d r a f t Good background discussion of acculturation in the context of archaeological digs at WindrosesiteorLittleRockVillagein Kankakee River Valley; Pokegon settlement on St. Joseph River north of South Bend, Ind., and Benack Village site in Marshall County, Ind. -- on Tippecanoe River https://www.potawatomiwildlifepark.com/history Elizabeth Bollwerk, ControllingAcculturation: APotawatomiStrategyforAvoidingRemoval," MidcontinentalJournalofArchaeology,Vol.31,No.1(Spring2006),pp.117-142 https://www.academia.edu/695665/Historical_Archaeology_A_Midwestern_Case_Study_Controlling_Acculturation_A_Potawatomi_Strategy_for_Avoiding_Removal Bollwerk of the International … Continue reading Potawatomi acculturation strategies for avoiding removal — article in archaeology journal (verbatim excerpts)
Remembering an unlikely spiritual mentor (and storyteller) who made Alaska Native, Russian Orthodox and my lukewarm mainline Protestant traditions come alive
Fr. Michael Oleksa (Orthodox Christianity [from YouTube], Nov. 29, 2023). While I was researching another post to Ordinary Time (link HERE), I learned a spiritual mentor and role model whom I never met in person died late last year. He was, to give him his full title, the Very Rev. Archpriest Michael Oleksa, sometimes also … Continue reading Remembering an unlikely spiritual mentor (and storyteller) who made Alaska Native, Russian Orthodox and my lukewarm mainline Protestant traditions come alive
Notes on 19th-century Swedes in Illinois and an alt-country song from Appalachia (spiritual journal for March)
'Pastor's residence in Andover' Korsbanaret, 1880 (Google Books). Lightly edited copy of an email I sent to my spiritual director in advance of our session for March. I’ve been writing these for several years now, primarily in order to help me focus my mind before we talk. It’s not a record or an agenda of our … Continue reading Notes on 19th-century Swedes in Illinois and an alt-country song from Appalachia (spiritual journal for March)
Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden — abstract and presentation script from October 2020
Note: A copy of the abstract and notes I used when I presented my paper "Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden: Acculturation in Immigrant Churches, 1848-1860" over Zoom at the Conference on Illinois History, Abraham Lincoln Public Library and Museum Springfield, Oct. 7, 2020. As I said in an email at the time, it was "probably … Continue reading Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden — abstract and presentation script from October 2020
Swedes in Chicago: A mise en scène in 1848 and a potential tie-in (?) with Glissant?
d r a f t For the futures file as I rework my paper "Swedes in Roger Williams' Garden" -- More information on John Lewis Peyton, whose description of northern European immigrants I quoted in the original paper, including an important correction on his background. Turns out he was more of a blueblood than I … Continue reading Swedes in Chicago: A mise en scène in 1848 and a potential tie-in (?) with Glissant?
Research notes: Cite for Rushdie’s creolization quote; right-wing dog whistle du jour featuring assault on Rushdie
Two very different items popped up last night when I did a Google search on keywords Salman Rushdie and creolization. They are: A 2001 article on "Creolization and the Lessons of a Watergoddess in the Black Atlantic" by Alex van Stipriaan that cites a Rushdie quote: "Mélange, hotchpotch, a bit of this and a bit … Continue reading Research notes: Cite for Rushdie’s creolization quote; right-wing dog whistle du jour featuring assault on Rushdie
Archipelagos? Can a French postcolonial novelist’s creole metaphor help us head off a new Civil War?
Battle of Fort Sanders, Knoxville, Nov. 29, 1863. Wikimedia Commons) “The past is never dead. It's not even past.” ― William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun "[...] le monde entier s’archipélise et se créolise." Édouard Glissant Traité du Tout-Monde My inner child was an English major, but before that he majored in history. In fact, he got … Continue reading Archipelagos? Can a French postcolonial novelist’s creole metaphor help us head off a new Civil War?
