The Boundaries of Ethnicity

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In The Boundaries of Ethnicity Benjamin Bryce considers what it meant to be German in Ontario between 1880 and 1930.

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In The Boundaries of Ethnicity, Benjamin Bryce considers what it meant to be German in Ontario between 1880 and 1930.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 28, 2024

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This video is a detailed discussion about a book that evolved from the author's doctoral dissertation, focusing on the complexities of ethnicity and migration, particularly concerning German speakers in Ontario, Canada. The author aimed to explore nuanced aspects of ethnicity, generational and denominational differences, and how these dynamics play out in Canadian society and North America.

The research is multi-faceted, utilizing archives from Canada and Germany, including underutilized private collections, church documents, and local education records. The author emphasizes the importance of these sources in understanding the historical narrative of German migration and identity in Ontario, contrasting it with perspectives on German speakers in Latin America, where more attention was noted.

The book discusses the evolving definitions of what it meant to be "German" over a 50-year period, affected by external societal perceptions, especially during the First World War, which transformed how German individuals were viewed in Canada and the U.S. The repressive responses to German heritage during this period also shaped community dynamics.

Additionally, the text highlights the role of education in shaping ethnic identities and discusses the emergence of bilingual education in Ontario, contrasting English-dominant public schooling with the experiences of minority languages. The author critiques the term "community," illustrating that there are multiple, overlapping communities with varying definitions of cultural identity, often organized around specific institutions like churches or schools.

In summary, the work contributes to migration studies by exposing the intricate dynamics of ethnic identity, community belonging, and the implications of bilingualism within a broader context of cultural pluralism and public education policies in Canada and North America. The author argues against simplistic narratives of ethnicity and advocates for recognizing the complexities and contradictions inherent in community identities and experiences.

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Here are five key points from the video:

1. **Origin and Motivation of the Book**: The author explains that the book originated from their doctoral dissertation, arising from a broader research project aimed at exploring the complexities of ethnicity, particularly in the convideo of German migration and its implications for identity and belonging in Canadian society.

2. **Research Methodology and Sources**: The book incorporates a diverse range of archival materials from both Canada and Germany, including underutilized private archives and church collections, which provide a wealth of information yet often overlooked in historical studies of migration and ethnicity.

3. **Nuances of German Ethnicity**: The author emphasizes that the concept of German identity in Ontario evolved over a 50-year period. This identity is influenced by factors such as generational differences, intermarriage with non-German individuals, and varying degrees of nationalism among individuals within the same ethnic group.

4. **Shifts in Language and Education**: The video discusses the bilingual education policies in Ontario, detailing the challenges and eventual decline of bilingual education systems as English became the dominant language of instruction. This reflects broader societal implications for cultural and linguistic diversity in both Canada and the United States.

5. **Complexity of Community and Belonging**: The author argues that the notion of "community" is multifaceted and often misunderstood. Different groups within the overarching German community in Ontario have distinct identities and relationships to language, culture, and ethnicity, highlighting the fluidity of identity and the contested nature of belonging.

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Here are some key quotes extracted from the video. They capture the main themes and arguments expressed throughout the narrative:

1. **Motivation for Research:**
- "What motivated the book was, um, uh, that it was the outcome of a broader research project."
- "I was an interest in understanding how ethnicity was complex and varied and more nuanced than we often write about in history."

2. **Nature of Ethnic Identity:**
- "It meant many things to be German in Ontario in this broad 50 year period."
- "What I found in archives in Germany is that they actually didn't spend a lot of time talking about German speakers in Canada."

3. **Impact of War:**
- "Being German also depended on what the surrounding society thinks it means to be German."
- "In the case of the First World War, all of a sudden being German... could mean being subversive or being a questionable, questionably loyal subject."

4. **Role of Education:**
- "An important part of this book is an analysis of formal education and the form, the analysis of bilingual education in Ontario."
- "Thinking about that, there is this other outcome for a very small group of people...into a broader convideo."

5. **Language of Religion and Identity:**
- "The language of our religion is German... but other people have different opinions."
- "This chapter... shows that there's these many groups with many competing interests... many competing practices at any given moment."

6. **Concept of Community:**
- "I think I'm not unique amongst scholars of migration to highlight the problems of the notion of community."
- "Their community is not all Germans... but for example, those of us who go to this church, we are a community."

7. **Contributions to Migration Studies:**
- "This book... aims to show that there's a lot more nuance and complexity that groupness is... an imagined real thing that people do things because of groupness."
- "The boundaries that outsiders impose or think exist surround communities."

These quotes reflect the exploration of ethnic identity, migration, community dynamics, and the role of education and language within the convideo of German speakers in Canada, as well as the broader migration studies framework.

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This book grew from my doctoral dissertation.

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So from a very, pragmatic perspective,

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what motivated the book was, that it was the, just

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to publish the book was the outcome of a, a,

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a broader research project.

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But to put another way, what motivated the dissertation,

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I was an interest in understanding, how, ethnicity,

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was complex and varied

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and, more nuanced than we often write about in,

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in history, books and histories of migration,

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and thinking about things like generational differences,

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denominational differences between,

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different religious groups,

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but are of the same, ethnicity such as Germans, so

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as German Protestants and Catholics.

