Almanack número14

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Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.74- 90 dossiê scales of global hist ory

Religious Nat ionalism in an Age of

Globalizat ion: The Case of

1

DOI: ht t p://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2236- 463320161405

Benjamin W . Goossen

Hist ory Depart ment of Harvard Universit y, Cambridge M A, Est ados Unidos da América bengoossen@ g.harvard.edu

Abst ract : This art icle uses t he example of M ennonit e nat ion- building in Paraguay during t he 1920s and 1930s t o argue t hat st at e f ormat ion is not inherent ly modernist . Tracing ninet eent h and early t w ent iet h- cent ury discourses of M ennonit e colonies in Imperial e essay advocat es a reevaluat ion of t heories of modern st at ehood advanced by t hinkers like James C. Scot t and Ernest Gellner. As conservat ive, pacif ist M ennonit es t raveled f rom Nort h America t o t he Paraguayan Chaco t o escape t he pressures of assimilat ion in democrat ic societ y, t heir migrat ion paved t he w ay f or coreligionist s f leeing persecut ion in t he Soviet Union t o join

int ernat ionally, charact erized by deep religious observance, and conceived in opposit ion t o high modernist project s.

Keywords: St at e- building, nat ionalism, M ennonit es, modernit y, diaspora, globalizat ion

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During 1936 and 1937, t he German geographer Herbert Wilhelmy visit ed German-speaking set t lement s across sout hern Lat in America. Like ot her völkisch researchers f rom Nazi Germany, Wilhelmy w as st udying t he inf luence of diasporic German set t lers on t heir

so- he

-preserving t heir racial and cult ural t radit ions in dist ant set t ings, simult aneously t ransplant ing German agricult ural pract ices abroad w hile demonst rat ing t heir racial superiorit y t o neighboring Lat in Americans.2

M any of t he groups Wilhelmy encount ered seemed t o conf orm t o t his descript ion. But w hen t he geographer arrived in t he M ennonit e

M ennonit es, t ypically described as pacif ist Christ ians, t race t heir origins t o - cent ury Ref ormat ion. They have hist orically pract iced adult bapt ism and avoided f ormal polit ical part icipat ion t enet s t hat subject ed early members t o brut al persecut ion. While M ennonit es have come f rom nearly every class background and social milieu, popular st ereot ypes have long cast t hem as a primarily agricult ural people, bound t o t he land by t he religious principles of simplicit y and humilit y, as w ell as by t he f orce of t radit ion. M any M ennonit es are religiously and socially progressive, alt hough a subst ant ial percent age abst ain f rom cert ain f orms of t echnology such as aut omobiles, t elephones, or t he int ernet , f urt her dif f erent iat ing t hemselves f rom surrounding populat ions by w earing dist inct ive clot hing. During t he 1930s, about half a million M ennonit es, of w hom a majorit y spoke German, lived scat t ered across t he w orld, primarily in Eurasia and Nort h America.3

That völkisch scholars f requent ly described t he denominat ion as f undament ally German perhaps explains w hy Herbert Wilhelmy experienced such surprise upon meet ing

2

SCHM IEDER, Oskar; WILHELM Y, Herbert . Deut sche Ackerbausiedlungen im südamerikansichen Grasland,

Pampa und Gran Chaco.Leipzig: Deut schen M useums f ür Länderkunde, 1938. p. 4- 5. On Wilhelmy and his w ork, BOCK, Ulrike. Deut sche Lat einamerikaf orschung im Nat ionalsozialismus. In: CARRERAS, Sandra, ed. Der

Nat ionalsozialismus und Lat einamerika. Berlin: Ibero- Amerikanisches Inst it ut Preußischer Kult urbesit z, 2005. p. 7- 22.

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t he M ennonit es of rural Paraguay.4_{Despit e speaking f luent German and bearing nearly}

every ot her t ellt ale charact erist ic of diasporic Germandom, many of t hese set t lers seemed t o see t heir nat ionalit y not as German, but as M ennonit e. They appeared, in t he rgot t en t hat t hey w ere part of a larger German f amily.

race 5_{M oreover, t he original reason t hat w hole}

spread or t o celebrat e German cult ure, but exact ly t he opposit e. They had rat her come in order t o keep among t hemselves.

