Saskatchewan Cultural History Book to be Launched

October 21, 2010 -- Historian Frances Swyripa reveals the complex process of identity formation across Saskatchewan and the Canadian prairies in Storied Landscapes: Ethno-Religious Identity and the Canadian Prairies (University of Manitoba Press). The Saskatchewan launch event will take place Monday, November 15th at 7:30 p.m., McNally Robinson Booksellers, 3130 8th Street East -- 8th Street at Circle Drive. Invitation to launch (PDF) | See also Invitation to lecture (PDF) at STM College

Focusing on Ukrainian, German, Jewish, and Mennonite settlements, Swyripa explores the histories and mythologies of these groups and illustrates how they transformed the West physically, politically, and spiritually. Religion played a major role in all settlement communities, binding each ethnic group together through shared customs and traditions and tying the new communities to the land through place names, churches, cairns and headstones -- all of which continue to adorn the vast prairie landscape. As these communities grew, so too did their ties to the Canadian nation state and their European homelands. These transnational connections helped solidify Canada’s emerging national identity on the global stage and gave the vast Canadian West a voice that was heard throughout the country.

Swyripa brings ten years of research, travel, picture taking, and an ever-present curiosity regarding her own Ukrainian prairie roots into the book. “This book has been a long time coming. In some respects, it began during my prairie childhood in east central Alberta during long Sunday drives on dirt roads, rain or shine, looking for nothing in particular, eyes peeled for whatever the countryside offered. These trips gave me an appreciation of my own roots in the prairies and the land. They also alerted me, however fuzzy my understanding at the time, not only to the existence and importance of ethnic and religious differences but also to their visual impact on the landscape,” says Swyripa.

Swyripa also highlights the role of second and third generation immigrants in shaping the Prairie identity, detailing how descendants strived to discover the “Prairie pioneer” mythology of their own roots, and ended up solidifying their place in prairie history by doing so. “The continuing importance of the traditional prairie West to the self-image of members of ethno-religious groups underscores the region’s continued existence and relevance,” she says.

Storied Landscapes is beautifully written, incorporates colourful characters and local stories, and is lavishly illustrated with more than 60 photographs. Franca Iacovetta, of the Department of History at the University of Toronto, calls Storied Landscapes “an impeccably researched and innovative study of what to my mind is the best comparative history of immigrant and ethnic groups on the prairies.”

Frances Swyripa is a professor in the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta. She is the author of Wedded to the Cause: Ukrainian-Canadian Women and Ethnic Identity, 1891-1991 and Ukrainian Canadians: A Survey of their Portrayal in English-Language Works. She lives in Edmonton.