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Uh, and so, the book was driven by that sort

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of broader interest, not in the history necessarily only

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of German speakers, but also in, with a desire

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to have a broader engagement with questions of ethnicity

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and migration, and belonging in Canadian society

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and more broadly in North America.

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So this book draws from, archives

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in both Canada and Germany.

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Uh, and so there is a mix of public and private archives.

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I found that, private institutions,

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whether they are various, individual churches

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or local school boards,

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which don't have exactly public facing archives,

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although they are public institutions, had a wealth

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of information about this topic.

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Uh, and a kind of information that has often not been used,

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for, in a field

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and having history in general,

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which often privileges things like public archives.

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So it draws from a lot of,

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different private collections.

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And then of course, the Archives

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of Ontario was very helpful in the multicultural

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history Society of Ontario.

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Uh, their collection was also really important.

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Newspaper collections from a few, less well used,

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collections, including things like Lutheran publications,

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were also, important for this study.

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And one thing that was important about them from my

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perspective is that they have not often been used in studies

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of, in this case, German migration to Ontario.

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Uh, there's a whole German side to my research.

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The book is actually part of, a broader project.

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I also wrote about, also published a book about,

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German speakers in Buenos Argentina.

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Uh, and so the research, of course, from Argentina has no,

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had no bearing on this book about Ontario.

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But research in Germany was done

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to both answer questions about the evolving meaning

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of German ethnicity in Ontario and also in Bueno Aires.

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And so, archives in Germany

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were helpful sometimes in the case for this book.

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The, there were, the absences were also helpful.

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So what I found in archives in Germany is

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that they actually didn't spend a lot

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of time talking about German speakers in Canada.

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And when they talk about German speakers in North America in

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general, it was often a bit of a dismissive way saying,

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they're sort of lost from, our global influence,

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whereas German speakers in Latin America are the ones we

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wanna spend our time talking about.

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So there is, in this book,

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there is research about from Germany, but

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It's often the absence of actual discussion

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of German leaders in North America,

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which further frame my analysis

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and how there's a sort of a different path

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of German ethnicity in different parts of the Americas.

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It meant many things to be German

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and Ontario in this broad 50 year period.

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I guess you could add that in 1880.

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It could be different than in, in 1920.

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But for individual people, it was also different.

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So for, a German nationalist being German min,

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thinking about Germany celebrating the, you know,

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cultural heritage with, commemorative events,

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speaking of the German language, making sure your

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children spoke the German language.

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But that's a very narrow understanding of what I meant

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to be German or the definition

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of from a very small group of people.

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And I think that that definition, these efforts

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to be nationalistic

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and to maintain, have often been the focus

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of studies of various groups.

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And this book has the goal to talk about a whole lot

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of other possibilities at the same time.

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So not to discard that as a, a, a genuine expression of, of

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what it means to be German,

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but for example, the child of

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that person already has a different perspective, right?

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So the child, that that person might be a perfect bilingual

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because their parent is such a, a nationalist.

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But at the same time, that child is also a, a native speaker

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of English, and the surrounding society sees that child

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as a native speaker of English, for example.

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Um, now what if another

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slightly less nationalist person married a person

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who is not of German heritage?

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So then we have another child to talk about, another someone

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who becomes an adult over time.

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In this 50 year period, a person who has German heritage,

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but also not German heritage,

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would themselves also have a different

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definition of what it means to be German.

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There is, a chapter in the book about the First World

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War, something that's often been focused on,

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because there was a repressive policies

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of the Canadian government and the American government

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towards, German minorities during first world war.

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One point I point out there is that being German,

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what it means to be German also matter.

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It depends what the surrounding society thinks of

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what it means thinks it means to be German.

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So in the case of during the first World War, all

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of a sudden being German for non-German people,

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also changed it, it's a meaning, right?

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So all of a sudden it could mean being subversive

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or being a questionable questionably loyal, subject.

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But even there, that definition of that repressive, sort

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of othering of German speakers in, in the fir

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during the first World War was also fluid, right?

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So it meant something different in 1918 than it did in 1914.

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The Canadian government as a, as a federal policy,

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right at the very end of the war in September of 1918,

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banned all German language newspapers across the country

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that in a sense could tell something what it meant

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to be German in September of 1918, right

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before the First World War ended.

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But in, in, in September of 1914, that was less

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of an issue from a sort of a nationalistic anti-German,

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xenophobic perspective of, of the surrounding society.

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And so even there, what I meant

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to be German meant many things.

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So, an important part of this book is,

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an analysis of formal education

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and the form, the analysis

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of bilingual education in Ontario,

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and looking at places where,

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in an overwhelmingly English speaking context,

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there is also the teaching of German.

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And so I have a chapter about these two

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somewhat German language religious colleges, one Catholic

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and one Lutheran, and I put emphasis on them,

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but in part, as part

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of a broader discussion about education policy

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and questions of bilingualism and monolingualism,

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or questions of a written proficiency

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versus spoken proficiency.

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So these small, you could say niche colleges as

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that were not the overwhelming experience for most people

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of German heritage in Ontario were very important, both

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because of what they did, and also the very fact

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that they were small, right?

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So it's only a very limited group of people who are going

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to, they can call 'em semi university level education,

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often theological training,

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but they had arts degrees as well.

