The ‘Evangelization by Colonization’ Movement and the Amish-Mennonite Migration to Costa Rica
Mennonite Quarterly Review
Anderson, Cory, and Jennifer Anderson. 2020.
94(2):149-94.
North America’s Amish-Mennonites Adopt Abroad: The Ideologies and Institutional Conditions That Cracked the Homogeneity of an Ethnic Religion
Social Compass
Anderson, Cory, and Jennifer Anderson. 2023.
70(3):403-27.
Research Points
- International, cross-ethnic adoption went against Amish-Mennonite norms of endogamy and ethnic homogeneity. However, their emphasis on family and evangelistic mission motivated some to adopt internationally as an expression of values.
- Children’s homes operated briefly in Paraguay, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Romania from the 1960s-2000s, enabled by momentary geopolitics and constrained by later policies. Homes provided a major source of foreign adoptees. Beyond homes, A-M missionaries also directly adopted children. Overall rates of adoption are small but significant for the group.
- While adoption potentially negates A-Ms ethnic norms of endogamy and homogeneity, A-M emphasis on family and evangelistic mission motivated some to adopt internationally as an expression of values.
- Adoption “cracked” but did not fully open Amish-Mennonite ethnic boundaries. It shows the right configuration of ideologies and structures can facilitate counterintuitive processes like adoption into an insular group.
- Ultimately, ideologies can motivate counter-normative behaviors such as diversification, even in traditionally homogenous populations, although these ideologies are greatly enabled and constrained by external structures such as global contexts.
Access Related Content from The Project: "An American System of Separatism in Non-American Contexts"
The Amish-Mennonites across the Globe
Amish-Mennonite Heritage Series Vol. 2.
Anderson, Cory, and Jennifer Anderson. 2019.
Sanctifying Leisure: International Tourism among America’s Amish-Mennonites
American Studies Journal
Anderson, Cory, and Jennifer Anderson. 2017.
63(1):e1-e37.
The Amish Settlement in Honduras, 1968-1978: A (Half) Failed Attempt to Develop an Amish Understanding of Mission
Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies
Anderson, Cory, and Jennifer Anderson. 2016.
4(1):1-50.
Conservative Mennonite Storybooks and the Construction of Evangelical Separatism
Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies
Anderson, Jennifer, and Cory Anderson. 2014.
2(2):245-77.
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