Spiritual direction, August 2022
Editor’s note. Lightly edited copy of an email I sent to my spiritual director in advance of our monthly meeting for August. I email her every month, mostly to focus my mind before we meet, and I archive them here so I have a record of issues I’ve dealt with over time. Being able to consult them … Continue reading Spiritual direction, August 2022
Research notes: Salman Rushdie, post-colonial theory, creolization and me
Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rushdie.JPG A grab bag of short takes ... I also have a chaotic and unedited collection of "Notes and Quotes" -- my term for research notes -- on the postcolonialist author Salman Rushdie, who was recently stabbed by an Iranian-American youth, and some of the themes raised by his fiction -- and … Continue reading Research notes: Salman Rushdie, post-colonial theory, creolization and me
What can Roger Williams and Swedish Lutherans of the 1850s tell us about the culture wars? A research proposal
Alonzo Chappel, "Landing of Roger Williams," 1857 (Wikimedia Commons) “I have to write to discover what I am doing. Like the old lady, I don't know so well what I think until I see what I say; then I have to say it again.”― Flannery O'Connor, The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor, quoted in Goodreads. … Continue reading What can Roger Williams and Swedish Lutherans of the 1850s tell us about the culture wars? A research proposal
Édouard Glissant and creolization — misc. links (Notes & Quotes)
d r a f t "[...] we are all in relation with each other and we all have a chance of making our voices heard." -- Celia Britton, "Edouard Glissant" [obit], The Guardian. xxx Poetics of Space – Archipelagos and Wanderings special ed. of Karib: Nordic Journal for Caribbean Studies https://www.karib.no/collections/special/poetics-of-space-archipelagos-and-wanderings/ Collection launched: 25 Feb … Continue reading Édouard Glissant and creolization — misc. links (Notes & Quotes)
A historical quest for the perfect (sugar-free) East Carolina barbecue sauce — and a recipe from the 1850s
Brother Jack's (photo: Tim Glazner's Swank Pad), Knoxville, Tenn., ca. 1975 My quest for the perfect barbecue is turning into something as detailed, historical -- and speculative -- as the quest for the historical Jesus (which I've blogged about, HERE and HERE). But it started out with a simple question -- with charcoal-grilling season coming … Continue reading A historical quest for the perfect (sugar-free) East Carolina barbecue sauce — and a recipe from the 1850s
Fukuyama on Russia, Trump, ethno-nationalism, religion and other threats to the liberal world order
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwuMMmUCw98 Last month I posted a rather incoherent item saying: (a) I thought some important tectonic plates were shifting with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Ukrainian resistance to being reabsorbed into a post-Soviet Russian empire; and (b) it might somehow provide a context for writing up some of the historical research I've done in … Continue reading Fukuyama on Russia, Trump, ethno-nationalism, religion and other threats to the liberal world order
Salmon chowder recipes bring back memories of Alaska, as I try to come up with a ‘healthy eating plan’
Phyllis's Cafe & Salmon Bake, Anchorage (photo Grace Anderson Minube.co.uk). It may lack the spiritual depth of the quest for the historical Jesus, but here's an interim report on my quest for a recipe for Alaska-style salmon chowder that's easy on the lactose and won't send my cholesterol count skyrocketing. It follows up on a … Continue reading Salmon chowder recipes bring back memories of Alaska, as I try to come up with a ‘healthy eating plan’
Timothy Snyder on Ukraine, code-switching, national identit(ies)
d r a f t Timothy Snyder, "Timothy Snyder on the Myths That Blinded the West to Putin's Plans," interview by Ezra Klein, The Ezra Klein Show, New York Times, March 15, 2022 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-timothy-snyder.html Verbatim quotes at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-timothy-snyder.html: So the way we tell the Second World War is completely inside out, you know, Western Front … Continue reading Timothy Snyder on Ukraine, code-switching, national identit(ies)
For the futures file? Another look at ‘Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden’ in light of new circumstances
d r a f t In memoriam, Oley the Cat, ca. 2006-March 13, 2022. LTK Seems like the tectonic plates are shifting again, in my life and in the world at large ... In ways that may give a new context for my study of the church-planting stage of Swedish-American immigration and the foundation of … Continue reading For the futures file? Another look at ‘Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden’ in light of new circumstances
19th-century Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden: Applying a Japanese discernment concept to a historical research project
With an awkward footnote preserving a middle-of-the-night scratch outline on how to further revise my ALPLM paper 'Swedes in Roger Williams' Garden: Acculturation in Immigrant Churches, 1848-1860.' A useful discernment or decision-making technique I learned in a class for Dominican lay associate candidates -- it's called ikigai, and I wish I'd known about it when … Continue reading 19th-century Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden: Applying a Japanese discernment concept to a historical research project
Östervåla psalmodikon pix
d r a f t Parked here (and cross-posted to my other blog) till I can figure out what to do with the pix: https://www.facebook.com/peter.ellertsen/posts/2923906727870354 Embedded content from facebook.com can't be previewed in the editor. And here's a link to Marilyn's post: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.demay.96/posts/873207133331978
A query that went nowhere: On David Brooks, the prophet Jeremiah, a French jurist, ‘creative minorities,’ cultural diversity, UNESCO and ‘reciprocal creolization’
Excerpts from a query: Sent Thu, Jul 22, 8:32 PM -- it doesn't matter who I sent it to, and I have no plans to fool around with a free-standing article, but Mireille Delmas-Marty's concept of "reciprocal creolization," a process of cultural blending that involves dialogue and mutual respect for differences, fits in so well with … Continue reading A query that went nowhere: On David Brooks, the prophet Jeremiah, a French jurist, ‘creative minorities,’ cultural diversity, UNESCO and ‘reciprocal creolization’
Mireille Delmas-Marty: A French jurist advocates ‘reciprocal creolization’ to protect cultural diversity from globalism
Another potentially rewarding context for creolization! A French legal scholar named Mireille Delmas-Marty has written a couple of articles building on the work of French Caribbean poet Edouard Glissant and suggesting creolization -- by which I think she essentially means negotiating differences among different cultures -- as a means of ensuring cultural diversity in a … Continue reading Mireille Delmas-Marty: A French jurist advocates ‘reciprocal creolization’ to protect cultural diversity from globalism
Ordinary Time 
