Print, text, community, a study of communication in the Zionsbote, a Mennonite weekly, between 1884 and 1906

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the 'Zionsbote', a weekly religious periodical serving Mennonite Brethren in America and Russia, as communication. The parts of the communication transaction (producer, receiver, medium, content, and effects) are delineated and given context, and their convergence is observed. The central question is: what was happening as this little paper was being written and read week after week? 'Zionsbote' communication engaged with matters of time and space through the pervasive discourse of journey. The Mennonite Brethren in this period were deeply marked by the experience of migration. This reality shaped the discourse. At the same time, the transportable, paper, print medium of the 'Zionsbote' constructed a new "imagined" community. Travel writing negotiated the new experiences of time and space. A narrative of spiritual pilgrimage continuously drew attention to the time and place when all would be together in one "home". Second, 'Zionsbote' communication revealed an overlap of Mennonite Brethren practices of orality and literacy. Third, 'Zionsbote' communication contributed to the formation of the group's identity through the reading and writing of stories. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)