6

his rabid nat ionalism, his bald racism, his

ant i- Semit ism render his scholarship suspect . It w ould w it hout quest ion be problemat ic t o t ake his conclusions at f ace value. And yet , he w as not simply anot her European ret urning f rom Lat in America w it h f ant ast ic t ales of jungle kingdoms and rivers of gold. There were M ennonit e set t lers in t he Paraguayan Chaco.

And many of t hem had ent ered t he count ry w it h t he int ent ion of f ounding an aut onomous

4

FOTH, Helmut . Wie die M ennonit en in die deut sche Volksgemeinschaf t hineinw uchsen : Die M ennonit ischen Geschicht sblät t er im Drit t en Reich.

M ennonit ische Geschicht sblät t er, n. 68, p. 59- 88, 2011; GOOSSEN, Benjamin W. M ennonit en als Volksdeut sche: Die Rolle des M ennonit ent ums in der nat i onalsozialist ischen Propaganda. Trans. Helmut Fot h.

M ennonit ische Geschicht sblät ter, n.71, p. 54- 70, 2014.

5

SCHM IEDER and WILHELM Y. Deut sche Ackerbausiedlungen. p. 127.

6

Translat ed in KLASSEN, Pet er P. The M ennonit es in Paraguay: Kingdom of God and Kingdom of t his World. Hillsboro, KS: Print Source Direct , 2004. p. 92.

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or

semi-arge number of M ennonit es living in f ar- f lung corners of t he w orld. The 4,000 Chaco colonist s t hemselves represent ed a surprisingly broad cross- sect ion of t he global M ennonit e communit y, hailing variously f rom Canada, Poland, Ukraine, and Siberia. M any had arrived w it h sponsorship f rom int ernat ional M ennonit e aid organizat ions, as w ell as f rom larger polit ical act ors ranging f rom t he German government t o t he League of Nat ions.7

By t he int erw ar years, ref erences t o M ennonit e st at ism w ere already w ell -est ablished. Such language had largely emerged during t he lat e ninet eent h cent ury, around t he same t ime t hat Zionism developed among European Jew s. Init ially, t his discourse ref erred t o M ennonit e colonist s living in Cent ral Asia and t he Russian Empire. M ost of t hese individuals, numbering around 60,000, w ere German or Low German speaking set t lers w hose f amilies had emigrat ed f rom Balt ic Poland and east ern Prussia bet w een t he lat e eight eent h and t he mid- ninet eent h cent uries. Under t he rule of Frederick t he Great a

German- speaking populat ion of M ennonit es under Prussian cont rol. Seeking t o minimize t he inf luence of a minorit y t hat ref used t o part icipat e in milit ary service, Prussian monarchs limit ed t heir landholding and inherit ance right s. Given such discriminat ion, it is lit t le surprise t hat large numbers of M ennonit es lef t t he region f or Russia, f ollow ing an invit at ion made by Empress Cat herine II in 1786, t o set t le new ly conquered areas of t he empire.

While M ennonit e set t lers in Cent ral Asia and t he Russian Empire of t en considered t hemselves ref ugees f rom Prussian expansionism, German nat ionalist observers came t o f w e had suddenly been t ransport ed t o West

7_{For an overview of M ennonit es in Paraguay, STOESZ, Edgar.}_{Like a M ust ard Seed: M ennonit es in Paraguay.}

Scot t dale, PA: Herald Press, 2008. M ennonit e ef f ort s t o set t le t he Chaco drew in part on t he t ransnat ional emergence of a discourse of self - det erminat ion described in M ANELA, Erez. The Wilsonian M oment : Self

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Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.74- 90 dossiê scales of global hist ory 8_{Draw ing}

on a grow ing int erest in German- speaking lands f or Auslandsdeut schen

t heir f arming acumen, and t rait s like diligence and orderliness.9

Seeking t o cont rast t hese colonist s t o surrounding populat ions, German nat ionalist s began speaking of t heir

10

When ref erring t o populat ion groups in Germany it self , t his phrase held a derogat ory connot at ion, especially evoking t he dangers supposedly posed by Jew ish or Cat holic minorit ies.11

Yet w hen used in t he cont ext of M ennonit es and ot her German speakers t o t he East , it rat her cast t he surrounding majorit y populat ions as backw ard, uncout h, and inf erior.

