Mark Metzler Sawin

“It is my belief that Mennonites offer the world three important ideals:

• Love & Compassion are more powerful than hatred & coercion
• Happiness & Success come from healthy relationships, not from the accumulation of power or material goods
• There is a third way—very few scenarios have only two sides

Teaching My Mennonite Ideals: History is an explanation of the past, created and told by people in the present, in an effort to bring about their hoped-for future. History is made up of facts and figures that are “real,” but its primary role is narrative and explanatory—the story of what happened, why it happened, and what this means. In this sense, History is completely a human construction, an art-form that is remolded and manipulated by those telling the story. At EMU it is my job to tell the story of the history of the United States of America and I tell this story through the lens of my Anabaptist beliefs. I thus often hit upon Ideals #1 and #2 from above. What I’ve come to realize, however, is that what most directs my teaching is Ideal #3.

I have many text books that loudly advertise that they are designed to “teach both sides of the issues,” assuming that there are just two sides. I’ve read enough philosophy to know that I could use Hegel’s idea of the dialectic to show a thesis, its counter-thesis, and then to find a common synthesis, but that too doesn’t seem quite right because it assumes that there is a synthesis of opposite things. What I’ve come to believe and teach is the idea that things are complex, that there aren’t just two ways to see things. It’s easy to get Virginian students to wax poetic about Thomas Jefferson because they’ve been trained from kindergarten up to revere him. It’s also fairly easy to get them to completely change their minds and to view him as a foul villain because he owned slaves, had an affair with at least one of them, and boldly wrote his own version of the Bible that would suit him better. What’s difficult to do is to get them to reject both of these polar views and to view him as human—a conflicted, stumbling, brilliant, optimistic, confused, visionary human. Doing this with Martin Luther King Jr. is even more difficult. It’s near blasphemy to utter a word against this great man, yet the reality is he was just a man with feat of clay. Yes, he had many affairs. Yes, he plagiarized his dissertation. Yes, he got angry and frustrated and confused and scared. Students don’t want to hear this. They want to hold on to pure truth, pure goodness, pure purity. I want that too at times. But that’s not the way I believe history works. It’s not the way humanity works. And it’s not the way I believe Jesus walked through this world.

Jesus preached paradoxes. To be first you must be last. You should love your enemies. To gain your life you must lose it. Jesus the man suffered and died because he refused to see the world through the black and white constructs that the religious, political, and social leaders of his day clung to. He condemned the leaders of the church and forgave the prostitutes and tax collectors. He chose humble fishermen to be his disciples and embraced women as his best friends. He loved humanity though it deserved condemnation and he explained all the law and all the prophets by telling us to simply love God and to love each other.

As I teach history, I try to get students to do the same—to understand, empathize with, and even love those who have gone before us, not despite their faults, but because of them. If I can get students to understand that Jefferson was both and neither heroic and tyrannical; that he was human—faulty, fallible, but ultimately God’s creation, struggling to make it through the world—then perhaps they can understand the same about MLK, Malcolm X, Nixon, Clinton, Bush, terrorists, immigrants, themselves, each other. And perhaps, just perhaps, they can come to love and understand even those who they find the most difficult to love and understand.

This third way methodology impacts not just what I teach in my courses, but how I teach them. As I work with lower-level students, my style is conversational but largely authoritarian. I lecture; they take notes. I assign readings; they take tests to prove to me that they’ve understood what I wanted them to understand. I am the teacher and they are the students. But as the semesters go by, these roles begin to shift. Students’ projects begin to take them down paths I’ve never explored, and when they return, they tell me what they’ve found. The dichotomy begins to break. The teacher is taught; the student directs the study. We learn together and a third way is found. This gets complicated at times. Authority wanes. Students become friends. This is not typical education. The authority of the teacher/student dichotomy weakens. We become fellow congregants in search of the past, of truth, of God. This third way process of education, I believe, is the core of my job as a professor of History at EMU.”

Mark Metzler Sawin grew up in a small, Mennonite town in rural Kansas before attending Goshen College (Indiana) and then the University of Texas at Austin where he earned his MA and PhD in American Studies. Before coming to Eastern Mennonite University, Mark apprenticed as a chef, wrote for a culinary magazine, and managed a coffee shop, experiences that continue to color his teaching which is marked by an interdisciplinary hodge-podge of cultural studies, popular culture, literature and history. In the larger academic world, Mark currently serves as President of the Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association and his scholarship focuses largely on the religious, literary, and popular culture of antebelum America (1850s); his current book project addresses Arctic explorer Elisha Kent Kane who authored two “best-selling” books about his travels while masterfully manipulating the popular media to enhance his celebrity status. Kane was also engaged to Margaret Fox, one of the infamous Fox Sisters whose séances helped launch the Spiritualist movement in the 1840s and 1850s. Recently he has also been researching local African American history and has been an active participant in Harrisonburg & Rockingham County’s preparation for Virginia’s 400th anniversary celebration of the founding of Jamestown. Mark is married to Erika Metzler Sawin, a nursing professor at James Madison University, and has two children, Cora and Isaac.

