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• The Success of Jewish Agricultural Colonies in Western Canada

  Eric Wilkinson

  Views:

  140

  This article assesses the history of Jewish agricultural settlements created in Western Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first settlements were founded following the 1881 Russian pogroms, at which time Canada’s Jewish community tried to resettle refugees in Western Canada. The result was the establishment of over a dozen farming colonies at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By examining the documentation produced by the colonists and the organizations that facilitated their settlement, it is possible to reconstruct the lives of the colonists in each community. This study investigates documents available for twelve different communities that span the Prairies. Settlers report several impediments to their success, including inexperience, poor soil, natural disaster, anti-Semitism, poor administration, and financial hardship. However, the decisive factor which brought an end to the colonies was upward social mobility. They were victims of their own success, unable to maintain their numbers as younger generations moved away, and parents joined them when they retired. The analysis of the farm colonies reveals the causes of their decline and provides grounds for re-evaluating their legacy. (EW)

• The Independent Greek Church in Canada, 1903–1912: Middle Ground on the Canadian Prairies between Ukrainian Immigrants and Presbyterianism

  Peter Bush

  Views:

  116

  The Independent Greek Church in Canada, 1903–1912, was a middle ground between The Presbyterian Church in Canada, which desired to bring the growing Ukraine diaspora into the Presbyterian fold, and the Ukrainian immigrant intelligentsia, who imagined an independent, Protestant, and culturally and linguistically Ukrainian church. Using the work of Richard White on middle ground and the work of Lamin Sanneh on non-dominant cultures’ agency in missionary contexts, the paper offers a new interpretation of the Independent Greek Church in Canada, an interpretation that valorizes the agency of the Ukrainian participants in the denomination. Yet, as a middle ground, the denomination was too unstable to survive long. The growing uniformity of Canadian Presbyterianism ended this unexpected pairing on the Canadian Prairies. (PB)

• Shaping Destinies: Women and the Hungarian Refugee Movement to Canada (1956–1958)

  Sheena Trimble

  Views:

  136

  By December 1958, Canada had admitted almost 38,000 Hungarian refugees, forced to flee their country after Soviet forces crushed the October 1956 uprising. A rich historiography has examined this migration from a range of perspectives, but an analysis of women’s actions and attitudes represents an uncharted approach. Archival research reveals that Canadian women expressed opinions and took on a variety of roles related to the refugee movement. Examining those opinions and roles not only offers a novel perspective on Canada’s response to the refugee crisis, but it also provides insights into the evolving roles of women in Canadian society. The weight of intersectionality often muted the voices of women of Hungarian origin, both Canadians and refugees. Yet, refugee women were accorded a symbolic power that played its own role in the movement, and they found ways to exercise their agency to achieve their desired admission and settlement outcomes. (ST)

• Murder Legendre’s Dead: How White Zombie Challenges Critical Influence and Reinforces Racial Anxieties

  Heather Lambert

  Views:

  227

  How does a film achieve success with audiences, and what factors influence that success? Victor Halperin’s 1932 horror film White Zombie was derided by critics at the time of its release, while at the same time attaining financial victory at the box office. As such, White Zombie serves as a key source for exploring these critical questions. This analysis of the evolution of White Zombie’s reception from the 1930s to the present through the study of archival documents reveals the influential role advertising—specifically advertising that taps into cultural fascinations and anxieties—has over critical reviews. This is found to be especially true within the B-film horror genre, with its tendency to draw a cult following despite its lack of technical mastery, providing a larger commentary on what the public values in horror films. (HL)