Over the course of the twentieth century, sequential waves of immigrants from Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa settled in the cities of the Canadian Prairies. In Immigrants in Prairie Cities, Royden Loewen and Gerald Friesen analyze the processes of cultural interaction and adaptation that unfolded in these urban centres and describe how this model of diversity has changed over time. The authors argue that intimate Prairie cities fostered a form of social diversity characterized by vibrant ethnic networks, continuously evolving ethnic identities, and boundary zones that facilitated intercultural contact and hybridity.

Impressive in scope, Immigrants in Prairie Cities spans the entire twentieth century, and encompasses personal testimonies, government perspectives, and even fictional narratives. This engaging work will appeal to both historians of the Canadian Prairies and those with a general interest in migration, cross-cultural exchange, and urban history.

Royden Loewen is a senior scholar at the University of Winnipeg. His books include Horse-and-Buggy Genius: Listening to Mennonites Contest the Modern World and Village Among Nations: "Canadian" Mennonites in a Transnational World, 1916–2006.

Royden Loewen's profile page

Gerald Friesen taught Canadian history at the University of Manitoba from 1970–2011. He has written several books, including The Canadian Prairies: A History and Citizens and Nation, and is co-author of Immigrants in Prairie Cities. Former president of the Canadian Historical Association, he was an advisor on CBC-Radio Canada’s television series Canada: A People’s History. He lives in Winnipeg.

Gerald Friesen's profile page

• Winner, Clio Prize for the Prairies awarded by Canadian Historical Association
• Short-listed, Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction awarded by Manitoba Book Awards

‘An excellent reflection on a regional expression of Canadian multiculturalism... academic prose at its best. ’

David G. Burley; <i>H-TGS (Transnational German Studies), 28 November, 2011</i>

‘Immigrants in Prairie Cities provides a state-of-the-art approach to the writing of both immigration and social history… A truly fine piece of work that will become required reading for all serious students, not just of Western Canadian, but of Canadian social history.’

Histoire Sociale/ Social History, vol 44:87:2011

‘Loewen and Friesen have made an original contribution to understanding the immigrant experience and laid the ground work for further studies. Scholars of immigration and ethnicity elsewhere will find this book valuable for comparative purposes and it will contribute to better understandings of multiculturalism.’

Patricia E. Roy, <em>American Historical Review: February 2011</em>

‘Loewen and Friesen are to be congratulated for offering a new image of the Prairies… This is a provocative book that should elicit the kind of “compelling…dialogue” that they argue has shaped the multicultural prairie city.’

International Journal of Migration and Integration; vol 13:03:2012