An Immigrant Experience on Indigenous Land: The Mennonites of Namaka Farm

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dc.contributor.advisorPodruchny, Carolyn
dc.contributor.authorJansen, Elizabeth Ann
dc.date.accessioned2024-11-07T11:13:15Z
dc.date.available2024-11-07T11:13:15Z
dc.date.copyright2024-07-29
dc.date.issued2024-11-07
dc.date.updated2024-11-07T11:13:15Z
dc.degree.disciplineInterdisciplinary Studies
dc.degree.levelMaster's
dc.degree.nameMA - Master of Arts
dc.description.abstractBeginning in 1925, thirty-six families, part of a mass migration of German-speaking Russian Mennonites (Russlaender), were settled on Namaka Farm, a large ranch in southern Alberta. With their arrival, the area became home to three disparate cultures and languages: Siksika Blackfoot, British colonial settlers, and Mennonite settlers. This thesis proposes that the experiences of these Mennonites prior to arriving in Canada influenced their adaptation. It shows how they were both marginalized and privileged within the existing colonial structure. Values they held tightly created unforeseen and inadvertent repercussions, including the perpetuation of systemic injustices and racism. Extensive oral interviews and primary document research illustrate how these immigrants formed relationships among themselves, with those in authority, and with their Siksika and “English” neighbours. The integration of Russlaender, Indigenous, and English voices has produced a coherent narrative conveying wisdom that can create thriving and sustainable intracultural, intercultural, and ecological relationships today.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10315/42480
dc.languageen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectCanadian history
dc.subject.keywordsMennoniites
dc.subject.keywordsRusslaender
dc.subject.keywordsSiksika
dc.subject.keywordsBlackfoot
dc.subject.keywordsImmigrant adaptation
dc.subject.keywordsNamaka Farm
dc.subject.keywordsMennonite-Siksika relationships
dc.subject.keywordsMennonite-Indigenous interactions
dc.subject.keywordsMennonite assimilation
dc.subject.keywordsImmigrant assimilation
dc.subject.keywordsSettler-colonialism
dc.subject.keywords1920s Mennonite settlers
dc.subject.keywordsGerman-speaking Russian Mennonites 1920s
dc.subject.keywordsAlberta settlers 1920s
dc.subject.keywordsCanadian Colonization Association
dc.subject.keywordsMennonite Land Settlement Board
dc.subject.keywordsRacism
dc.subject.keywordsSystemic injustices
dc.subject.keywordsHegemony
dc.titleAn Immigrant Experience on Indigenous Land: The Mennonites of Namaka Farm
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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