Ph.D., American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 2001
MA, American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 1997
BA, English & Political Science, Goshen College, 1993

• Book Raising Kane: Dr. Kane and the Consequences of Fame in Antebellum America, Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2008 (forthcoming).
• Review Article Exploring Other Worlds: Margaret Fox, Elisha Kent Kane, and the Antebellum Culture of Curiosity, by David Chapin; The Reluctant Spiritualist: The Life of Maggie Fox by Nancy Rubin Stuart; and Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism, by Barbara Weisberg. Journal of the Early Republic, (Winter, 2005): 668-74.
• Cover Article “U.S. History through American Studies.” American Studies Newsletter (Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association) 17, no. 1 (Fall 2005): 1.
• Book Review Desert Patriarchy: Mormon and Mennonite Communities in the Chihuahua Valley by Janet Bennion. BYU Studies 4, no.2 (Fall 2005): 177-180.
• Book Review The Earth is the Lord’s: A Narrative History of the Lancaster Conference by John Landis Ruth. Mennonite Quarterly Review, October, 2002 76:4.
• Article “Heroic Ambition: The Early Life of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane.” American Philosophical Society Library Bulletin, Fall, 2001, n.s. 1:2. Online: www.amphilsoc.org/library/bulletin/2002/kane.htm”:http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/bulletin/2002/kane.htm/
• Article “Moving Stubbornly Toward the Kingdom of God: Mennonite Identity in the Twenty-First Century.” Mennonite Quarterly Review, January, 2001 75:1 89-98.
• Short Story “Jed Said No.” What Mennonites Are Thinking, 1999. Good Books, 1999.
• Article “A Sentinel for the Saints: Thomas Leiper Kane and the Mormon Migration.” Nauvoo Journal, Spring, 1998, 10:1 17-27.
• Thesis Article “Raising Kane: The Making of a Hero, the Marketing of a Celebrity.” Elisha Kent Kane Historical Society, 1997. Online: www.ekkane.org/sawin/sawin.htm/
• Article “Mennonites & Amish.” Encyclopedia of Civil Rights in America. Salem Press, 1997.

• Presentation “Playing with the Spirits: Séances in Antebellum America.” Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association annual conference, Rochester, NY (April 2008)
• Moderator “Playing at College: Sports and American Campus Life.” Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association annual conference, Rochester, NY (April 2008)
• Co-Organizer “Cultural Currents from Mountains to Shore: A Reception hosted by the Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association.” American Studies Association National Conference, Philadelphia, PA (Oct. 2007)
• Presidential Address “The American Studies Scholar: An Emersonian Perspective.” Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association annual conference, Baltimore, MD (March, 2007)
• Moderator “Seeing is Believing?: Behind Perception’s Veil.” Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association annual conference, Baltimore, MD (March, 2007)
• Presentation “When Caliban Impressed Prospero: Rethinking 19th-Century Exploration & Race Narratives.” Organization of American Historians National Conference, Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC (April, 2006)
• Moderator “Queering the Culture.” Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association annual conference, Harrisburg, PA (March, 2006)
• Moderator “Ike Nation: The 1950s.” Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association annual conference, Harrisburg, PA (March, 2006)
• Presentation “Teaching the Violent Edge of Non-Violent Reform.” Faith in Action Conference, Samford University, Birmingham, AL (Jan. 2006)
• Presentation “Traveling Together: The Intertwined Ambitions of Elisha & Thomas Kane.” Kane Masonic Lodge / Elisha Kent Kane Historical Society meeting, New York, NY (Jan. 2006)
• Presentation “Fundamentalism & the Mennonite Church.” Student Lecture Series, EMU (April, 2005)
• Moderator “Race, Power & Culture in the American South.” Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association annual conference, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (April, 2005)
• Presentation “The Violent Edge of Non-Violent Reform: Teaching the American Civil Rights Movement.” Teaching Peace Conference, Bluffton College, Bluffton, OH (May, 2004)
• Presentation “Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Civil Disobedience’: An Historical Background.” JustPeace Institute Seminar on Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, Goshen, IN (2003, invited)
• Presentation “Academic Freedom & Freedom of Speech in a Christian College Context.” Eastern Mennonite University Forum, Harrisonburg, VA (2003. invited)
• Presentation “Raising Kane: An Analysis of an Antebellum American Hero.” American Studies Association National Conference, Detroit, MI (2000)

