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?
Historians, including Ken Burns, cite historical parallels between today, the slavery crisis of the 1850s and the anti-Semitism of the 1930s
d r a f t More quotes for my Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden project — Two disturbing historical parallels in print this week, both suggesting that America faces a more difficult crisis -- more accurately a series of cascading crises -- now than it did in the runup to the Civil War. It's hard to know … Continue reading Historians, including Ken Burns, cite historical parallels between today, the slavery crisis of the 1850s and the anti-Semitism of the 1930s
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
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
Creolization: Jingoism v. jambalaya in France (with excerpts from my historical papers on the subject)
France 24, Feb. 15, 2022 Voilà! Turns out an obscure academic term I use in my historical writing got to be a political talking point in this year's French elections. The word is "creolization" (créolisation in French), and it's used by cultural anthropologists to describe the cultural blending in creole societies like those of the … Continue reading Creolization: Jingoism v. jambalaya in France (with excerpts from my historical papers on the subject)
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
Futures file (Notes & Quotes): Iowa’s nativist ban on foreign languages during World War I
Some first-rate quotes below, from a post on Patheos by a biographer of Swedish-American aviator Charles Lindbergh, on the anti-German hysteria that spilled over and left some Swedish, Norwegian, Czech and other immigrant churches unable to communicate with their parishioners during World War I and its immediate aftermath. I presented a paper on the hysteria, … Continue reading Futures file (Notes & Quotes): Iowa’s nativist ban on foreign languages during World War I
‘Conviviality at the Crossroads’: Open-source studies from Malmö on creolization, hybridity, etc.
Link here to open-source copy on Springer Nature Switzerland AG website Woo hoo! I found a new book. It's available online under a Creative Commons license, and finding it was like Christmas in July -- with Easter, St. Paddy's and the annual Jordbruksdagarna (ag days) festival at Bishop Hill, Illinois, all rolled into one. Forgive … Continue reading ‘Conviviality at the Crossroads’: Open-source studies from Malmö on creolization, hybridity, etc.
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
Olof Krans: ‘Wizard with a brush’ at Swedish-American colony in Bishop Hill
Swedish postage stamp features Krans at right (https://czeslawslania.org/sw1986/). Three paintings by Olof Krans have been donated by the Merle and Barbra Glick estate to the Bishop Hill State Historic Site, in Henry County near the Quad-Cities. Merle Glick, who was active in numerous civic and community institutions in the Peoria area including the Peoria Riverfront … Continue reading Olof Krans: ‘Wizard with a brush’ at Swedish-American colony in Bishop Hill
Ordinary Time 
