Religion and Identity

This is the one from last week; I knew I would forget to post it! I'm working on another one this evening (ok, who am I kidding? It's the middle of the night - I'm working on another one tonight, then!). So I'll try my best to post that by morning, when I email it to my professor. I'm on the home stretch of my Canada comps field, and should be finished by the end of the month. 

Loewen, Hidden Worlds

Little, Borderland Religion

Marks, Revivals and Roller Rinks

These three monographs are quite cohesively linked, all considering the development or expression of religious identities. Roydon Loewen examines how late nineteenth century Mennonite communities “regrafted” their identities from the Old World to the New; Jack Little analyzes the development of Protestant denominational affiliations in the Eastern Townships during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; Lynne Marks probes the intersection between religion and leisure to understand the class and gender dimensions of Protestant identity and participation.

Loewen questions existing historiography that describes Mennonite culture as static through their migration from Europe to North America, arguing instead that migration involved the reformation of social boundaries and associations that strengthened “New World” Mennonite communities and identities. He examines Mennonite communities in Canada and the United States, considering provincial and cross-border manifestations of identity. His focus is on the everyday lives of Mennonite people, using many previously unavailable primary sources and approaching already-known sources more critically, such as by considering diary-writing as a cultural act to legitimize social ideas (8). Loewen describes his monograph’s structure as a “kaleidoscopic” narrative, ranging from microanalyses to more general discussions (6). The range of scales employed in his analysis make his work both convincing and concise.

Loewen begins with a study of the diaries of Mennonite migrants in Europe and North America, arguing that the emotional content of these diaries increased during migration, particularly for women (21). Diaries, for Loewen, showed how people perceived their identities and communities, and constructed systems of meaning (30-31). His subsequent chapter considers the impact of the transplantation of bilateral partible inheritance, a Mennonite practice that was key to the economic and social formation of communities (34). Despite the absence of a legal infrastructure for this inheritance system (41), which enabled matrilocality but increased land fragmentation (38; 46), Mennonites succeeded in replicating it in North America (41). This showed their emphasis on community as a more important social unit than the nuclear family (49). Loewen continues his concern with gender in his third chapter, which focuses on women’s lives. Despite the common portrayal of Mennonite women as “hidden,” Loewen shows that their voices are quite apparent in public and private letters (52). Mennonite women had a strong sense of belonging, authority in their communities, and were socially confident (60-62).

In his fourth chapter, Loewen enters a case study of two Mennonite men, Mr. Plett and Mr. Bergey. He uses the experiences of these men to show the convergence of culture between Manitoba and Ontario Mennonite communities, despite regional differences in industrialization, urbanization, and cultural pluralism (86). Both men had similar social aims and orientation to family, focusing on land accumulation and the formation of kinship networks (71-72, 85). Based on these similarities, Loewen justifies his decision to consider the Mennonites as a singular group across Canada, arguing that regional differences are important, but not divisive (87). To what degree could this hold true for other immigrant groups? Loewen’s subsequent chapter is also comparative, considering the Mennonites in relation to other rural communities. He argues that Mennonites experienced common trends for agricultural frontier communities; the contest between communitarian values and individualism was not a unique concern for this culture (89). As such, Loewen’s study is, to some extent, an analysis of immigration more generally, rather than specifically Mennonites.

Little analyzes the formation of religious identity among English-speaking communities in the Eastern Townships, considering the impact of events such as the War of 1812 and the Rebellions of 1837-1838, and the role of the border in the development of Protestant denominations. This monograph is not focused on identity, per se; individual experiences are less of a focus in Little’s work than the formation of infrastructure and the activities of community leaders. Little considers the Eastern Townships as a middle ground, where republican, non-conformist American settler culture met conservative, religious institutions of British colonial authority. He begins with an overview of Protestant identity and its geographical and sociological context. Little stresses that cultural identity in the Eastern Townships was a product of its location on an American settlement frontier within a British colony, to form “a synthesis of radical American and conservative British values” (6). Little’s second introductory chapter considers the Pioneer Era, up to 1815, characterized by slow population growth and institutional development (25). During this period, Methodists and Anglicans dominated the region, mainly due to intensive missionary efforts (32-33). Following the War of 1812, American missionary efforts in the Eastern Townships decreased as they turned their attention to New England; this left a religious vacuum available for the conservative British-based denominations (50-51).

