DOCSLIB.ORG

Young Center Construction Project Scheduled to Begin in March

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Young Center Construction Project Scheduled to Begin in March SPRING 2017 Young Center construction project scheduled to begin in March Groundbreaking for the construction of an addition to the Young Center building will take place at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, Febru- ary 23, at the Young Center. This brief cer- emony, which is open to the public, marks the beginning of the project. Construction is scheduled to start in early March. The additional space includes a new in- terpretive gallery and front entrance to the building that will face the parking lot. The interpretive gallery will feature permanent and rotating exhibits that explain briefly the origins, characteristics, and spread of Ana- baptist and Pietist groups, with a special focus on the Amish. Objects on display will include rare books and clothing items related to Anabaptist and Pietist groups. This gallery will be the new entry point to the Young Cen- ter in order to welcome visitors and enhance the interpretive work of the center. change should increase safety for both driv- tions can be arranged for those who would The other major part of the addition in- ers and pedestrians in the parking lot. like to see some of the unique items in the cludes a reconfigured classroom and ad- The project’s estimated completion date Young Center’s collections. ditional office and work space. New office is spring 2018. After the addition is finished, Personnel in the college’s facilities man- space will serve Steve Nolt, senior scholar, the college will host a public celebration and agement department and volunteers helped Cynthia Nolt, research and editorial asso- dedication for the renovated building. Watch to make the move to the temporary location ciate, and Donald Kraybill, senior fellow for publicity about the dedication a year successful. Special thanks go to the facili- emeritus. Two additional offices will provide from now. ties workers who moved hundreds of boxes work space for the Snowden and Kreider fel- The Young Center staff members have and some furniture from the Young Center to lows and short-term researchers. In addition relocated temporarily to a house at 905 Col- the new office space. Volunteer workers in- to office space, plans call for a new project lege Avenue. The house, owned by the col- cluded Larry Etzweiler, Larry Truax, Linda room and more storage space. The expansion lege, is adjacent to the entrance to the Brown Coble, Jim Miller, and Nick Siegert. Student will increase the Young Center floor space by parking lot, immediately across from Lake workers Megan Stoermer and Samantha about one-third. A garden courtyard will be Placida. Guest parking is available directly Kick and Young Center staff member Edsel added near the new front entrance. in front of the ground-level entrance to the Burdge helped with packing, and Hillary To accommodate the new front entry, the building. Young Center staff maintain the Daecher managed the entire project. parking lot adjoining the Young Center will same schedule: weekdays from 8:30 a.m. Visitors, researchers, college students, be reconfigured. The current entrance will to 4:30 p.m. Phone numbers and e-mail ad- staff, and faculty are all warmly welcome to be closed and a new entrance off of Campus dresses remain the same. No objects will be the Young Center’s temporary location. We Road at the end of the parking lot farthest on display at the College Avenue site but vis- look forward to offering continued service as from the Young Center will be created. This its to the Hess Archives and Special Collec- we have in the past. 1 From the Director New donations enhance collections Several donors have enriched the Young Cen- ry. Also in their donation are records of their ter’s special collections since last fall. Nancy inner-city ministry in Harrisburg and sermon The new year brings many changes Meyer Bieber donated a large collection of notes by some of their ministers, including for the Young Center. We moved papers and some plain clothing and artifacts C. Wayne Zunkel, Roger Eberly, and Murray into a new location at 905 College related to her extended family, which includes Wagner. A unique item from the congrega- Avenue on January 9. We received the Meyer, Bucher, and Wenger families of tion is an interlinear Bible published in 1620, excellent help from college staff and Lebanon and Lancaster Counties. The items containing the Hebrew and Greek texts with volunteers assisting our own staff. We date to the late nineteenth and early twentieth the Latin Vulgate text printed under the lines look forward to a groundbreaking on centuries. Sermon and ministry notes