Consider an 1898 art icle by t he Hamburg- based M ennonit e past or Hinrich van der

-M ennonit e immigrant s t o Russia had acomplished ast ounding f eat s. The f irst set t lers t o arrive on t he Dniepr River f ound t hat t heir t runks had been robbed in t ransit ; devious Russian port ers had replaced clot hes and household appliances w it h st ones. Yet despit e f urt her robberies, as w ell as t he alleged inept it ude of neighboring Jew ish f armers, t he

t hrough t he st eppes, w here bef ore only cow s had grazed. Orchards sprang up on t he leaf les expanses, in w hose prot ect ion t he new ly f ounded villages grew . If one of t he f irst set t lers could now see t hat region and t he f ields, he w ould be amazed at t he broad expansion of t he villages, t he indust ry in t he f ields, and t he great boom t hat t he colonist s, seen as a t ot alit y, have accomplished in 100 y

8

HAXTHAUSEN, August von. St udien über die inneren Zust ände, das Volksleben und insbesondere die

ländlichen Einricht ungen Rußlands. Hannover: H 171- 196.

9

See NARANCH, Bradley. Invent ing t he Auslandsdeut sche: Emigrat ion, Colonial Fant asy, and German Nat ional Ident it y, 1848- 71. In: AM ES, Eric; KLOTZ, M arcia; WILDENTHAL; Lora. . Lincoln: Universit y of Nebraska Press, 2005. p. 21- 40; M ANZ, St ef an. Const ruct ing a German Diaspora: The

- 1914.New York: Rout ledge, 2014.

10

For example, KIRCHHOF, Alf red. Die deut sche Kolonie Ak- M et schet in Khiw a. Deut sche Erde, p. 13,1906.

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w agons, plow w it h German plow s, and in t illing t he soil [had] adapt ed ever more t o t he

12

Schulzen) elect ed f rom among t he resident s and f ormed t

general superindendent (Oberschulzen), also elect ed f rom among t he colonist s, and his t w o

insurance f und; administ rat ors provided f or orphans; and landless M ennonit es w ere

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Tw o decades

aut onomy t hat had pro

Alt hough an earlier Privilegium had guarant eed f reedom f rom milit ary conscript ion, an

mass immigrat ion of 18,000 set t lers t o Canada and t he Unit ed St at es. Immigrant leaders in bot h count ries, t o limit ed success, at t empt ed t o negot iat e t he est ablishment of Russian-st yle privileges.14

Conservat ive M ennonit e arrivals in Canada, part icularly, sought t o ret ain t heir separat ion f rom t he non- M ennonit e w orld. While Canadian of f icials had init ialy allow ed group set t lement , German- language schooling, and f reedom f rom milit ary service, t hese benef it s came int o quest ion several decades lat er during t he First World War. As t he Brit ish Empire declared w ar on Germany and it s alies, pat riot ic Canadians crit icized t he

12

SM ISSEN Hinrich van der. Ent w ickelung und jet ziger St and der deut schen M ennonit enkolonien in

Südrussland. , n.44, p. 173, 1898.

REM PEL, David G. The M ennonit e Commonw ealt h in Russia: A Sket ch of It s Founding and Endurance, 1789- 1919. Mennonit e Quart erly Review, n.47, p. 259- 308, 1973 and n. 48, p. 5- 54, 1974; URRY, James. The M ennonit e Commonw ealt h in Imperial Russia Revisit ed. M ennonit e Quart erly Review, n. 84, p. 229- 247, 2010.

