Empirical Analyses of Immigrants’ Churches Across Locations: Historic Wendish Churches in Germany, Texas, and South Australia

ANAT GEVA AND JACOB MORRIS ARRIS 38 § VoLUME 21 2oro EMPIRICAL ANALYSES OF IMMIGRANTS' CHURCHES ACROSS LOCATIONS: HISTORIC WENDISH CHURCHES IN GERMANY, TEXAS, AND SOUTH AUSTRALIA ANAT GEVA AND JACOB MORRIS This paper explores how the transfer of religious architecture across continents reflects immigrants' commitment to heritage and anchors their cultural and religious identity. Numerous scholars have studied this phenomenon either by focusing on specific ethnic groups at one location or by examining the architecture of immigrants. 1 The unique contribution of this paper is its introduction of an empirical method to test these observations. Specifically, the paper analyzes four rural vernacular churches of a specific cultural group, the Wends. This group of Sorbs emigrated during the second half of the nineteenth century from their homeland of more than one thousand years in southeast Germany (Lusatia) to several areas in North America, Australia, and South Africa. Most of them settled in south central Texas (Lee County ) and in South Australia-the area northeast of Adelaide. Three of their churches built in the New World are compared to one of the churches left behind in Germany (the Old World). The analysis hypothesizes that a decrease in the churches' thermal comfort in their new location compared to the level of comfort in Germany implies that immigrants persisted in maintaining traditional forms of churches across locations at the expense of accommodating new incompatible environmental conditions. In testing this premise, this paper utilizes qualitative, morphological analyses along accepted "design with climate" guidelines; and quantitative computerized energy simulations. The phenomenon of immigrants preserving the old in a new world exemplifies the relationship between group memories and place.2 Maurice Halbwachs and Paul Connerton argue "our memories are localized within a social group, situated in the mental and material spaces provided by that group."3 These collective memories are part of a construction of social and cultural identity that reinforces a sense of continuity with the past.4 In other words, the associaVoLUME 21 § 2010 ~ ARRIS 39 ANAT GEVA AND JACOB MORRIS tion between social identity and place can be represented by traditions which are passed from generation to generation and are expressed in historic buildings, districts, and towns.5 Anthropologist Keith H. Basso writes about the Western Apache, "Building and sharing place-world... is not only a means of reviving former times but also revising them... it [place-making] is also a way of constructing social traditions and, in the process, personal and social identities."6 This tendency expresses the urge to preserve one's lifestyle, heritage, and shared experiences. It has such a dominant force that immigrants, when moving from their homelands to new locations, attempt to perpetuate the original built form of their homeland_? This phenomenon is strongly demonstrated when immigrants choose new locations that resemble as closely as possible the environment of their native country.8 Even when the new location is different from the old, every piece of resemblance to their homeland counts, as shown in this quote from a Wendish immigrant's letter written from St. Kitts, Australia, to his family in Lusatia, Germany: "The land with its hills and rock creeks was very similar to the countryside which they left behind in Saxony. The Wends felt quite at home in the familiar surroundings...." This architectural conservatism is especially intriguing in cases where immigrants settle in different climate areas than their homeland. Amos Rapoport observes that when immigrants come to new locations that are not similar to the old, their first reaction is to perpetuate the form and arrangement of their old homes, barns, churches, villages, and towns.9 Eleni Bastea concurs in this observation, "We are all carrying our memories around, looking for a new home for them to rest."1°Frequently, the new locations require changes from their original homelands, changes that may modify not only their buildings but also their familiarity with sacred-place making and spiritual experiences. 11 The nature and degree of these ARRIS 40 ~ VoLUME 2r § 2oro architectural modifications is influenced by changes in environmental conditions and is a function of building type. 12 Anat Geva demonstrates that buildings are treated differently pending their link to cultural heritage and their symbolic value of social...