related of the original languages. February 23 for the new addition that to her father, Ammon Bucher Meyer, and Dee Ann Daniels donated photos of the will be built onto the current Young Center building. While construction her grandfather Samuel Gibble Meyer, both Lake Ridge Church of the Brethren in King is underway, work will continue to Brethren ministers, are in the collection, as Ferry, New York, which will be added to design a new interpretive gallery in the is correspondence from Bucher and Wenger existing archival material from the congre- finished building. On January 9 we also relatives. The materials will be known as the gation. The family of Roger Sappington do- welcomed our new Kreider fellow for Bucher, Meyer, and Wenger Collection. They nated several more boxes of books and peri- this semester, Rebecca Janzen. She is provide information about families connect- odicals to add to the Sappington Collection. writing about Old Colony Mennonites ed to Elizabethtown College and the Church David Fuchs donated a rare German book on in Mexico, a new topic for one of our fellows to address. In addition, we of the Brethren. the doctrine of universalism, printed in Halle, have received new research materials Lucille Oberholtzer donated five boxes of Germany, in 1770. This copy has additional in recent months, which expand and memorabilia, several books, and two scrap- importance because of annotations written in enrich our research collections. The books from her late husband, Henry Ober- the margins of many pages. Carl W. Zeigler award for a student holtzer. Henry was born in China to Brethren We are grateful to these and other donors essay on Anabaptist or Pietist topics missionaries Isaiah and Elizabeth Oberholtzer, who have added to the research collections of is back again as an opportunity for and was a student at Elizabethtown College. the Young Center during the past year. Elizabethtown College students. Mark Flory Steury donated a painted The Dale Brown Book Award for 2016 glass screen brought back to the U.S. in the and for 2017 will be presented this fall 1930s by his late wife’s grandparents, Byron at separate programs. The 2016 award and Nora Flory, who were also Brethren mis- Carl W. Zeigler was deferred due to uncertainty about sionaries in China. These items will be useful the timing of the Young Center’s closure in a class about the Brethren missionaries and for construction. The winning books for Award for student twentieth-century China being team taught both years will be announced at this year’s spring banquet on April 20. by Young Center director Jeff Bach and Asian research paper history professor David Kenley this semester. The Carl W. Zeigler Award, a prize of $250 With so many new developments, The Harrisburg First Church of the Breth- for the best student research paper related to we are also glad for continuity as we ren donated several historic photos from their historical or current aspects of Anabaptist or carry out our mission. Our staff is earliest years just before the twentieth centu- ready to assist visitors, students, and Pietist studies, is back. Any full-time or part- faculty, and we continue to welcome time student enrolled in the current academic researchers from around the world. year at Elizabethtown College is eligible to We continue our own work of research enter the competition. Papers should be from and interpretation and our book series with Johns Hopkins University Press. 12 to 25 pages long (double-spaced; one-inch Generous donors and supporters margins). Students wishing to submit a paper continue to share financial gifts, are encouraged to consult with Young Center donations of research materials, and director Jeff Bach about their topic and must words of encouragement and good will. notify him of their intention to submit a pa- per by March 1. Submissions are due by April We will work at our new location until the building project is completed, 1, and the winner will be announced at the currently projected to be spring of Young Center banquet on April 20, 2017. 2018. As we continue with our mission, The papers will be evaluated by a panel we hope that you will stop in to see our consisting of the director and two other judges. new place and join us for our events The criteria are (1) scholarship and substance, during the semester. We are grateful (2) research methodology, and (3) clarity of for your support in our new ventures. writing, organization, and documentation. The award is named in honor of Carl W. Jeff Bach Zeigler, a long-time religion professor at Eliz- Director College archivist Rachel Grove Rohrbaugh and Nancy Meyer Bieber examine plain abethtown College and an active leader in the clothing worn by Bieber’s family members. Church of the Brethren in Pennsylvania. 2 Heritage Festival Theresa Eshbach looks on as Anna Mae Belser, quilting group coordinator for the Elizabethtown Church of the Brethren, demonstrates her fine quilt stitching at the Brethren Heritage Festival held during Elizabethtown College’s Homecoming on October 15.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Zwischen Plautdietsch, Hochdeutsch Und Spanisch : Dreisprachigkeit Von in Paraguay Und Bolivien Lebenden Mennoniten Und Ihre