13_{SM ISSEN, Ent w ickelung und jet ziger St and Op. Cit ., p. 173.} 14

On M ennonit es in ninet eent h- cent ury Canada and t he Unit ed St at es, see EPP, Frank. M ennonit es in

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school t heir children in English. As such prejudices gained t ract ion w it h Canadian policymakers, t he Brit ish Dominion out law ed German- language educat ion, st ripped all M ennonit es of t heir vot ing right s, and banned any f urt her immigrat ion. Conservat ive an inext inguishable

15

Rat her t han remain in democrat ic Nort h America, t hese spokespersons began cont act ing government s in Lat in America. By 1921, bot h M exico and Paraguay had grant ed M ennonit es a series of special privileges, of f ering t hem generous immigrat ion and schooling right s, t ax exempt ions, and f reedom f rom milit ary service.16

Follow ing a similar migrat ion t o nort hern M exico, some 1,700 M ennonit es lef t Canada f or Paraguay, arriving by 1927. An advance part y had already ident if ied a suit able t erit ory in t he Gran Chaco. Inhabit ed by indigenous peoples, it w as considered f ree f or t he t aking. While t he f irst set t lers suf f ered disease and w ere of t en

hot , dry climat e, t hey event ually est ablished a f unct ioning colony village names like Halbst adt , Waldheim, and Ebenf eld alleging cont inuit y w it h earlier set t lement s in Canada, t he Russian Empire, and even Prussia and Poland. Dub

w as f ar f rom t he reaches of Paraguayan civil aut horit y. Religious leaders elders and minist ers had vit ually f ull cont rol over t he communit y; M ennonit e observers f rom Nort h

anniversary, t he U.S. hist orian and church leader Harold Bender f eat ured it in an import ant

M ennonit e self - governance in t he old Russian Empire, Bender assessed t hat :

The aut onomy of t he M ennonit es in t he Paraguayan Chaco is great er t han t hat of t he M ennonit es in Russia. As a mat t er of f act t he M ennonit es of t he Chaco do const it ut e an absolut ely independent st at e. There has never been any applicat ion of any of t he law s of Paraguay t o t hem in t he Chaco, t here has never been any police of f icer or government of f icer in t he colony t o exercise any aut horit y on behalf of t he nat ional government , t he court s of t he land have

15_{Translat ed in LOEWEN, Royden.} _{Transnat ional World,} 1916- 2006.Toront o: Universit y of Toront o Press, 2013. p. 14.

16_{Copies of t hese document s are archived in Die Chaco- Expedit ion and Geset z Nr. 514 und Geset z Nr. 914.}

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Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.74- 90 dossiê scales of global hist ory never int erf ered w it h t he M ennonit es of t he Chaco, and t he army in it s occupat ion of t he Chaco has never presumed t o exercise aut horit y.17

-building? We t ypically t hink about st at e f ormat ion as a modernizing phenomenon. Bureaucrat izat ion, economic planning, and t he const ruct ion of heavy inf rast ruct ure

Seeing Like a St at e - like

behavio - conf idence about scient if ic and t echnical progress, t he expansion of product ion, t he grow ing sat isf act ion of human needs, t he mast ery of nat ure (including human nat ure), and, above all, t he rat ional design of

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Large indust rial st at es like France, Brazil, or Japan may f it t his def init ion relat ively w ell. But rold Bender or encount ered by Herbert Wilhelmy? On one hand, it s est ablishment during t he 1920s and early 1930s corresponds precisely w it h t he t imeline of f ered by Scot t . This w as t he era of cent ralized planning agencies like t he Tennessee Valley Aut horit y in t he Unit ed St at es and of large- scale urban design by archit ect s like Le Corbusier. Hit ler w as busy erect ing one of

et pow er plus t he elect rif icat ion of

Yet high modernism hardly applies t o M ennonit e st at e- building in nort hern Paraguay. M any set t lers idealized t he Chaco primarily because it w as f ar aw ay f rom large populat ion and indust rial cent ers. T

t he f ace of t he globe in search of a place w here t hey can shut t hemselves in f rom t he rest of t he w orld and live in peace. They desire no int ercourse w it h t he rest of t he w orld; t hey

17

BENDER, Harold. Church and St at e in M ennonit e Hist ory. M ennonit e Quart erly Review, n. 13, p. 100, 1939.

