Re-creating identities: postwar Dutch Reformed immigrants in southern Alberta

Abstract

This thesis examines how postwar Dutch immigrants who came to southern Alberta re-created their self-understanding in light of their new situations. Oral history interviews which I conducted with nine of these postwar Dutch immigrants are the main sources for this study and are integral throughout. Because the nine individuals whom I interviewed were all members of Calvinist Reformed churches, both in the Netherlands and in southern Alberta, my study focuses on that segment of the Dutch immigrant population. I argue that, despite the dislocation they felt and the steep learning curve they experienced after immigrating, the nine individuals whom I interviewed re-created their identities in southern Alberta by firmly grounding themselves in the various Reformed churches and church communities which they joined and created.