    Zwischen Plautdietsch, Hochdeutsch und Spanisch: Dreisprachigkeit von in Paraguay und Bolivien lebenden Mennoniten und ihre Auswirkung auf die spanische Lernersprache Inaugural Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Philosophie in der Fakultät für Philologie der RUHR-UNIVERSITÄT BOCHUM vorgelegt von Kristin Ostendorf Gedruckt mit der Genehmigung der Fakultät für Philologie der Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Referent: ___________________________________________Prof. Dr. Judith Visser Korreferent: ___________________________________________Prof. Dr. Gerald Bernhard Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: _________________________4. Dezember 2017 Meiner Mutter (†2012) Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Einleitung 9 2 Mennoniten: Glaube, Herkunft, Geschichte und Tradition 13 2.1 DieEntstehungdesmennonitischenGlaubens............ 13 2.2 GlaubensgrundlagenundLebensweisederMennoniten....... 14 3 Sprache und Migration 19 3.1 Sprachgebrauch religi¨oserGruppen.................. 20 3.2 AuswanderungsbewegungenderMennoniten............. 21 3.2.1DeutscheinRussland...................... 23 3.2.2DeutscheinderUkraine.................... 25 3.3 AnabaptisteninAmerikaundKanada................ 28 3.4 Anabaptisten in Sudamerika......................¨ 41 3.5 AußenkontaktederMennoniten.................... 45 4 Mennoniten in Sudamerika:¨ untersuchte Ziell¨ander 49 4.1 Spanisch in Sudamerika........................¨ 49 4.2 Paraguay................................. 50 4.2.1LandesinformationenzuParaguay............... 50 4.2.2MennoniteninParaguay.................... 51 4.2.3SpanischinParaguay.....................
    [Show full text]
  • CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION in the Period Immediately Following The
    CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In the period immediately following the close of the Civil War, philanthropic endeavors were undertaken to reconstruct secessionist states, establish wide-scale peace among still- hostile factions, and develop efforts to enact social, legal, and educational support. This philanthropic era is characterized by the activities of a number of individual, denominational, organizational, including state and federal supporters that were subsequently responsible for engendering a Negro College Movement, which established institutions for providing freed slaves, and later, Negroes with advanced educational degrees. This dissertation studied: the genesis, unfolding, contributions, and demise issues in conjunction with the social, economic, and political forces that shaped one such institution in Harper’s Ferry (Jefferson County), West Virginia: Storer College, which was founded in 1865 as an outgrowth of several mission schools. By an Act of Congress, in 1868, the founders of Storer College initially were granted temporary use of four government buildings from which to create their campus.1 Over the next 90 years, until its closure in 1955, the college underwent four distinct developmental phases: (a) Mission School [Elementary], (b) Secondary Division, (c) a Secondary Expansion, and (d) Collegiate. Even today—as a result of another Act of Congress—it continues to exist, albeit in altered form: in 1960, the National Park Service branch of the United States Department of the Interior was named the legal curator of the 1 United States. Congress. Legislative, Department of War. An Act Providing for the Sale of Lands, Tenements, and Water Privileges Belonging to the United States at or Near Harpers Ferry, in the County of Jefferson, West Virginia (1868).
    [Show full text]
  • Proquest Dissertations
    Old Colony and General Conference Mennonites in Chihuahua, Mexico: History, representations and women's everyday lives in health and illness Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Reinschmidt, Kerstin Muller Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 08/10/2021 22:39:20 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/279881 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be fit)m any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g.. maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left>hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overtaps. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an addittonal charge.
