Figure 1.--Here are Argentine Mennoites at the NewvHope colony. The boys' clothes are fairly standard. We see the girls' dresses done in different colors.

One of the newest Mennonite communities is in Argentina, one of the countries with the largest agricultural potential. Agriculture and religious freedoms are the two actors which matter the most to Mennonites. Some 1,000 Mennonites immigrated to Argentina from Mexico and Bolivia (1985). Establishing a new colony--New Hope at La Pampa. One reason they moved is that their isolated colonies were facing the possibility of consanguineous marriages — meaning marrying blood relatives. The La Pampa colony now numbers 1,500 people. They have about 40 square miles of agricultural land near Guatrache in La Pampa Province. New Hope is a very strict orthodox Mennonite community. They reject electricity, cars, dancing, and even sports -- in the middle of futbol-mad Argentina. There are many other strict rules in this Anabaptist Christian sect offshoot. They avoid marrying outsiders so as not to bring in people who do not share their ideas and strict Christian beliefs. The men and boys wear the same dungarees and cap. These are store bought as dungareescare more difficult to sew by hand than dresses. Women and girls wear long old-fashioned dresses and cover their heads with chracteristic straw hats and shawls. The dresses are made by hands so they vary somewhat. The main difference between adults and children is that the children commonly go barefoot. The boys and men wear different caps. The members of the colony speaks to each other in Plautdietsch (Low German). This is what the children are tught in school. They also learn some Spanish so they can do business and manage relations with Argentine authorities and neighbors. A typical housewife explains, “We are aware that there’s a world out [there] where people use mobile phones. We respect everyone’s culture but we don’t want any of this technology.” And this is not an easy matter. The housewife here explains that she currently faces her teenage son’s desire to obtain a cellphone. [Lahrichi] This is a chllenge that Mennonites have now faced for centuries. And within the Menninite/Amish community, some communities have made greater concessions to modern technology. The New Hope Mennonites systematically reject being incorporated into Argentina and assimilation, like other Mennonite communities. They are part of agricultural settlements that maintain ties across international borders. [Cañas Bottos]

Sources

Cañás Bottos, Lorenzo. Old Colony Mennonites in Argentina and Bolivia: Nation Making, Religious Conflict and Imagination of the Future (Brill: 2008).

Lahrichi, Kamilia. "This tiny colony in Argentina doesn't believe in Spanish, tango, or soccer," Globlpost (June 9, 2015).

Created: 8:22 PM 1/22/2016
Last updated: 8:22 PM 1/22/2016