Royden Loewen

Royden Loewen (born 26 October 1954 in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada) is a retired Canadian History Professor and Chair in Mennonite Studies at the University of Winnipeg. As a prominent historian in the field of Mennonite history, his book about the Mennonite Communities 1850–1930 is a leading publication about the emigration waves from south Russia to Canada.

Education and career Loewen was born in Steinbach, Manitoba, the son of Dave Loewen, a poultry and wheat farmer and chairman of the Steinbach Credit Union and Gertie Loewen, a homemaker and mother to six children. Loewen grew up in nearby Blumenort, where he attended elementary school, before attending high school at Steinbach Christian High School, and college at Mennonite Brethren Bible College where he earned his university degrees and a Fulbright scholarship at the University of Chicago. He taught Junior and High School at Fisher River Cree Nation in Manitoba's Interlake district and Canadian history at the University of Manitoba. From 1996 to 2020, he held the Chair in Mennonite Studies at the University of Winnipeg.

Loewen visited Mennonite settlements in Bolivia several times for a book on anti-modernity in Canada and Latin America. He was involved in the two-year project Seven Points on Earth, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, where he visited seven Mennonite farm villages around the world with graduate students from around the world, exploring the environmental history of villages in Java, Siberia, Friesland, Bulawayo, Santa Cruz departmento (Bolivia), Kansas and Manitoba.

Loewen lives in Winnipeg with his wife Mary Ann, who teaches academic writing at the University of Winnipeg. He retired in 2020, and was replaced by Dr. Ben Nobbs-Thiessen as the new Chair in Mennonite Studies.