    [Show full text]
  • What Are the Plain Anabaptists? -- Anderson
    Who Are the Plain Anabaptists? What Are the Plain Anabaptists? -- Anderson Who Are the Plain Anabaptists? What Are the Plain Anabaptists? Cory Anderson1 OSU Presidential Fellow and Doctoral Candidate in Rural Sociology School of Environment and Natural Resources The Ohio State University Abstract: I define the plain Anabaptists by answering two essential questions: “Who are the plain Anabaptists” and “What are the plain Anabaptists?” In asking “Who are the plain Anabaptists?” I investigate several dimensions of identity. First, I trace the history of seven religious traditions within Anabaptism: the Swiss Brethren/Mennonites, the Low German/Russian Mennonites, the Hutterites, the Amish, the Brethren, the Apostolic Christian Churches, and the Bruderhof. Second, I explore three categories of people in each group—mainline, conservative, and Old Order—describing the last two as “plain.” Third, I explore scales and indices on which plainness is measured, as well as other measures of who the plain Anabaptist people are. In asking “What are the plain Anabaptists?” I define several ways social scientists conceptualize and describe the plain Anabaptists. I organize the sundry definitions and frames under three categories: the plain Anabaptists as a religious group, as an ethnicity, and as a social system. Keywords: Mennonite, Amish, Brethren, Hutterite, Apostolic Christian, Bruderhof, religious traditions, ethnicity, social system 26 | Page Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies, Volume 1, Issue 1 (April), 2013 Introduction The inauguration
    [Show full text]
  • Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
    Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online A Joint Project of Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission Mennonite Central Committee Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee Mennonite Historical Society of Canada Mennonite World Conference http://www.gameo.org/ M a n a ge m en t Board Statistics Bert Friesen (Chair) [email protected] Dec. Nov. Oct. Sept. Dec. Dec. Dec. Dec. Jon Isaak 2006 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 [email protected] Visitors 895 1,793 2,412 2,345 2,393 967 1,324 1,219 John D. Roth per Day [email protected] Bandwidth Kenneth L. Sensenig (Per Month 10.58 17.88 18.23 19.99 [email protected] in GB) Sam Steiner Articles in (Assoc. Managing Editor) 5,578 12,501 14,739 14,880 15,327 15,463 15,644 15,938 [email protected] GAMEO Richard D. Thiessen (Managing Editor) In December 2015 the GAMEO site had a total of 37,802 sessions/visits and richardthiessen @gameo.org 31,493 users/visitors (this compares with 41,035 sessions/visits and 34,178 users/visitors in 2014). The number of pages visited per session was 1.97 (1.92 in 2014), and the average session duration was 1 minute and 54 seconds (1 minute and 50 seconds in 2014). The bounce rate (the percentage of visitors who enter the site and "bounce" [leave the site] rather than continue viewing other pages within the same site) was 73.23% (73.76% in 2014). 75.26% of the visitors were new visitors (76.4% in 2014), and 24.74% were returning visitors (23.6% in 2014).
    [Show full text]
  • Chortitza “Old” Colony, 1789
    -being the Magazine/Journal of the Hanover Steinbach Historical Society Inc. Preservings $20.00 No. 20, June, 2002 “A people who have not the pride to record their own history will not long have the virtues to make their history worth recording; and no people who are indifferent to their past need hope to make their future great.” — Jan Gleysteen Chortitza “Old” Colony, 1789 The story of the first settlement of the Flemish Mennonites at the junc- tion of the Chortitza and Dnjepr Riv- ers in 1789 in Imperial Russia is re- plete with drama, tension and trag- edy. It is no small task to establish a peaceful Christian community in an undeveloped steppe and to create an environment where the pioneers and their descendants could thrive and prosper. Within a century the Chortitza “Old” Colony had become perhaps the most prosperous com- munity in the area north of the Black Sea and its industries were leading the way in the region’s booming economy. After some initial faltering the Chortitza Flemish Gemeinde was to become the most stable and flourish- ing of the Mennonites in Russia. It is a precious gift of God to build a large congregation of 4000 and more mem- bers out of a population originating from different Gemeinden and vari- ous regions in the Vistula Delta in Royal Poland and West Prussia. The German Wehrmacht at the entrance to the turbine building of Dnjeproges Hydro-electric dam, June 1941. To God had granted the Flemish pio- the left is the Hydro-electric dam; right, in the rear, the Island of Chortitza with the Mennonite village established neers noble and spirit-filled leaders in 1789; and middle, the bridge over the “new” Dnjepr (east channel).