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Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.74- 90 dossiê scales of global hist ory 19_{During t he 1920s, Paraguayan nat ionalist s debat ed w het her}

an inf lux of M ennoni

consider superior t he last Indian of

set t lers on t he basis of t heir t hrif t and agricult ural expert ise.20_{But if Paraguay w elcomed}

M ennonit e immigrant s as modernizers in t heir ow n right , t he colonist s t hemselves f avored t he Chaco not f or it s pot ent ial as a locat ion f or high modernist project s, but because it of f ered a ref uge from high modernism.

A second paradox. Nat ionalist movement s especially t hose organized around t he f ormat ion of nat ion- st at es have t radit ionally been seen as regional, secular endeavors.

Regional because of t he alleged t ies bet w een modernizat ion and st at e f ormat ion. In Ernest - know n f ormulat ion, nat ional movement s are brought on by indust rializat ion. Peasant s and ot hers in primarily agrarian societ ies, according t o Gellner, live lives t oo local t o bring t hem int o cont act w it h people beyond t heir ow n immediat e f arms or villages. Only once t hey begin t o circulat e w it hin a larger region as laborers do t hey develop a common

secular

because t hey generat e t heir ow n just if icat ion f or being rat her t han receiving a divine

ancien régime monarchies. Gellner w rit es t hat

t hrough t he 21

Again, it is clear t hat M ennonit e set t lers in Paraguay t o t he ext ent t hat t hey can be considered nat ion builders f it t his model very poorly. The logics of M ennonit e nat ionalism did not emerge organically among pre- nat ional populat ions in t he Chaco (af t er all, no M ennonit es lived t here bef ore t he 1920s) nor even among t he robust congregat ions of early- t w ent iet h- cent ury Canada. While t he f irst M ennonit e immigrant s t o Paraguay w ere unlikely t o speak of t heir ef f ort s in explicit ly nat ionalist t erms, such language w as more common among lat er arrivals f rom Eurasia. A majorit y of colonist s t o

19

FRIESEN, M art in W. Canadian M ennonit es Conquer A Wilderness: The Beginning and Development of t he M enno Colony. Loma Plat a: Hist orical Commit t ee of t he M enno Colony, 2009. chapt er 5, sect ion 18.

20

Translat ed in CHESTERTON, Bridget . The Grandchildren of Solano López: Front ier and Nat ion in Paraguay, 1904- 1936. Albuquerque: Universit y of New M exico Press, 2013. p. 99.

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ent er Paraguay during t he int erw ar years, in f act , came not f rom Canada but f rom t he Soviet Union. The f irst of t hese arrived in 1930. M ost had previously been relat ively af f luent f armers w hose f amilies had decided not t o leave t he Russian Empire during t he lat e ninet eent h cent ury. While t heir communit ies had prospered unt il t he out break of t he First World War, many had experienced discriminat ion in t he years af t er t he Bolshevik

-expropriat ion and collect ivizat ion. Follow ing a period of increasing assimilat ion w it hin Imperial Russia many M ennonit es claimed t he Tsarist st at e as t heir nat ural homeland t heir communit ies once again appeared alien and out of place.

