Elaine Enns - Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization

Healing Haunted Histories

A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization

By Elaine Enns and Ched Myers

Foreword by June L. Lorenzo

Afterword by Harry Lafond

Healing Haunted Histories

A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization

Copyright 2021 Elaine Enns and Ched Myers. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, W. th Ave., Suite , Eugene, OR 97401 .

Cascade Books

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

W. th Ave., Suite

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-7252-5535-7

hardcover isbn: 978-1-7252-5536-4

ebook isbn: 978-1-7252-5537-1

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Names: Enns, Elaine, author. | Myers, Ched, author. | Lorenzo, June L., foreword. | Lafond, Harry, afterword. | Nozik, Sherri, annotated bibliography.

Title: Healing haunted histories : a settler discipleship of decolonization / Elaine Enns and Ched Myers ; foreword by June L. Lorenzo; afterword by Harry Lafond; and annotated bibliography by Sherri Nozik.

Description: Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: isbn 978-1-7252-5535-7 ( paperback ). | isbn 978-1-7252-5536-4 ( hardcover ). | isbn 978-1-7252-5537-1 ( ebook ).

Subjects: LCSH: Decolonization. | ReconciliationReligious aspectsChristianity. | WhitesRelations with Indians. | BiblePostolonial criticism. | Mennonite historyNorth America.

Classification: BS521.2 .H45 2021 ( print ). | BS521.2 ( ebook ).

February 3, 2021

On the Pulse of Morning from ON THE PULSE OF MORNING by Maya Angelou, copyright 1993 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from Mika Lafond poem My Way Back, permission from author by email; nip wnn: poems . Copyright Thistledown Press, 2017 .

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 , Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United Stated of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All photos, maps and images used by permission or public domain, as stated in captions.

Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice Series

Laurel Dykstra and Ched Myers, editors

Liberating Biblical Study

Scholarship, Art, and Action in Honor of the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice

Nor man K. Gottwald

Social Justice and t he Hebrew Bible

volumes

Elaine Enns and Ched Myers

Healing Ha unted Histories

A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization

Healing Haunted Histories shows how it is possibleeven necessaryto braid together the truth of family stories of immigration, including their traumatic silences; a thoughtful inhabitation of places and watersheds; a radical Christianity, not the religion of power and whiteness; and a deep commitment to confronting the settler mythologies of entitlement in North America. Practical and personal, this book will be a trustworthy guide for many in the decolonizing work th at lies ahead.

Roger Epp

Professor of Political Science, Univer sity of Alberta

I didnt know how Enns and Myers would hold it all together, but they did! I was especially impressed (coming from a historians perspective) with their ability to traverse the Canada/US divide. The histories are different, but the book showed us both the common ground and the differences seamlessly, and didnt let either side of the border off the hook! The insistent and yet compassionate interrogation of the authors own family narrative is a rare giftand a model. The personal threads woven throughout the work help keep it indeed intelligible and accessible, but without sparing us the important critical theory or the nece ssary details.

S andra Beardsall

Professor of Church History and Ecumenics, St. Andrews College, Saskatoo n, Saskatchewan

Beautifully written, I can feel the heart, courage, and passion that went into this text. I learned a ton about Mennonite history, trauma, and the importance of bloodlines work. I was inspired by the compassionate and bold call to imagine and dance a reparative future. More importantly, Healing Haunted Histories , through its careful weaving of personal narrative, decolonizing theory, and biblical imagination, fills a real gap. I know nothing like it! Routinely, I paused while reading and said to myself, this is going to be used in church circles, and its going to make a difference.

Steve Heinrichs

Director of Indigenous-Settler Relations for Mennonit e Church Canada

I was inspired and challenged and re-oriented. Im so grateful to have been part of this conversation over the years, and reading this now (in a time when my mind/heart/body is caught up with many complex institutional responsibilities in a very unstable time) has been life-giving. The authors re-membering and discipleship have lifted my eyes to broader horizons and deeper longings. Their explorations of archaeology and cartography were deeply en gaging for me.

Eile en Klassen Hamm

Executive Director, Mennonite Central Committ ee Saskatchewan

This is an excellent book. The rubric of haunted histories is a compelling one with real heuristic value. It is well-written, well-organized, remarkably well-researched, and combines very powerful storytelling with outstanding analysis. I think it sparked about five hundred sermon ideas! Haunted Histories has put into words so many of the deep knowings that I have as a settler/aspiring ally. Im very grateful for that, knowing that Ill be much more articulate on these matters as I continue in the work and continue as a preacher.

Russell Daye

Lead Minster, St. Andrews Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and author of Politi cal Forgiveness

I will use this book in materials I continue to develop for the United Church of Canada. I really feel like it is a piece that we can use to take responsibility for our ongoing complicity in colonization. Thanks to the authors for doing the work, which I know is hard.

Sara Stratton

Reconciliation and Indigenous Justice Animator, Toronto, The United C hurch of Canada

The themes resonate deeply with me, as they are parallel to what I also continue to examine. I am very grateful for Enns and Myers careful and insightful work. They have wrestled hard with many difficult storylinesand at the same time opened up avenues for the reader to explore their o wn storylines.

Luke Gascho

Executive Director Emeritus of Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen C ollege, Indiana

Intimate, rigorous, accountable, and transformativeEnns and Myers offer both challenge and accompaniment to white settler Christians striving to bring their whole selves to the necessary work of deep, authentic, and radical solidarity with Indigenous peoples. The centering of womens voices and experiences makes this book an even more essential read for those prepared to risk being truly unsettled in the pursu it of justice.

Jennifer Henry

Executive Director, KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initi atives, Toronto

In Healing Haunted Histories Elaine Enns and Ched Myers excavate the traumatic impact of settler colonialism and reckon the resulting settler amnesia with a Christian model of restorative justice that foregrounds Indigenous perspectives, experiences, and histories.