, or 238 Jo~trnalof Mennonite Studies history. Well, thanks to such forces as the literature courses offered by the Chair of Mennonite Studies and publications focussing on Mennonite literature published in the Jounzal of Mennonite Studies, Canadian Mennonites, over the past twenty years or so, have devoted a great deal of attention to the critical - and imaginative - thinking of Mennonite creative writers, whose voices are now possibly more widely listened to than those of any other thinkers to whom the Mennonite community might lay claim.
    [Show full text]