t housands of M ennonit es reached a breaking point . In lat e 1929, 13,000 German- speaking ref ugees, most ly M ennonit es, plunged t he communist empire int o an int ernat ional relat ions crisis. Abandoning t heir homes and descending on M oscow , t hese discont ent s demanded t he right t o emigrat e abroad. Bolshevik aut horit ies t ried t o dow nplay t he sit uat ion, but West ern report ers document ed t he crisis, bringing t he ref ugees at t ent ion across t he At lant ic w orld. German diplomat s, pressured by nat ional opinion, negot iat ed t he t ransf er of several t housand t o holding camps in nort hern Germany. At t he same t ime, an int ernat ional M ennonit e w elf are communit y mobilized t o f ind a new homeland f or t he emigrant s. While Nort h American dest inat ions like Canada and t he Unit ed st at es remained closed t o most of t he ref ugees, many w ere able t o t ravel on t o Brazil a move support ed by t he German government , w hich hoped it s M ennonit e w ards w ould join an already subst ant ial populat ion of German speakers living t here. Prominent M ennonit e aid w orkers opposed t his dest inat ion, how ever, since Brazil w ould not grant milit ary exempt ion. They pref erred a locat ion w here t heir coreligionist s could live in peace, keeping among t hemselves.22

22_{On M ennonit es in t he Soviet Union, see FRIESEN, John.}_{M ennonit es in Russia 1788- 1988}_{. Winnipeg,}

M anit oba: CM BC Publicat ions, 1989; M ARTIN, Terry. The Russian M ennonit e Encount er w it h t he Soviet St at e 1917- 1955. The Conrad Grebel Review, n.20, p. 5- 59, 2002. M y underst anding of nat ional f ormat ion is inf luenced part icularly by JUDSON, Piet er M . Guardians of t he Nat ion: Act ivist s on t he Language Front iers of

Imperial Aust ria. Cambridge: Harvard Universit y Press, 2006; ZAHRA, Tara. Kidnapped Souls: Nat ional

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This impulse benef it t ed f rom t he global development of an explicit ly M ennonit e

aders in Canada, t he Soviet Union, and a phrase borrow ed f rom Jew ish nat ionalist s comment at ors invoked t he dual pillars of religion and agricult ure, w hich had allow ed M enno

global climat e sat urat ed w it h t he discourse of nat ional self - det erminat ion, some M ennonit es, like t he spokespersons of ot her minorit y groups, claimed t he right t o aquire t heir ow n t errit ory. Especially in t he w ake of t error and deat h in t he Bolshevik empire, t he not ion of a separat ist M ennonit e enclave held appeal. Proponent s insist ed t hat alt hough t heir specif ically

M ennonit e nat ionalit y w as as obvious as t he dikes t hey had built , t he sw amps t hey had drained, and t he prairies t hey had set t led, it rarely received proper

closed collect ivit y, have never f ormed a f ormal

23

Follow ing t he movement during t he lat e

t radit ionalist M ennonit es

t o Paraguay, t he Gran Chaco seemed t o provide a pot ent ial remedy.

If M ennonit e nat ion- building in Paraguay w as in no w ay regional, neit her w as it secular. In 1930, prominent church leaders f rom Canada, Germany, t he Net herlands, and t he Unit ed St at es gat hered in Danzig t o discuss t he f at e of t he remaining ref ugees f rom

23

CORNIES, H. D. Konf essionell oder nat ional? Der Bot e, p. 5- 6, 21 January 1925 and p. 5- 6, 28 January 1925.

M ennonit e Zionist s. Just as some Jew s proposed t he f ormat ion of a nat ional homeland in Argent ina, t hese delegat es t o t he 1930

f ormat ion of a M ennonit e st at e in Paraguay. Source: M ennonit e Church USA Archives, M ennonit e Encyclopedia Records, X- 31- 1,

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discussed t he merit s of set t ling t he ref ugees in an exlusively M ennonit e zone. As

peacef ul nonresist ance played a signif icant role in t he reset t lement process. Leaders

crisis.24

Based on t he recent experiences of t he

Chaco quickly emerged as t he most at t ract ive set t lement opt ion. A young Harold Bender t he U.S. hist orian and church leader spoke on behalf of t he Nort h American- based M ennonit e Cent ral Commit t ee, explicat ing t he f act or

advant ages of t he Paraguayan

agricult ural and climat ic value of t he vast expanse of low land uninhabit ed by ot her

