The University of Winnipeg’s Dr. Royden Loewen is leading an international study which will see seven graduate students live in Mennonite villages in Java, Siberia, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, the Netherlands, Kansas and Manitoba for four months to conduct oral histories and gather ethnographic research. Loewen, History professor and Chair of UWinnipeg’s Mennonite Studies program, has received a $239,000 grant from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to support the project which begins this fall.
The three-year study will focus primarily on the relationships villagers have to the land and how it shapes them and how that further interacts with government policies, the climate, and culture including religion. All seven selected communities are agricultural and have survived the global pressure towards urbanization that has seen the collapse of farm communities around the world. The Manitoba community participating in the study is Neubergthal, near Altona, which was founded in 1876 by Mennonite farmers and is also a National Historic Site.
“It is very exciting to contribute to a global discussion on something as relevant as food production and relationships with the land,” said Loewen, whose team of graduate students will speak the language of their host community. “This is a very contemporary issue, as seen through the lens of history, and to have the opportunity to document these Mennonite case studies is very fulfilling.”
Preparing for a drive from Old Colony Mennonite ‘horse and buggy’ community near the Argentine border in Bolivia, August 2009
Loewen, who is poised to become a Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge University from July to December 2013, will assemble his student team this October in Europe. The research and oral histories will form part of a book Loewen intends to author called Seven Points on Earth. The project will culminate with an international conference on Mennonites and the Land at UWinnipeg in October 2016, where the seven students will present their experiences.
“UWinnipeg faculty continue to have great success in undertaking significant research that is international in scope, and gives students a leading role in being part of innovative work, in this case, that will give us a better understanding of Mennonite communities worldwide,” said Dr. Jino Distasio, Associate Vice-President, Research and Innovation, UWinnipeg.
Distasio noted that faculty members are successfully pursuing research grants at an accelerated rate, bringing new funds to campus. Research dollars are up from $4.4 million to $7.1 million in the last five years. That is a 60% increase in external research funding flowing through UWinnipeg.
Since 1978, Mennonite Studies has been offered at UWinnipeg as an interdisciplinary program that combines studies in history, religion, culture, and literature as they relate to Mennonites.
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Diane Poulin, Communications Officer, The University of Winnipeg
P: 204.988.7135, E: d.poulin@uwinnipeg.ca
