Social Activism Among Some Early Twentieth-Century Baha’is

This article discusses the socialist involvement of three of Canada’s earliest Bahá’ís, namely Paul Kingston Dealy, Honoré Jaxon, and Rose Henderson. Given that the Bahá’í Faith had an authentic interest in economic and social justice from its earliest days, a number of these early Bahá’ís were involved in socialism. This paper seeks to explain such an engagement despite the Bahá’í proscription of involvement in partisan politics. Because of the paucity of Bahá’í core writings until the early 1920s, a number of early Bahá’ís fit what they perceived to be Bahá’í teachings to their personal views, which led a number of them to engage in political activism. These views stand in sharp contrast to the Bahá’í teachings forbidding such involvement. Moreover, the porous membership boundaries in the early days of the Bahá’í community did not allow members to be consistent about criteria of Bahá’í membership. However, by the 1920s, membership in the Bahá’í community had become formalized and the prohibition against engaging in political affairs became a sine qua non for such membership. As a result, these early Bahá’ís either formally relinquished their membership or withdrew from active participation. At the current time, the Bahá’í Community of Canada numbers approximately 33,000 adherents. It is a religion that was founded in 1844

Creative Integration: Persian Bahá’í Newcomers in New Brunswick

Our paper analyzes the experiences of Persian Bahá’ís who arrived more than twenty years ago and stayed in New Brunswick. We conducted seven interviews involving ten people. This paper presents a widely ignored aspect of immigrant life: namely, the creativity that immigrants use to overcome local residents’ hesitancy in reaching out to them in friendship. This paper further analyzes two aspects of these immigrants’ arrival that account for their success. First, the receiving Bahá’í communities integrated them immediately into the social and administrative affairs of their communities. Second, the immigrants’ recent spiritual connection to the birth place of the Bahá’í faith became the means of Canadian Bahá’ís to welcome their brothers and sisters from Iran. Résumé L’article analyse l’expérience qu’ont connu les Persans Bahá’is qui se sont installés ici, au Nouveau-Brunswick, il y a plus de vingt ans et qui y sont restés. Nous avons mené sept entrevues avec dix personnes. L’article présente une facette souvent méconnue de la vie des immigrants : notamment la créativité dont ils doivent faire preuve afin de vaincre les hésitations des résidents de la région pour se lier d’amitié avec eux. De plus, cet article analyse deux aspects de l’arrivée de ces immigrants qui favorisent leur réussite. D’abord, les communautés d’accueil bahá’í ont intégré immédiatement les immigrés dans les affaires sociales et administratives de leur communauté. Ensuite, les liens spirituels récents des immigrants envers leur pays natal ont contribué à ce que les Bahá’í Canadiens accueillent leurs frères et sœurs de l’Iran

Map worlds: a history of women in cartography

This book explores the largely unrecognized contribution of women to the development of maps throughout history. Common themes explored are social justice and the making of maps work for the betterment of humanity