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So there's, they become part of,

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Ontario universities in the 1960s.

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But these colleges, which were a mix of high school

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and then then university level education, are important

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because they're doing things in German.

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So we have evidence here

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that's not being talked about in the study of,

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whether it's German schools in, in, whether it's in Ontario,

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but also more broadly, north America.

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There actually are instances of German language,

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higher education taking place in this period

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of mass migration and, and state formation.

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And so on that level, these two colleges, St.

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Jerome's and Water Lutheran College,

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are very interesting.

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Even when they are promoting the German

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language, they, they are function.

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They have a bigger, they're number one goal is promoting

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either Catholicism or Lutheranism,

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and in their mind to do that.

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Uh, sometimes the German language is needed,

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but they're also,

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teaching other things in English at the same time.

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So German is part of the curriculum, not just as a subject,

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but as a language of instruction.

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Um, but it is to fulfill both a linguistic goal

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and also a denominational goal.

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And again, I add these, this analysis,

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I have this chapter about these two colleges as part

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of a broader context in which there's also much more

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widespread German language education as a language

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of instruction, not just a subject of instruction,

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in Ontario elementary schools.

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And thinking about that, there is this other outcome

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for a very small group of people, I think puts that context

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of bilingual education at the elementary level

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for the mass ma the vast majority

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of children, into a broader context.

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And that is something, that I think can contribute to a,

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a bigger discussion of German schools,

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but also other, foreign language education programs,

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in the United States and Canada, thinking about how,

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if it was only six years of elementary education,

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it's a little, it's not a full story of language learning

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and language acquisition, if you have bilingual schools

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for young children, but then all young children

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who end up going to high school, which is only a portion

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of society in this time period,

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if no high schools have bilingual education,

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which is quite often the case depending on different school

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districts and school boards across North America,

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it's relevant to point that out, right?

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So think of even the stages of public education.

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It can become more nuanced if you think of them

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as separate stages and not just a blanket understanding of,

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there was bilingual schools,

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and then there was this sort of multi-ethnic society.

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I have a chapter in the book called The Language

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of Religion, and that is focusing on maybe a, a couple

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of things, a sort of a bit of a catchall term.

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So on the one hand, the language of religion, in the opinion

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of many pastors and priests, he is German.

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Uh, so Lu Real Lutheranism is done in German.

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So that is language of religion,

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and yet there's all sorts of other congregations.

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And over time, especially

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by about 1910, this starts to change.

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And maybe crucially, I could point out there not by 1914.

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So it's not about the first World War.

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There is a different linguistic history,

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and a different history of bilingualism

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that actually has very little to do

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with the First World War.

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For other people, the language of religion is more complex.

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So you have utterances by religious leaders saying, we need

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to offer church services in, in German,

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because this is the, the, the way things need to be done.

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And our, and particularly for Lutherans, the language

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of our religion is German,

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and sort of a, a melding of denominational identity

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and linguistic identity in their institutional projects.

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Yet other people have different opinions.

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So, and increasingly you'd see,

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local level congregations catering to these,

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different differing opinions.

249
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So they have a second service on Sundays

250
00:10:15.015 --> 00:10:16.335
that are, that is in English.

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That means in fact that despite having one opinion about

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what the language of religion is,

253
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other people have other opinions, and

254
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therefore the aggregate

255
00:10:23.095 --> 00:10:24.415
or the combination of everyone means

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that there's languages of religion.

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Um, and so it's just an analysis of the complexity of

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how people think about language or, or linguistic identity

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and denominational identity

260
00:10:34.715 --> 00:10:37.375
and ethnic identity in more complex ways.

261
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And the sort of the goal of that chapter,

262
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and I'd say more broadly of the book, is to show

263
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that there's these many groups with many competing

264
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interests, many competing practices at any given moment.

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And then of course, over time,

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but is not simply to say

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that in the 1920s there was this group level

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thing that was one way.

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And in 1890, there was a group level thing.

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That was another way. But even the idea

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of a group is far more, complex.

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And so if you, if you think of the title of the book,

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of the boundaries of, of ethnicity,

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00:11:03.065 --> 00:11:04.935
there are these boundaries that are being crossed

275
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and made all the time.

276
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And so there is the, the, if you think of a boundary

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of ethnicity around German language,

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church services in one town in 1890, even there,

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the boundaries fluid, because if they also have a Sunday

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school in a case of a Protestant, Protestant church,

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they have a Sunday school that is in fact in English,

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there's a boundary around the church.

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And in the basement where the kids are,

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there's a different boundary being drawn.

285
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And so I'm just trying to flesh out,

286
00:11:28.595 --> 00:11:30.655
all those complexities and all those contradictions

287
00:11:31.035 --> 00:11:34.295
and all the assumptions that we have when we talk about,

288
00:11:34.445 --> 00:11:37.535
groupness and ethnic categories and immigrants.

289
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Uh, and even the very different, the distinction

290
00:11:40.015 --> 00:11:42.095
that we make or do not make between immigrants

291
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and the children of immigrants.

292
00:11:43.595 --> 00:11:45.575
Um, 'cause the children of immigrants are doing things

293
00:11:45.575 --> 00:11:47.695
differently, even if they're sort of on the same page

294
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as an immigrant generation.