The body of Little’s work is divided into three sections, each with two or three chapters. In these sections, he considers each denomination individually, a structure which allows for rich detail but feels somewhat fragmented to the reader. He first discusses postwar American initiatives, including the Congregationalists and Baptists. This consideration of particular communities shows the heterogeneity of the Eastern Townships; for example, the Rebellions were particularly damaging for Congregationalism in Stanstead, which was close to the American border, compared to in other locales (64). Also in this section is Little’s particularly fascinating section on the Millerites, an apocalyptic millenarianist sect that was briefly active in the Eastern Townships during the 1840s. Little considers how this sect was a response to political, economic, and environmental factors, intensifying an already-existing religious revival (129, 137). This highlights the interconnectedness of religion with other community events and characteristics, a point that is also clear in Lynne Marks’ work. Little’s next two sections analyze the post-1812 British religious responses, considering the Wesleyan Methodists and the Anglicans in turn. In these chapters, Little stresses the tensions between institutionalism and localism; for example, both Methodists and Anglicans preferred that local communities would not have control over their own chapels, creating denominationally exclusive worship facilities (175, 238). He also highlights the importance of the borderland location; the Wesleyans, Little argues, were less successful due to their borderland location, caught between American radical revivalism and British conservativism (223).

Little’s approach to studying identity is quite different from that of Loewen, with a more institutional rather than personal focus and selection of sources. Little’s arguments and evidence also illustrate the complexity of studying identity. Religious affiliation, he argues, was not necessarily indicative of identity, a point that is particularly clear in his study of Anglicanism. As baptism was the only means of obtaining a birth certificate, it had legal as well as religious meaning; baptism in an Anglican church thus was not closely linked to actual religious faith (266). One disadvantage of Little’s choice of primary sources is that the discourses relating to identity are not particularly apparent in this work; his analysis clearly shows the formation of denominational infrastructure, but not the variations in individual self-image and the links between religious identity and other social roles.

One potential discussion to come out of these readings is the distinction between culture and religion. Lynne Marks in her analysis of Protestant culture as expressed in religion and leisure shows culture and religion to be closely intertwined. Her monograph emphasizes the need to integrate facets of social history, which she accomplishes by focusing on both religion and leisure, and considering the family as a unit of analysis to show the impact of marital status, gender, and age (10). Marks bases her analysis around three small Ontario towns: Thorold, Campbellford, and Ingersoll. She also considers the activities of the Knights of Labor and the Salvation Army across the province. By inserting leisure into her study of religion, Marks shows that Protestant culture was not hegemonic, as it was wider than its theological underpinnings; Protestantism was meaningful in many spheres (208).

Marks presents four chapters that focus on her small-town case studies. The first of these considers church involvement, comparing church membership roles and census documents. Marks highlights how church attendance was not a strictly religious matter; small-town residents also opted to attend church to assert their respectability and for a social outlet (23). Notably, the decision of church attendance varied within individual families. The limited involvement of unmarried men, compared to married men and both single and married women, shows the complex nature of Christian masculinity and its ideals of domesticity (33, 35). As Little also noted, baptism was common even in families with little other religious involvement, particularly in the working class (42). Marks shows how church membership had intersecting, overlapping, and contradictory meanings, signifying a blurring of social divisions rather than simply religious faith (49-50).

In her subsequent chapters, Marks considers church activities. Women’s initiatives, such as church-building initiatives and “strawberry socials,” she argues, “reveal a weaving together of more secular class and gender interests and anxieties” (52). Concerns with defining roughness and respectability show these categories to be more complex than moralistic stereotypes (82), shaped by social location and the use of leisure time. Marks notes that ideas of respectability were linked to class and behaviour, rather than religion (105). In her analysis of male leisure, Marks highlights the importance of masculinity in shaping men’s leisure and associational activities (108). Male leisure, often within fraternal orders, also complicated notions of roughness and respectability, blending ideals of breadwinning and rough behaviour (116). Marks also mentions recreational skating, part of the inspiration for the title of her work, as a rare example of respectable leisure that was open to both men and women. Modest and uncompetitive, ice- and roller-skating acted as a site for heterosexual courtship (129).

In her next two chapters, Marks turns away from her three-community case study. The Knights of Labor and the Salvation Army, according to Marks, were shaped largely by class; these were organizations in which working-class identity was more visible (140-141). Both the Knights and the Army had complicated relationships with respectability, given their working-class membership, and illustrate that there was no hegemonic Christianity. According to Marks, “religion not only buttressed the social order but also challenged it” (168). This is clear in her chapter on women’s roles within the Salvation Army, where working-class women could challenge dominant gender roles with some extent of religious legitimacy due to their undertaking of a public position stressing morality (170-173).

Marks’ final main chapter analyzes the Thorold Revival in 1893, an event with many parallels to the Millerism in Little’s work. Marks highlights how the religious conversions in Thorold coincided with an economic downturn, and were thus a response to social anxieties (195); evangelicalism thus resonated particularly with married men (198). In Thorold in 1893, Christianity became a “unifying force” that muted but did not eliminate class divergences (206); the revival made Christianity more central to identities.

These deer thought I should probably be reading faster; however, the CHA kept me so busy that I didn't have time to even open a book!