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Storied Landscapes is a beautifully written, sweeping examination of the evolving identity of major ethno-religious immigrant groups in the Canadian West. Viewed through the lens of attachment to the soil and specific place, and through the eyes of both the immigrant generation and its descendants, the book compares the settlement experiences of Ukrainians, Mennonites, Icelanders, Doukhobors, Germans, Poles, Romanians, Jews, Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes. It reveals how each group’s sense of identity was shaped by a complex interplay of physical and emotional ties to land and place, and how that sense of belonging influenced, and was influenced by, relationships not only within the prairies and the Canadian nation state but also with the homeland and its extended diaspora. Through a close study of myths, symbols, commemorative traditions, and landmarks, Storied Landscapes boldly asserts the inseparability of ethnicity and religion both to defining the prairie region and to understanding the Canadian nation-building project. ... Read more

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Female voices were scarcely heard in the historical record of the Mennonites. Often invisible, in both name and deed, Mennonite women were nevertheless influential in shaping their own and the larger Canadian society. Mennonite Women in Canada, the first comprehensive history of Mennonite women, writes them back into the historical record and traces their complex social history over the past 200 years.

Marlene Epp explores women's roles, as prescribed and as lived, within the contexts of immigration and settlement, household and family, church and organizational life, work and education, and in response to social trends and events. She questions how Mennonites dictate women's "place" within the church, family, and community, and how women, collectively and individually, actually behave. Epp found that in virtually all aspects of women's lives, there exists a contradiction between behavioural ideals and practicalities. She also found that their responses to dictates about their proper place ranged from acceptance to rebellion, and almost always unsettled a clear delineation of their roles.

Using diaries, oral histories, church histories, genealogies, and memoirs, Epp has painstakingly pieced together a rich and fascinating story of Canadian Mennonite women that deserves to be read by women and men everywhere. ... Read more

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An ideal piece of history focusing on this under-recognized group
The Mennonites are for, whatever reasons, viewed as strange by their neighboring cultures. But it doesn't mean they don't contribute greatly to society. "Mennonite Women in Canada: A History" takes a scholarly examination of these people and what they have brought to the Canadian people and have altered the course of Canadian history. Covering over two hundred years, drawing parallels to the advancement of secular women's rights, and much more, "Mennonite Women in Canada" is an ideal piece of history focusing on this under-recognized group. ... Read more

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Sounds of Ethnicity takes us into the linguistic, cultural, and geographical borderlands of German North America in the Great Lakes region between 1850 and 1914. Drawing connections between immigrant groups in Buffalo, New York, and Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario, Barbara Lorenzkowski examines the interactions of language and music--specifically German-language education, choral groups, and music festivals--and their roles in creating both an ethnic sense of self and opportunities for cultural exchanges at the local, ethnic, and transnational levels. She exposes the tensions between the self-declared ethnic leadership that extolled the virtues of the German mother tongue as preserver of ethnic identity and gateway to scholarship and high culture, and the hybrid realities of German North America where the lives of migrants were shaped by two languages, English and German. Theirs was a song not of cultural purity, but of cultural fusion that gave meaning to the way German migrants made a home for themselves in North America.

Written in lively and elegant prose, Sounds of Ethnicity is a new and exciting approach to the history of immigration and identity in North America. ... Read more

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Accurate Account of the German Immigrant Experience in Winnipeg...
It is interesting to note that the ethnic Germans who re-located to Winnipeg, Manitoba in the post World War Two era had an easier time fitting in than did the ethnic Germans to moved to West Germany in the 1970s era.
One would have thought that those who moved to Canada would have had a more difficult time, having to learn English, and trying to be welcomed to a country that fought NAZI German just a few years earlier.Yet due to the fact that Winnipeg was (and still is) a city of immigrants, these ethnic Germans very quickly established themselves, and perhaps assimilated too quickly; witness all the first born children in the New World who refused to speak the language of their parents, even at home!!
By stark contrast, those ethnic Germans who migrated to West Germany were shocked to find they were considered foreigners by the West Germans.These people thought they returning to the "Home Country" but almost two centuries of isolation from Germany itself resulted in them "returning" to a country that was totally foreign to them.
Looking at the broader picture, this account proves that Canada, and the United States, as countries built on welcoming immigrants, are more tolerant to new comers than are the old European countries.Ironic, considering how the Liberal Elite like to think of Europe as being so "progressive".