295
00:11:49.475 --> 00:11:51.415
Uh, they're not doing exactly the same thing.

296
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They have different linguistic relationships,

297
00:11:53.270 --> 00:11:55.965
different ideas of belonging, different identities that,

298
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play out and then shape the group

299
00:11:58.385 --> 00:12:01.525
or the community in ways that, are far more complex.

300
00:12:02.965 --> 00:12:06.005
Building on that discussion of the language of religion, I

301
00:12:06.875 --> 00:12:09.025
parse out a, a, an a change

302
00:12:09.055 --> 00:12:12.745
that does take place in which there's a shift from a

303
00:12:13.315 --> 00:12:16.065
widespread idea that there is, in the case of religion,

304
00:12:16.185 --> 00:12:20.145
a language religion focusing still on, on, on religion.

305
00:12:20.295 --> 00:12:21.665
There's a rise of bilingualism.

306
00:12:21.665 --> 00:12:22.985
And this, as I mentioned, already happens

307
00:12:23.085 --> 00:12:24.505
before the first World War,

308
00:12:25.005 --> 00:12:27.825
but it is also sort of the growing institutional acceptance,

309
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so of Lutheran and Catholic churches

310
00:12:30.765 --> 00:12:34.995
and, associations that are linked to churches,

311
00:12:35.715 --> 00:12:39.955
a a broader acceptance of a bilingual equilibrium, so

312
00:12:39.955 --> 00:12:43.075
that there is an abandonment of a certain German only

313
00:12:43.595 --> 00:12:46.035
approach to an in a church institution, and

314
00:12:46.035 --> 00:12:47.555
therefore you could say a certain under understanding

315
00:12:47.555 --> 00:12:49.515
of community and an embrace

316
00:12:49.575 --> 00:12:51.155
of an actual bilingual institution.

317
00:12:51.155 --> 00:12:54.195
So this plays out at, say, in the Lutheran Synod,

318
00:12:54.255 --> 00:12:58.915
the Canada Synod, for example, it, formally,

319
00:12:59.055 --> 00:13:02.075
adopts in the 1920s formally adopts both languages

320
00:13:02.095 --> 00:13:03.955
as languages of any institution.

321
00:13:04.455 --> 00:13:07.315
And again, highlighting that there is not, that it is a,

322
00:13:07.635 --> 00:13:09.675
a group level language shift from German to English,

323
00:13:09.695 --> 00:13:12.555
but still there's a shift to an acceptance of bilingualism.

324
00:13:12.575 --> 00:13:16.195
And creating spaces for both languages shows a more nuanced

325
00:13:16.195 --> 00:13:18.515
understanding of what a what, what we could,

326
00:13:18.515 --> 00:13:19.835
what we mean when we say a group,

327
00:13:19.855 --> 00:13:21.355
or what we mean when we say Germans,

328
00:13:21.615 --> 00:13:23.155
or what we mean when we say community.

329
00:13:23.255 --> 00:13:24.635
And on the topic of community,

330
00:13:24.945 --> 00:13:27.435
I've said it a few times here, I'm very skeptical

331
00:13:27.455 --> 00:13:28.595
of, of the term community.

332
00:13:28.635 --> 00:13:31.035
I think I'm not unique amongst scholars of migration

333
00:13:31.095 --> 00:13:34.195
to highlight the problems of, of the notion of community.

334
00:13:34.455 --> 00:13:37.195
But in the case of this book, I also analyze community

335
00:13:37.195 --> 00:13:38.755
as a thing that people actually talked about.

336
00:13:38.815 --> 00:13:40.635
So they, they, they think there's a community.

337
00:13:40.635 --> 00:13:42.195
So, but their community is not all Germans

338
00:13:42.195 --> 00:13:43.435
or all Germans in a single town.

339
00:13:43.495 --> 00:13:45.795
But for example, those of us who go

340
00:13:45.795 --> 00:13:47.795
to this church, we are a community.

341
00:13:47.795 --> 00:13:50.155
And in that sense, I think the word community has a,

342
00:13:50.355 --> 00:13:52.835
a stronger, has, has more value

343
00:13:52.835 --> 00:13:54.995
because there's literally a community of people organized

344
00:13:54.995 --> 00:13:56.395
around a given institution.

345
00:13:56.395 --> 00:13:58.315
It doesn't need to be a church. It could be, the parents

346
00:13:58.335 --> 00:14:00.515
of a, of a, in a town related

347
00:14:00.515 --> 00:14:01.795
to a certain elementary school.

348
00:14:02.495 --> 00:14:04.395
Uh, you can think more broadly about other kinds

349
00:14:04.395 --> 00:14:05.795
of activities that people engage in.

350
00:14:06.025 --> 00:14:07.355
Communities are formed, but

351
00:14:07.355 --> 00:14:08.675
therefore there are multiple communities

352
00:14:08.675 --> 00:14:10.275
that are overlapping and contradictory.

353
00:14:10.615 --> 00:14:13.835
Uh, and there are 15 communities. It's not one community.

354
00:14:13.835 --> 00:14:15.275
But then analyzing how one

355
00:14:15.275 --> 00:14:16.915
of those 15 communities thinks of things.

