Ethnicity as process : an examination of the Mennonite Brethren in the lower mainland of British Columbia
Date
1995
Authors
Klassen, Doug
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Abstract
Mennonites are an ethnoreligious group that have developed a distinct sense of identity over the centuries. Traditionally they have been a closed rural social group with a distinct culture and sense of peoplehood. In the modem context, the Mennonite strategy of isolationism could no longer be practically carried out and subsequently there has been increased Mennonite participation in the structural and cultural matrix of society. This study examined the most modernized Mennonite group, the Mennonite Brethren, to explore how increased participation in Canadian society has affected their ethnic identity. This was done to determine if the experience of the Mennonite Brethren was best characterized by the assimilation theory that stresses the need for ethnic survival through cultural replication or an alternative model that conceptualizes ethnicity as an emergent process socially constructed within particular historical and social contexts.
The study used qualitative interviews with 12 members of the Mennonite Brethren, four from each generation, to gain in-depth information about the form and salience of the group's identity. The form of identity was examined through an investigation of group boundaries and symbols. The salience of identity was studied by exploring how a Mennonite Brethren identity affects the lives of group members.
The results indicate that Mennonite Brethren identity consists of two intertwined identity elements, ethnicity and religion. While both elements are present, religion is currently more salient than ethnicity. The group boundaries have been expanded to include outsiders who join the Mennonite Brethren Church. The symbols used to identify the group are increasingly religious, rather than ethnic, markers. Despite the decline of observable ethnic traits, the group has been able to maintain a distinct identity in modern society by reconstructing their identity to accentuate the group's religious history, values and beliefs.
The reconstructed Mennonite Brethren identity continues to differentiate group members from the rest of society through ideological separation. Group members share, to varying degrees, a common ideology that reflects the group's particular selection and interpretation of theology. It is a world view that has a significant effect on the social behaviour and subjective thinking of group members.
The transformation of the Mennonite Brethren identity indicates that ethnicity is most accurately seen as a dynamic phenomenon that is shaped by social interaction within particular social, geographical and historical contexts.