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    Community and Schism among the Old Colony Mennonites of Belize: A Case Study Tanja Plasil, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway Introduction In northern Belize, formerly British Honduras, lies the Altkolonier (Old Colony) Mennonite colony of Shipyard.1 Here the Mennonites form a distinct group within the wider Belizean society because of their appearance, language, religion, and lifestyle. At first glimpse Shipyard may seem like a coherent community, frozen in time, but a closer look reveals that things are quite different from what they appear. The formerly uniform community is showing cracks. A group of people have started to meet to study the Bible, and have begun doubting the old system within which they were living. The old ways do not seem plausible anymore. In order to contain the damage and to keep the rest of the community in line, the preachers have excommunicated members of the Bible Study group, banning them from being a part of community life.2 This 252 Journal of Mennonite Studies means that they, the “outcasts,” face a life of hardship, as they are shunned by even close family members, and do not receive any assistance from former friends or neighbours. To cope with this situation, they have formed a new group within the colony, one that provides mutual support and gives new meaning to their lives. This has worked quite well for some time, but before too long this new group also began splitting into different sub-groups. In this article,3 I focus on the circumstances and social tools that have kept the Altkolonier colony in Belize from becoming part of the wider society for such a long time, and, indeed, how members have kept the community intact.
    [Show full text]
  • New World Mennonite Low German an Investigating of Changes in Progress
    New World Mennonite Low German An Investigating of Changes in Progress By Roslyn Cherie Burns A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Philosophy in Linguistics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Gary B. Holland Keith Johnson Thomas F. Shannon Spring 2016 1 Abstract This dissertation explores dialect diversification in the long-distance New World Plautdietsch speech community. Plautdietsch dialects are traditionally classified as belonging to one of two types: either Chortitza or Molotschna. The traditional dialect classification has recently come under scrutiny because speakers rarely use features exclusive to either type. I propose that variation in vowel production is an alternative way of classifying dialect affiliation. In this project, I analyze both the production of vowels and the production of traditional dialect features used by native Plautdietsch speakers living in North America. This work finds that both the traditional dialect features and the innovations in the vowel system are linked to information about a community's migration history, but the two systems represent different aspects of a community's history. i Table of Contents Chapter 1: Problem and Definition 1 1.1 Plautdietsch Background 2 1.1.1 The History of Low German 2 Plautdietsch as a Written Language 10 1.1.2 Plautdietsch Speaking Populations in North America 11 1.2 Defining Mennonites 13 1.2.1 Prussian Mennonites 14 1.3 North America Data Collection
    [Show full text]
  • Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
    Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online A Joint Project of Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission Mennonite Central Committee Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee Mennonite Historical Society of Canada Mennonite World Conference http://www.gameo.org/ M a n a ge m en t Board Statistics Bert Friesen (Chair) [email protected] Dec. Dec. Dec. Nov. Oct. Sept. Dec. Dec. Dec. Jon Isaak 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 [email protected] Visitors 734 1,356 895 1,793 2,412 2,345 2,393 967 1,324 Colleen McFarland per Day mcolleen@mennoniteusa .org Bandwidth (Per Month 10.58 17.88 18.23 19.99 John D. Roth in GB) [email protected] Articles in Kenneth L. Sensenig 2,304 2,458 5,578 12,501 14,739 14,880 15,327 15,463 15,644 [email protected] GAMEO Sam Steiner (Assoc. Managing Editor) In December 2014 the GAMEO site had a total of 41,035 sessions/visits and [email protected] 34,178 users/visitors. The number of pages visited per session was 1.92, and the Richard D. Thiessen (Managing Editor) average session duration was 1 minute and 50 seconds. The bounce rate (the richardthiessen percentage of visitors who enter the site and "bounce" [leave the site] rather than @gameo.org continue viewing other pages within the same site) was 73.76%. 76.4% of the visitors were new visitors, and 23.6% were returning visitors. A total of 78,845 pages were viewed. Of these, 31,283 were viewed for 10 seconds or less.