356
00:14:17.215 --> 00:14:20.275
It does tell us more things about ethnicity, belonging,

357
00:14:20.775 --> 00:14:21.875
and,

358
00:14:21.985 --> 00:14:24.275
broader questions on migration and multiculturalism.

359
00:14:24.635 --> 00:14:27.115
I think this book makes a few different contributions.

360
00:14:27.135 --> 00:14:30.155
So one, it's studying the biggest province in Canada,

361
00:14:30.735 --> 00:14:34.515
and the biggest, ethnic group, migratory group,

362
00:14:34.515 --> 00:14:36.715
which itself is, those are sort of two different kinds

363
00:14:36.715 --> 00:14:38.355
of categories in that,

364
00:14:38.355 --> 00:14:40.915
at a given moment there are far more people of some sort

365
00:14:40.915 --> 00:14:43.915
of German heritage than actual German immigrants in Canada.

366
00:14:44.415 --> 00:14:45.555
And so, on the one hand, looking at

367
00:14:45.555 --> 00:14:49.075
how the focus on education in particular, focus on

368
00:14:49.075 --> 00:14:50.835
how the Ontario government in the rise

369
00:14:50.855 --> 00:14:55.555
of public education from the 1870s onwards,

370
00:14:55.555 --> 00:14:57.115
thought about and address the

371
00:14:57.235 --> 00:14:58.315
question of bilingual education.

372
00:14:58.315 --> 00:15:00.035
This is something that in the 1860s

373
00:15:00.055 --> 00:15:03.195
or 1870s, it was not at all certain what the outcome

374
00:15:03.255 --> 00:15:04.315
of whether it's Ontario

375
00:15:04.335 --> 00:15:06.835
or broader North American education systems would be.

376
00:15:07.495 --> 00:15:10.435
Uh, and by the 1890s, it becomes clear in Ontario

377
00:15:10.455 --> 00:15:12.795
and that stuff that is repeated across Canada

378
00:15:12.935 --> 00:15:15.435
and across the United States, that by, by the turn

379
00:15:15.435 --> 00:15:18.755
of the 20th century education will be in English.

380
00:15:19.175 --> 00:15:22.315
But in 1860, that was not necessarily the, the outcome,

381
00:15:22.455 --> 00:15:23.875
the the only possible outcome.

382
00:15:23.875 --> 00:15:27.515
So how the Ontario government came to terms with the demands

383
00:15:27.515 --> 00:15:30.395
of communities, the demands of local autonomy,

384
00:15:30.495 --> 00:15:33.795
and the interest in bilingual public education,

385
00:15:34.135 --> 00:15:36.155
and ultimately clamping down and,

386
00:15:36.175 --> 00:15:39.315
and eliminating the idea of bilingual public education,

387
00:15:39.455 --> 00:15:42.395
is an important study to understand how Canada came to be,

388
00:15:42.395 --> 00:15:43.435
or English Canada came to be.

389
00:15:43.545 --> 00:15:46.355
There's another story here of French language education

390
00:15:46.625 --> 00:15:47.755
outside of Quebec,

391
00:15:48.335 --> 00:15:51.075
and that is also shaping how, English Canada came

392
00:15:51.075 --> 00:15:53.675
to terms with, monolingual education

393
00:15:54.145 --> 00:15:55.235
with the exception of French.

394
00:15:55.255 --> 00:15:57.315
And so it's creating a special pace place

395
00:15:57.315 --> 00:15:59.755
for French while also eliminating all special

396
00:15:59.755 --> 00:16:00.915
places for any other language.

397
00:16:00.915 --> 00:16:01.915
And that's not just a story of German,

398
00:16:01.935 --> 00:16:03.515
but it could also be a story of Polish

399
00:16:03.535 --> 00:16:06.355
or Ukrainian, in places like Manitoba.

400
00:16:06.495 --> 00:16:08.755
So it's a broader Canadian story of how the state comes

401
00:16:08.755 --> 00:16:10.395
to terms with cultural diversity,

402
00:16:10.625 --> 00:16:11.755
manages cultural diversity,

403
00:16:12.095 --> 00:16:15.355
and ultimately marginalizes cultural diversity from public

404
00:16:15.355 --> 00:16:18.315
institutions, from state institutions, while allowing a lot

405
00:16:18.315 --> 00:16:19.955
of space for cultural diversity

406
00:16:19.955 --> 00:16:22.915
and linguistic diversity in other spaces such as churches.

407
00:16:22.975 --> 00:16:25.875
So in the case of Canada and the United States,

408
00:16:26.295 --> 00:16:29.995
multilingualism and, cultural pluralism is often,

409
00:16:30.045 --> 00:16:33.115
alive and well in the household or in religious communities,

410
00:16:33.135 --> 00:16:35.395
and then totally eliminated from other parts of the public

411
00:16:35.495 --> 00:16:36.595
or from the public sphere,

412
00:16:36.855 --> 00:16:38.675
not only in things like education, but also in commerce

413
00:16:38.735 --> 00:16:40.675
and business and things like that.

414
00:16:41.295 --> 00:16:43.715
Uh, and so this is the study of the origins

415
00:16:43.715 --> 00:16:47.035
of this modern 20th century, standard that we have,

416
00:16:47.035 --> 00:16:50.115
and how we come to terms with both a very diverse society,

417
00:16:50.175 --> 00:16:53.035
but a society that also has this monolingual English

418
00:16:53.355 --> 00:16:55.995
paradigm, at that coexist with that diversity.

