Migration as preservation and loss: The paradox of transnational living for Low German Mennonite women

Abstract
Throughout history, Low German Mennonites have executed collective migrations to preserve their religious integrity. Their contemporary migrations to North America are not collective or
church-sanctioned, but economically-motivated. This paper explores the intertwined processes of gender and religion in transnational social spaces through the destination experiences of
Mennonite women in Canada. The paradoxes of the transnational social field, each simultaneous gain and loss, constitute a double bind wherein choice is elusive. Caught in the contest between physical and cultural survival, women find themselves in the “nothing” of in-between, as conflicting social fields and systems of capital—secular and sacred—collide.