Bechtel Lecture 2021

Thursday, March 11, 2021 7:00 pm - 7:00 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

Blackness, Whiteness and the Anabaptist 'Imagined Community' in Print and Mission

This lecture will premiere via YouTube on March 11 at 7:00 PM and is viewable without registration.

A virtual Q&A will follow, and requires registration to participate. Please register here to participate in the Q&A.

How did Anabaptists enter into the discourse of race in North America during the 19th and early 20th centuries? How did they negotiate, challenge and reproduce ideas of race in the forms of print, social interaction and mission activity? This lecture will focus on the racialization of Anabaptists, as reflected in denominational periodicals and newspapers, and on the ways in which preconceptions of blackness and whiteness informed Mennonite mission activity in the United States and Canada. 

Dr. Timothy D. Epp from Redeemer University will give the virtual 2021 Bechtel Lecture in Anabaptist-Mennonite Studies. Featuring a special musical performance by accomplished vintage and classic blues & jazz performer Diana Braithwaite.

Dr. Timothy D. Epp is associate professor of Sociology at Redeemer University. He hails originally from Rosthern, SK, and lives in Dundas, ON with his wonderful wife, youngest daughter and their very barky (but loveable) Brussels Griffon. His publications on Mennonites and blackness may be found in Journal of Mennonite Studies, Conrad Grebel Review, and Wellington County History. In addition to Anabaptists and racial identity, his research interests include the discourse of spirituality in popular music, and the concept of personhood in relation to dementia care.

Diana Braithwaite
When Diana Braithwaite sings, you hear passion, with sultry stories of life beautifully expressed through music. Born in Toronto, Braithwaite is a descendant of the Wellington County pioneers in Canada. With roots in the southern United States her ancestors escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad and lived for four generations in Wellington County, the first African-Canadian pioneer settlement in Ontario.  Growing up, Diana spent summers in Montreal, Quebec, in a place called “Little Burgundy”, the historic African-Canadian neighbourhood where her father and the great jazz musician Oscar Peterson were both born. Dubbed “a national treasure” by JAZZ FM’s Radio host Danny Marks, Diana Braithwaite combines elements from Dinah Washington, Esther Phillips and others to create her own unique appealing and expressive blues style.

Read the Grebel news article here: Blackness, Whiteness, and Anabaptist Racialization

Remote video URL