419
00:16:57.075 --> 00:16:59.775
At the same time, thinking of a, a contribution

420
00:16:59.775 --> 00:17:01.055
to migration studies more broadly.

421
00:17:01.055 --> 00:17:03.135
Things that I've touched on already in this video

422
00:17:03.675 --> 00:17:06.455
are things like thinking about the nuances and complexities

423
00:17:06.475 --> 00:17:09.055
and contradictions, of what a community is,

424
00:17:09.055 --> 00:17:11.815
what groupness means, the boundaries that are drawn

425
00:17:11.835 --> 00:17:15.055
around communities, the boundaries that outsiders impose

426
00:17:15.115 --> 00:17:18.255
or think exist on, surrounding communities.

427
00:17:18.715 --> 00:17:20.935
And with a goal of this book to just show

428
00:17:21.005 --> 00:17:22.215
that there's a lot more nuance

429
00:17:22.215 --> 00:17:26.715
and a lot more complexity that, groupness is,

430
00:17:27.135 --> 00:17:30.325
an imagined real thing

431
00:17:30.325 --> 00:17:31.885
that people do things because of groupness.

432
00:17:31.885 --> 00:17:34.725
But groupness is also something that we, often use

433
00:17:34.725 --> 00:17:36.445
as a shorthand incorrectly.

434
00:17:36.905 --> 00:17:39.525
Uh, that leads to all sorts of assumptions and,

435
00:17:39.665 --> 00:17:42.645
and ways of both talking about or remembering

436
00:17:42.745 --> 00:17:46.405
or historicizing things, but also in a given moment

437
00:17:46.505 --> 00:17:48.725
and thinking historically. Uh, also it affects

438
00:17:48.725 --> 00:17:53.485
Things like public policy about, certain rights

439
00:17:53.485 --> 00:17:56.325
or, or, services being provided

440
00:17:56.325 --> 00:17:59.325
because we have these assumptions that don't actually align

441
00:17:59.325 --> 00:18:01.325
with, the, the lived reality.

442
00:18:01.665 --> 00:18:01.885
Uh.

Quick Answers

Exploring Ethnicity and Migration in Canada

00:00:00 - This book grew from my doctoral dissertation. So from a very, pragmatic perspective, what motivated the book was, that it was the, just to publish the book was the outcome of a, a, a broader research project. But to put another way, what motivated the dissertation, I was an interest in understanding, how, ethnicity, was complex and varied and, more nuanced than we often write about in, in history, books and histories of migration, and thinking about things like generational differences,
00:00:36 - different religious groups, but are of the same, ethnicity such as Germans, so as German Protestants and Catholics. and so, the book was driven by that sort of broader interest, not in the history necessarily only of German speakers, but also in, with a desire to have a broader engagement with questions of ethnicity and migration, and belonging in Canadian society and more broadly in North America. So this book draws from, archives
00:01:06 - and so there is a mix of public and private archives. I found that, private institutions, whether they are various, individual churches or local school boards, which don't have exactly public facing archives, although they are public institutions, had a wealth of information about this topic. and a kind of information that has often not been used, for, in a field and having history in general, which often privileges things like public archives. So it draws from a lot of,
00:01:37 - And then of course, the Archives of Ontario was very helpful in the multicultural history Society of Ontario. their collection was also really important. Newspaper collections from a few, less well used, collections, including things like Lutheran publications, were also, important for this study. And one thing that was important about them from my perspective is that they have not often been used in studies of, in this case, German migration to Ontario. there's a whole German side to my research.
00:02:10 - I also wrote about, also published a book about, German speakers in Buenos Argentina. and so the research, of course, from Argentina has no, had no bearing on this book about Ontario. But research in Germany was done to both answer questions about the evolving meaning of German ethnicity in Ontario and also in Bueno Aires. And so, archives in Germany were helpful sometimes in the case for this book. The, there were, the absences were also helpful. So what I found in archives in Germany is
00:02:40 - of time talking about German speakers in Canada. And when they talk about German speakers in North America in general, it was often a bit of a dismissive way saying, they're sort of lost from, our global influence, whereas German speakers in Latin America are the ones we wanna spend our time talking about. So there is, in this book, there is research about from Germany, but It's often the absence of actual discussion of German leaders in North America, which further frame my analysis and how there's a sort of a different path of German ethnicity in different parts of the Americas.