• Chapel Presentation “Colleges, Christ & the Construction of Belief, or, How to Make a Mennonite” (EMU Feb, 2007; Hesston College Jan, 2007)
• Presentation with Lara Scott “Knowing Our Students: Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and more” EMU Tuesday Luncheon (Jan, 2007)
• Baccalaureate Address “Wandering Wondering: An Eclectic Guide to ‘Walking Humbly with your God.’” Eastern Mennonite University (April, 2006)
• Radio Appearance “Touring Virginia’s Black History.” by Martha Woodroof. Morning Edition & All Things Considered, Virginia Public Radio (Feb. 2, 2006). Online: www.wmra.org/news/m020206a.html
• Radio Appearance “Exploring Zenda.” by Martha Woodroof. Morning Edition & All Things Considered, Virginia Public Radio (Jan. 3, 2006). Online: www.wmra.org/news/m010306a.html

• President, Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association (2006-08)
• Article Referee, Journal of the Early Republic (2007-08)
• Book Manuscript Referee, American Philosophical Society (2007)
• Board Member, Virginia Quatra-centennial Jamestown Celebration Committee for Harrisonburg & Rockingham County (2003-07)
• Consultant for the Zenda/Long’s Chapel public history project, Rockingham Co., VA (2005-07)
• Consultant for the Shenandoah Valley African-American History Museum Initiative (2005-07)
• Executive Board Member, Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association (2005-06)
• Consultant for Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery on Elisha Kent Kane images (2006)
• Consultant for the American Philosophical Society on the estate of Thomas Leiper Kane (2003)
  Church Service
• Presenter, “Changes in Church & Society: WWII to Present” at the Leading a Changing Church in a Changing World Conference, Eastern Mennonite University (Oct. 2007)
• Youth Mentor, Community Mennonite Church (2006-present)
• Technology Committee, Community Mennonite Church (2005-07)
• Vacation Bible School teacher, Community Mennonite Church (2006)
• Two-Part Seminar on Labor and Religion in America, Community Mennonite Church (2004)
• Co-Taught 3-year-old Sunday School, Community Mennonite Church (Spring, 2004)
• Judge for the Mennonite Archives (Goshen, IN) John Horsch Mennonite Historical Essay Contest (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006)
• Panel Speaker on the Church & Technology for the Virginia Mennonite Church annual conference (2004)

• Fulbright Teaching Fellow, University of Zadar & University of Zagreb, Croatia (2008-09)
• Summer Teaching Grant. Eastern Mennonite University (2002, 2004, 2006)
• Lilly Faculty Pilot Project Grant. “Reaching Out, Teaching In: EMU & Harrisonburg’s African-American Community. (2005)
• Summer Research Grant. Eastern Mennonite University (2002, 2003, 2004)
• Quality Service Award. Eastern Mennonite University (Fall, 2002)
• Grundy Resident Research Fellowship at the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, PA (1999)
• University of Texas’ 2000-2001 Dissertation Fellowship (2000)

• American Studies Association
• Organization of American Historians

• Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association (Rochester NY, April 2008)
• American Studies Association (Washington DC, Oct. 2007)
• Mid-Atlantic American Studies Association (Baltimore, March 2007)
• American Academy of Religion (Washington DC, Nov. 2006)
• Organization of American Historians (Washington DC, April 2006)

• Reading Mid-19th Century America: A Novel Look at History & Culture (S 2008)
• HIST 421 History Tutorial: Cold War Culture & Context (S 2007)
• HONRS 311 Honors Colloquia: The History We Tell Ourselves (F 2006)
• HIST 422 History Tutorial: Satire in America (F 2006)
  COURSES TAUGHT
• HIST 121 Introduction to History & Methods
• HIST 131 American History to 1865
• HIST 142 American History 1865 to the Present
• HIST 222 African American History
• HIST 312 History of Nineteenth-Century America, 1789-1865
• HIST 321 Modernizing America, 1865-1940
• HIST 411 History of Recent America, 1941-Present
• HIST 422 History Tutorial (chages topic each semester)
• HIST 452 Seminar in History
• GVC 221 Cities

• Secretary & Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate (2007-08)
• Admissions Committee (2007-08)
• Academic Structure Task Force (2006-07)
• Faculty Senate (2006-07)
• Committee on Teacher Education (2002-08)
• Teacher Education Admissions Committee (2002-04, 2005-07)
• Library Committee (2005-07)
• Honors Committee (2006-07)
• Writing Committee (2006-08)
• Honors Mentor (2002-present)