I Am Hutterite, and:Removing the Hutterite Kerchief (review)

The Hutterian brethren are a German-speaking Anabaptist pacifist group that practices communal living. With birth rates that rank among the highest of any social group in the world, their numbers have expanded from a few hundred people on their arrival in North America in the early 1870s to about 50,000 today. Their more than 480 colonies are now a highly visible element of the landscape of the Canadian prairies and the Northern Great Plains. Nevertheless, to a great extent, Hutterite society remains essentially closed to outsiders. They do not proselytize and very rarely do outsiders join and remain a part of the community. Even those who have studied the Hutterites over many years are seldom privy to the underlying social dynamics of colony life.

The Hutterites fall into three groups—Schmiedeleut, Dariusleut, and Lehrerleut —with the Schmiedeleut generally regarded as the more liberal and the Lehrerleut as the more conservative, with the Dariusleut falling somewhere in between. Two recently published books, I am Hutterite, by Mary-Ann Kirby, and Removing the Hutterite Kerchief, by Rebecca Hofer, offer rare glimpses of the minutiae of life in a Hutterite community by those who were once members of the Hutterite church and active participants in life on Schmiedeleut colonies in Manitoba. To an outsider the differences between the three groups are minor so the descriptions of colony organization and the general information on the Hutterite way of life given by Kirby and Hofer may be applied to all colonies regardless of their leut.

Neither Kirby nor Hofer are academics, though Kirby is now a professional journalist, so readers should not expect polished scholarly analytical accounts. Both accounts are essentially highly personal memoirs centered on the events leading up to their decision (in Kirby’s case, her parents’ decision) to leave the colony and begin life on the outside. For Hutterites, leaving the colony means leaving the church, cutting ties with their relatives, friends, jobs, and culture. It is not a decision taken lightly, nor is it an action that is lightly regarded by the community they leave. Both books thus present a highly personal account of the trauma associated with breaking away from both a church and a lifestyle buffered from the economic uncertainties of life on the outside. These accounts are prefaced by informative descriptions of Hutterite society as it was in the 1960s, seen from insiders’ perspectives.

Memories are constructed; events, when recalled, are positioned by the narrator to validate decisions and present an account of events that validates the actions of the narrator. Both these books should be read with this in mind. Kirby was ten years old when her parents left Fairholme colony and it is doubtful that at that age she was privy to the social dynamics that caused her parents to leave the Hutterite church and abandon colony life. Most likely, her telling of events is based on oft-repeated accounts told by her parents; as disaffected colony members, they would have presented their version of events, which may not be shared by the other parties in their disputes. Many Hutterites acquainted with the circumstances surrounding Kirby’s family’s defection are sceptical of the veracity of her account, considering it to be rather one-sided.

Nevertheless, Kirby provides a fascinating account of life on a colony as seen from the perspective of a young girl in the 1960s. When her parents left Fairholme Colony, ten-year-old Ann-Marie Dornn (Kirby) was devastated. She was born into Hutterite society and knew nothing else. For her, life on the colony was idyllic, free of social pressures and economic want. Though isolated from the secular world, with no access to radio or television or the other distractions of modern life, she spent her time surrounded by other children, free to explore the mysteries of farm life and to wonder about the hidden secrets...