Complexities of German Identity in Ontario

00:03:11 - and Ontario in this broad 50 year period. I guess you could add that in 1880. It could be different than in, in 1920. But for individual people, it was also different. So for, a German nationalist being German min, thinking about Germany celebrating the, you know, cultural heritage with, commemorative events, speaking of the German language, making sure your children spoke the German language. But that's a very narrow understanding of what I meant to be German or the definition of from a very small group of people.
00:03:43 - to be nationalistic and to maintain, have often been the focus of studies of various groups. And this book has the goal to talk about a whole lot of other possibilities at the same time. So not to discard that as a, a, a genuine expression of, of what it means to be German, but for example, the child of that person already has a different perspective, right? So the child, that that person might be a perfect bilingual because their parent is such a, a nationalist. But at the same time, that child is also a, a native speaker
00:04:15 - as a native speaker of English, for example. now what if another slightly less nationalist person married a person who is not of German heritage? So then we have another child to talk about, another someone who becomes an adult over time. In this 50 year period, a person who has German heritage, but also not German heritage, would themselves also have a different definition of what it means to be German. There is, a chapter in the book about the First World War, something that's often been focused on, because there was a repressive policies
00:04:45 - towards, German minorities during first world war. One point I point out there is that being German, what it means to be German also matter. It depends what the surrounding society thinks of what it means thinks it means to be German. So in the case of during the first World War, all of a sudden being German for non-German people, also changed it, it's a meaning, right? So all of a sudden it could mean being subversive or being a questionable questionably loyal, subject. But even there, that definition of that repressive, sort
00:05:18 - during the first World War was also fluid, right? So it meant something different in 1918 than it did in 1914. The Canadian government as a, as a federal policy, right at the very end of the war in September of 1918, banned all German language newspapers across the country that in a sense could tell something what it meant to be German in September of 1918, right before the First World War ended. But in, in, in September of 1914, that was less of an issue from a sort of a nationalistic anti-German,
00:05:50 - And so even there, what I meant to be German meant many things. So, an important part of this book is, an analysis of formal education and the form, the analysis of bilingual education in Ontario, and looking at places where, in an overwhelmingly English speaking context, there is also the teaching of German. And so I have a chapter about these two somewhat German language religious colleges, one Catholic and one Lutheran, and I put emphasis on them,

Bilingual Education and German Heritage in Ontario

00:06:20 - of a broader discussion about education policy and questions of bilingualism and monolingualism, or questions of a written proficiency versus spoken proficiency. So these small, you could say niche colleges as that were not the overwhelming experience for most people of German heritage in Ontario were very important, both because of what they did, and also the very fact that they were small, right? So it's only a very limited group of people who are going to, they can call 'em semi university level education, often theological training, but they had arts degrees as well.
00:06:52 - Ontario universities in the 1960s. But these colleges, which were a mix of high school and then then university level education, are important because they're doing things in German. So we have evidence here that's not being talked about in the study of, whether it's German schools in, in, whether it's in Ontario, but also more broadly, north America. There actually are instances of German language, higher education taking place in this period of mass migration and, and state formation. And so on that level, these two colleges, St. Jerome's and Water Lutheran College,
00:07:23 - Even when they are promoting the German language, they, they are function. They have a bigger, they're number one goal is promoting either Catholicism or Lutheranism, and in their mind to do that. sometimes the German language is needed, but they're also, teaching other things in English at the same time. So German is part of the curriculum, not just as a subject, but as a language of instruction. but it is to fulfill both a linguistic goal and also a denominational goal. And again, I add these, this analysis,
00:07:54 - of a broader context in which there's also much more widespread German language education as a language of instruction, not just a subject of instruction, in Ontario elementary schools. And thinking about that, there is this other outcome for a very small group of people, I think puts that context of bilingual education at the elementary level for the mass ma the vast majority of children, into a broader context. And that is something, that I think can contribute to a, a bigger discussion of German schools, but also other, foreign language education programs,
00:08:26 - if it was only six years of elementary education, it's a little, it's not a full story of language learning and language acquisition, if you have bilingual schools for young children, but then all young children who end up going to high school, which is only a portion of society in this time period, if no high schools have bilingual education, which is quite often the case depending on different school districts and school boards across North America, it's relevant to point that out, right? So think of even the stages of public education.
00:08:56 - as separate stages and not just a blanket understanding of, there was bilingual schools, and then there was this sort of multi-ethnic society. I have a chapter in the book called The Language of Religion, and that is focusing on maybe a, a couple of things, a sort of a bit of a catchall term. So on the one hand, the language of religion, in the opinion of many pastors and priests, he is German. so Lu Real Lutheranism is done in German. So that is language of religion, and yet there's all sorts of other congregations.

