At the Forks: Mennonites in Winnipeg (review)

Leo Driedger, professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba, is a prolific writer on Canadian ethnic—and particularly Mennonite—and urban studies; in fact, this is his nineteenth book and one of many on Mennonites. In this volume he returns close to home, focusing on Mennonites in his home city of Winnipeg. Drawing on his ample experience, including many of his own sociological research projects, Driedger has produced a highly informative work.

The book is systematically divided into four general themes, within each of which are three more specific topics. In the first part, “Heritage Remembered and Challenged,” the reader is guided through Mennonite history (in the process learning that Mennonites, known for their rural settlement, have also long had urban experience), the recent urbanization of Mennonites in Canada, and the Mennonite settlement in Winnipeg. The second part, “Finding New Homes, Roots, Identities,” describes the maze of Mennonite church affiliations, the development of Mennonite universities and schools, and the role of Mennonite media in Winnipeg. The third part, “Discovering New Needs,” discusses urban Mennonite propensity for business, certain types of professions (especially service and teaching), and—in keeping with a long history of committed service—various services (notably girls’ homes, hospitals, seniors’ care homes, church outreach, and especially the comprehensive work of the Mennonite Central Committee, of which Driedger has himself served on provincial, national, and international boards). The fourth part, “Bridging Cultures Creatively,” delves into Mennonite contributions to the humanities in Winnipeg—music, creative writing, and fine arts—thereby adding to the intrinsic interdisciplinarity of the book.

Driedger goes far beyond simple description of these topics. As might be expected of a veteran sociologist, his writing is often very analytical, and detailed data are provided to back his analyses. But the author’s writing style is entirely understandable to the general reader, and he consistently makes the narrative interesting, not always an easy accomplishment.

One shortcoming of the book is that a better job could have been done in editing. While the accuracy of the profusion of detailed data would likely be indisputable, there are a number of obvious instances where more careful editing would have avoided such errors as geographical misdirections (this very soon becomes apparent: in the first couple of pages we read that Ghent is in the eastern Netherlands, that Mennonites stretched westward from the Netherlands into Germany, that the Hanseatic League stretched from Bergen in the north to Leipzig and Cracow in the east). Such errors are unfortunate given the vast amount of interesting (and presumably accurate) information provided.

Another critical point could be Driedger’s propensity to equate “Mennonite” with Germanic origin and identification. Very little attention is paid to Mennonites who are not of this traditional origin, such as Asian congregations and what must be considerable intermarriage between Germanic Mennonites and other ethnicities over several generations. This just reflects the longstanding dilemma increasingly inherent in Mennonite identification in an ethnic or religious sense.

Notwithstanding, in sum this book is a substantial contribution to Canadian ethnic studies, particularly Mennonite studies, as well as to the urban history and sociology of Winnipeg.