    [Show full text]
  • Florida’S Best Community Newspaper Serving Florida’S Best Community $1 VOL
    Project1:Layout 1 6/10/2014 1:13 PM Page 1 MLB: Rays complete sweep of slumping Yankees / B1 MONDAY TODAY CITRUSCOUNTY & next morning HIGH 76 Showers and LOW thunderstorms. 60 PAGE A4 www.chronicleonline.com APRIL 19, 2021 Florida’s Best Community Newspaper Serving Florida’s Best Community $1 VOL. 126 ISSUE 193 NEWS BRIEFS Director or not, ready for storm Citrus County COVID-19 cases still Search still on track for leader of Citrus County emergency management on the rise MICHAEL D. BATES Sheriff ’s Office. track,” Vitt said. Health in Citrus County, the According to the Staff writer Interim Director Troy Hess and In February, the county started school district, county fire depart- Florida Department of his staff are “very capable” of putting together a job description ment and the cities of Crystal Health, 16 positive Hurricane season is only a little handling a storm or other emer- for EOC director and applicants River and Inverness. cases were reported over a month away and there is a gency that arises, she said. would be vetted through a hiring “Our first hiring panel meeting chance Citrus County will have a Vitt said the search is progress- committee. The salary range is is coming up in a week and a in Citrus County since permanent emergency manage- ing smoothly. To date, the emer- from $58,968 to $90,854. half,” Vitt said. the latest update. ment director in place by then. gency management office has The committee includes County The interview process follows One new death But even if it doesn’t, there are received 15 applications.
    [Show full text]
  • The Peace Stance of the Conservative Kanadier Mennonites, 1874-1945
    Nonresistant or Pacifist? The Peace Stance of the Conservative Kanadier Mennonites, 1874-1945 by Victor David Kliewer A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Joint Master’s Program Department of History University of Manitoba / University of Winnipeg Winnipeg Copyright © 2011 by Victor David Kliewer ABSTRACT This thesis argues that the conservative Kanadier Mennonites, who first came to Canada in 1874, were committed to absolute pacifism. This commitment—one of the basics of their faith—caused major tensions with the host society, notably in times of war. In this thesis I investigate three kinds of resources, each offering a different perspective on the pacifist conviction of the conservative Kanadier Mennonites. The first consists of three migration accounts; the second includes six sermons; the third is a unique set of minutes of the Ältestenrat—the Council of Elders—which record the deliberations of the church leaders who met with government officials to negotiate the alternative service program for conscientious objectors during World War II. The documents demonstrate that the conservative Kanadier Mennonites were not socially or politically engaged pacifists but that their commitment to absolute pacifism was an integral part of their overall understanding of being Christian. according to the pure teaching of our Lord Jesus in the New Testament we are forbidden to take revenge, and in the spirit of the gospel, which is a spirit of peace, we are likewise forbidden to use any sword, weapon, or gun against our enemies.
    [Show full text]
  • Memories and Old Colony Mennonite Identity
    “Emma jedohne”: Memories and Old Colony Mennonite Identity Karen Warkentin, Winnipeg When Old Colony Mennonites in Bolivia are asked why they do things a certain way, the most common response given is ‘So ha’ wie daut emma jedohne’ (that is how we have always done it). However, while listening to their stories, it quickly becomes evident that certain past events are highlighted, indicating that they were particularly influential in shaping the Old Colony identity. Yet the question can also be turned around, and asked whether these memories are retold precisely because they fit into the cultural Old Colony identity. The Old Colony Mennonites in Bolivia emphasize the needs and identity of the collective over the individual, and as members of the group, individuals recall memories that emphasize their allegiance to the colony. In this article, I suggest a symbiosis between collective memory and cultural identity: individual Mennonites recall events that are part of their collective memory, which in turn influence the formation of the Old Colony Mennonite identity. The Canadian-descendent, Low German-speaking Old Colony Men- nonites of Mexico first settled in isolated, rural colonies in south central Bolivia in 1967. They comprise a continually expanding conservative, anti-modern, ethno-religious group that looks and sounds surprisingly out of place in the Latin American culture of Bolivia. Yet this is their 130 Journal of Mennonite Studies very identity; they are a migratory people out of place in any nation state. Identity, to use the definition from the Encyclopaedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, refers to the “qualities of sameness, in that persons may associate themselves, or be associated by others, with groups or categories on the basis of some salient common feature, e.g.
    [Show full text]