Complexities of Bilingualism and Religious Identity

00:09:26 - by about 1910, this starts to change. And maybe crucially, I could point out there not by 1914. So it's not about the first World War. There is a different linguistic history, and a different history of bilingualism that actually has very little to do with the First World War. For other people, the language of religion is more complex. So you have utterances by religious leaders saying, we need to offer church services in, in German, because this is the, the, the way things need to be done. And our, and particularly for Lutherans, the language of our religion is German,
00:09:59 - and linguistic identity in their institutional projects. Yet other people have different opinions. So, and increasingly you'd see, local level congregations catering to these, different differing opinions. So they have a second service on Sundays that are, that is in English. That means in fact that despite having one opinion about what the language of religion is, other people have other opinions, and therefore the aggregate or the combination of everyone means that there's languages of religion. and so it's just an analysis of the complexity of
00:10:33 - and denominational identity and ethnic identity in more complex ways. And the sort of the goal of that chapter, and I'd say more broadly of the book, is to show that there's these many groups with many competing interests, many competing practices at any given moment. And then of course, over time, but is not simply to say that in the 1920s there was this group level thing that was one way. And in 1890, there was a group level thing. That was another way. But even the idea of a group is far more, complex. And so if you, if you think of the title of the book,
00:11:03 - there are these boundaries that are being crossed and made all the time. And so there is the, the, if you think of a boundary of ethnicity around German language, church services in one town in 1890, even there, the boundaries fluid, because if they also have a Sunday school in a case of a Protestant, Protestant church, they have a Sunday school that is in fact in English, there's a boundary around the church. And in the basement where the kids are, there's a different boundary being drawn. And so I'm just trying to flesh out, all those complexities and all those contradictions
00:11:34 - groupness and ethnic categories and immigrants. and even the very different, the distinction that we make or do not make between immigrants and the children of immigrants. 'cause the children of immigrants are doing things differently, even if they're sort of on the same page as an immigrant generation. they're not doing exactly the same thing. They have different linguistic relationships, different ideas of belonging, different identities that, play out and then shape the group or the community in ways that, are far more complex.
00:12:06 - parse out a, a, an a change that does take place in which there's a shift from a widespread idea that there is, in the case of religion, a language religion focusing still on, on, on religion. There's a rise of bilingualism. And this, as I mentioned, already happens before the first World War, but it is also sort of the growing institutional acceptance, so of Lutheran and Catholic churches and, associations that are linked to churches,

Shifts in Bilingualism and Community Dynamics

00:12:39 - that there is an abandonment of a certain German only approach to an in a church institution, and therefore you could say a certain under understanding of community and an embrace of an actual bilingual institution. So this plays out at, say, in the Lutheran Synod, the Canada Synod, for example, it, formally, adopts in the 1920s formally adopts both languages as languages of any institution. And again, highlighting that there is not, that it is a,
00:13:09 - but still there's a shift to an acceptance of bilingualism. And creating spaces for both languages shows a more nuanced understanding of what a what, what we could, what we mean when we say a group, or what we mean when we say Germans, or what we mean when we say community. And on the topic of community, I've said it a few times here, I'm very skeptical of, of the term community. I think I'm not unique amongst scholars of migration to highlight the problems of, of the notion of community. But in the case of this book, I also analyze community as a thing that people actually talked about.
00:13:40 - So, but their community is not all Germans or all Germans in a single town. But for example, those of us who go to this church, we are a community. And in that sense, I think the word community has a, a stronger, has, has more value because there's literally a community of people organized around a given institution. It doesn't need to be a church. It could be, the parents of a, of a, in a town related to a certain elementary school. you can think more broadly about other kinds of activities that people engage in. Communities are formed, but therefore there are multiple communities that are overlapping and contradictory.
00:14:13 - But then analyzing how one of those 15 communities thinks of things. It does tell us more things about ethnicity, belonging, and, broader questions on migration and multiculturalism. I think this book makes a few different contributions. So one, it's studying the biggest province in Canada, and the biggest, ethnic group, migratory group, which itself is, those are sort of two different kinds of categories in that, at a given moment there are far more people of some sort
00:14:44 - And so, on the one hand, looking at how the focus on education in particular, focus on how the Ontario government in the rise of public education from the 1870s onwards, thought about and address the question of bilingual education. This is something that in the 1860s or 1870s, it was not at all certain what the outcome of whether it's Ontario or broader North American education systems would be. and by the 1890s, it becomes clear in Ontario and that stuff that is repeated across Canada
00:15:15 - of the 20th century education will be in English. But in 1860, that was not necessarily the, the outcome, the the only possible outcome. So how the Ontario government came to terms with the demands of communities, the demands of local autonomy, and the interest in bilingual public education, and ultimately clamping down and, and eliminating the idea of bilingual public education, is an important study to understand how Canada came to be, or English Canada came to be.

Monolingualism and Cultural Diversity in Canada

00:15:46 - outside of Quebec, and that is also shaping how, English Canada came to terms with, monolingual education with the exception of French. And so it's creating a special pace place for French while also eliminating all special places for any other language. And that's not just a story of German, but it could also be a story of Polish or Ukrainian, in places like Manitoba. So it's a broader Canadian story of how the state comes to terms with cultural diversity, manages cultural diversity, and ultimately marginalizes cultural diversity from public
00:16:18 - of space for cultural diversity and linguistic diversity in other spaces such as churches. So in the case of Canada and the United States, multilingualism and, cultural pluralism is often, alive and well in the household or in religious communities, and then totally eliminated from other parts of the public or from the public sphere, not only in things like education, but also in commerce and business and things like that. and so this is the study of the origins of this modern 20th century, standard that we have,
00:16:50 - but a society that also has this monolingual English paradigm, at that coexist with that diversity. At the same time, thinking of a, a contribution to migration studies more broadly. Things that I've touched on already in this video are things like thinking about the nuances and complexities and contradictions, of what a community is, what groupness means, the boundaries that are drawn around communities, the boundaries that outsiders impose or think exist on, surrounding communities.
00:17:21 - that there's a lot more nuance and a lot more complexity that, groupness is, an imagined real thing that people do things because of groupness. But groupness is also something that we, often use as a shorthand incorrectly. that leads to all sorts of assumptions and, and ways of both talking about or remembering or historicizing things, but also in a given moment and thinking historically. also it affects
00:18:01 - or, or, services being provided because we have these assumptions that don't actually align with, the, the lived reality. .

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