PS On a lighter note, it was interesting to note the book's references to
Winnipeg's West End, the Langes Bakery, the German Mission Baptist
Church, etc, all of which I am familiar with as someone who was the
first person from my family (who came from Volhynia) who was born in
Winnipeg !!

A superbly crafted and deftly presented study
While immigration is usually considered to be moving from a country of origin to a foreign nation, it can also refer to ethnic populations returning from their present country to the one from which their ancestors had originated in an earlier migration. Such was the case for groups of ethnic Germans located within the borders of the Soviet Union who, during the years of the Cold War, migrated out of the Soviet Union, some to Canada during the late 1940s and early 1950s, some to West Germany during the early 1970s. This is the subject of a seminal study by academician Hans Werner (Professor of History, University of Winnipeg) who found that those ethnic Germans settling in Winnipeg, Canada expected to have to learn a new language, adjust to different customs, and generally assimilate into an society and culture unlike that with which they had drown up. Professor Werner then contrasts this group's expectations and experiences with those of the later group of ethnic Germans from the Soviet Union who settled in Bielefeld, Germany, thinking that they were essentially 'coming home' to a culture, language, and society within which they would quickly and easily assimilate. Drawing upon illustrative oral accounts and writings from members of each of these groups of emigres, "Imagined Homes: Soviet German Immigrants In Two Cities" is a seminal sociological study employing a cross-cultural comparative framework that also encompasses the factors of how the receiving societies viewed the new arrivals, the impact of secularization, evolving sexual mores, and media revolutions influenced the perceptions of all sectors of the receiving communities, and how these factors impacted the two diverse immigrant experiences. A superbly crafted and deftly presented study, "Imagined Homes" is especially recommended reading for students of 20th Canadian History, 20th Century German History, and Immigration Studies, as well as a valued addition to academic library 20th Century Sociological Studies reference collections. ... Read more

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Restoring the Balance combines elements of First Nations traditions and mainstream feminism to produce an outstanding collection of historical and critical accounts of the impacts Aboriginal women have had in the areas of law, politics, education, community healing, language, art, and cultural retention. Fifteen scholars, activists and community leaders illuminate long-standing gender imbalances within the oral and written historical records that have limited the self-actualization of First Nations women, and offer insight into the tangible work that Aboriginal women perform in community and cultural development.

Contributors: Kim Anderson, Jo-ann Archibald, Cleo Big Eagle, Yvonne Boyer, Marlene Brant Castellano, Viviane Gray, Gaye Hanson, Anita Olsen Harper, Emma Larocque, Mary Jane Norris, Sherry Farrell Racette, Cynthia C. Wesley-Esquimaux ... Read more

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Chapters: Winnipeg Arts and Culture, Captain Canuck, the Forks, Winnipeg, Atelier National Du Manitoba, Koba Entertainment, Folklorama, Brave New Words: the Manitoba Writing and Publishing Awards, Ai-Kon, Winnipeg International Writers Festival, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, My Winnipeg, the Old Market Autonomous Zone, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Strike!, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, Festival Du Voyageur, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg Public Library, Central Canada Comic Con, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Black Hole Theatre Company, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, Reel Pride, the Ball, Ted Baryluk's Grocery, Red River Exhibition, Manitoba Opera, Chai Folk Ensemble, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Winnipeg Film Group, Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, Manitoba Club, Winnipeg International Children's Festival, Winnipeg Music Festival, Nsi Film Exchange Canadian Film Festival, Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Jazz Winnipeg Festival, Winnipeg Friendship Festival, Fortwhyte Alive, le Cercle Molière, Shakespeare in the Ruins. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 126. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Winnipeg is well known across the prairies for its arts and culture. Albert street, in the Exchange District Winnipeg Folk FestivalThe Exchange District Historical site is the original site of commerce in Winnipeg. After the railways came to Winnipeg, this area was developed with many fine warehouses, offices and banks. Many of these buildings are still standing and are unrivalled in Canada. On September 27, 1997, the original core of the city of Winnipeg, the Exchange District, was declared a National Historic Site by the federal Minister of Canadian Heritage. The Historic Sites and Monuments board recommended that Winnipeg's Exchange District be designated a historic district of national...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=6220302 ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Wabaseemoong Independent Nations or more fully as the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations of One Man Lake, Swan Lake and Whitedog, is a Saulteaux First Nation located 120 km northwest of Kenora, Ontario and 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) east of the Ontario-Manitoba border of northwestern Ontario, Canada. As of February, 2009, the First Nation had a population of 1,732 registered people, of which their on-Reserve population was 837 registered members and approximately 100 non-Band members. ... Read more