We're All Crazy Mennonites, Emulating an Amish Paradise
I recently attended a seminar in Aylmer, Ontario sponsored by Health Canada designed to inform those working as support workers with Mexican Mennonites. While I am not specifically a care-giver to local Mexican Mennonite communities, I am a Mexican Mennonite (MM) myself, and am deeply interested in the long term well-being of "my people". Over the course of the afternoon, we heard the results of much scholarly research on "their" way of life, and how it's influenced by religion, politics, social climate, etc. Armed with a greater understanding, we were all supposed to leave there with a more solid grasp of what benefits "them" the most.

Before we broke for lunch, the lecturer opened the floor to questions. At this point, I was ready to leave, partly because I was hungry, and partly because I hate public question sessions. I'm an idealist, and like to think everyone follows the same rational as I do, so when something runs counter to that, I feel awkward, angry and fidgety (can someone prescribe some medication for that?). Of course, I wouldn't be talking about this if there hadn't been a question that bothered me, and here it is.

A woman raised her hand and said (paraphrased), "Don't you think that the MMs could learn a lot from the Amish, who share many similar opinions (ie. connection with agriculture, strict moral code, traditional way of living, etc.) but are held in high regard by the public?"

This bothered me on many different levels. This woman was demonstrating to me a fundamental misunderstanding so pervasive that I think it hindered her ability as a support giver/worker.

1. You can't teach a whole people lessons like that. How do you communicate that message to all MMs in the area? Conservative estimates were that 25,000 MMs live within an hour drive of Aylmer (where the session was held). There is no inherent leadership or organizational structure to use to convey this message (the Old Colony church is not a constant presence in the lives of most new immigrant MM families). There is no media by which these lessons can be carried.

2. The Amish had fundamentally different beginnings in this country. The Amish were in initial settlers in many parts of Waterloo, Wellington, Perth counties, etc. Thus, they were given free land and have had time to establish themselves as landowners and producing members of society. MMs come here with a strong desire to farm, so strong that they take farm jobs that established Canadians do not want. They arrive here with nothing, and while they can receive help in the way of social assistance, they have no way of acquiring farms. They come here poor, and they stay poor. There are many aspects of poverty that make many people uncomfortable, and in that context, also more judgmental.

3. People that idealize Amish lifestyle, generally don't know much about it. Amish are well known for having a good work ethic and for their love of the land, as are MMs. MMs are despised for having male dominated families, living by archaic traditional rules, and having bad hygiene, but none of those things are uncharacteristic of Amish communities as well. I love the Amish, I do. I wave when they ride by me on the roads, I buy food and books from them, and I defend them in academic circles. However, it's easy to see a religious/ethnic group as quaint when they live off somewhere else, but when they are in your face (ie. in your schools, in your neighbourhoods, in your restaurants) it's tougher to see them as quaint.

Because people generally view a group as good (ie. the Amish) or as bad (ie. MMs) doesn't mean that they are necessarily based on solid evidence, or that those feelings can be carried over. The solution is not to get the whole group to act in a way as to be accepted as a whole. What has to happen, is that individuals need to stop doing the things that bring on "persecution" (assuming of course that the "persecution" is warranted) and society in general needs to set aside negative stereotypes.

   [ posted by William @ 12:54 AM ]