European-t e sEuropean-t aEuropean-t e w here, if possible, all Russian M ennonit es could est ablish anew and f urt her develop t heir lif e and

25

- emigrat ion policies prevent ed a majorit y of M ennonit es f rom crossing Soviet borders, several t housand ref ugees successf ully relocat ed t o Paraguay by t he mid- 1930s.

t errit ory, complet e w it h int ernat ionally recognit ion, passport cont rols, or dist inct currency. The Paraguayan st at e ret ained f ormal sovereignt y, even ident if ying M ennonit e set t lement as just if icat ion f or it s land claims in a bloody border w ar w it h Bolivia f rom 1932 t o 1935.26

24

BENDER, Harold. Die Einw anderung nach Paraguay. In: M ennonit ische Welt - Hilfs- Konferenz vom 31.

August bis 3. Sept ember 1930 in Danzig.Karlsruhe: Hinrich Schneider, 1930. p. 122.

25

Ibidem, p. 121- 122.

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Nor did t his region ever become a haven f or a majorit y, let alone a part icularly signif icant

cont inue t o ent er Paraguay f irst as ref ugees f rom devast at ed Europe af t er t he Second World War, and lat er as conservat ive migrant s f rom ot her part s of Lat in America. Today, t he count ry is home t o approximat ely 36,000 M ennonit es, including congregat ions of predominant ly European descent as w ell as Spanish- speaking Lat in Paraguayan and mult ilingual indigenous communit ies, evangelized by local M ennonit e missionaries since t he 1930s. Yet if M ennonit es of various backgrounds are now largely considered part of t he social f abric of Paraguay, t he legacies of denominat ional nat ion- building persist . Whit e, German- speaking M ennonit es generally remain segregat ed f rom ot her Paraguayans, including

non-income equalit y. Separat e banking, insurance, and landholding syst ems w it hin and beyond t he Chaco cont inue t o disproport ionat ely benef it w hit e M ennonit e cit izens, in t urn lending

27

Previous account s have generally smoot hed over it s peculiarit ies, assimilat ing t he Chaco set t lers int o larger, w ell- est ablished hist orical models. They t hus become agent s in Paraguayan st at e- building or diasporic German- speakers w hose act ions are explicable f rom w it hin a f ramew ork of German nat ionalism. Such int erpret at ions might not in a st rict sense be incorr

w hy exact ly t he pro- Nazi geographer Herbert Wilhelmy experienced such dif f icult y

völkisch w orldview . The Chaco colonist s s expect at ions of minorit y behavior, since in his est imat ion, t he set t lers saw t hemselves less as subject s of a larger German race t han as arbit ers of an aut onomous M ennonit e t errit ory. Here w as a communit y t hat draw ing on discourses of nat ionalism and st at e- building arising in Europe, t he Americas, and elsew here during t he ninet eent h and early t w ent iet h cent uries def ied high modernism, organized int ernat ionally, and remained deeply religious.

27

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I w ould suggest t hat t he processes of st at e f ormat ion and t he emergence of nat ional movement s in t he ninet eent h and t w ent iet h cent uries w ere not inherent ly modernist , at least in t he sense of James C. Scot t or Ernest Gellner.28_{Neit her w as t he}

ary observers might have suggest ed. To t he cont rary, it s f ormat ion depended on larger polit ical and cult ural t ransf ormat ions at w ork across t he At lant ic w orld. In a globalized era, in w hich event s unf olding on one cont inent could have radical consequences t housands of miles aw ay, Canadian w ar planning could spark a religious backlash among conservat ive M ennonit es. Similarly, St alinist crackdow ns could mobilize M ennonit e nat ionalist s on f our cont inent s. And Paraguayan development ent husiast s could enlist t he aid of insular ant

i -building as such t hat requires reassessment .

Dat a de recebiment o do art igo: 28/08/2016 Dat a de aprovação do art igo: 25/10/2016

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