Mennonite partnerships: Two ethnographic case studies

Abstract

This article brings cultural anthropology into conversation with theological reflection around the notion of partnership, focused on two case studies: the first examines Mennonite institutions in the United States working for inclusion of new immigrants from Latin America; the second considers the international community development work of the Mennonite Central Committee in a rural area of Bolivia. In both cases, humanitarian impulses galvanized action aimed towards the construction of horizontal power relations for social and economic justice. In both cases as well, however, the concentration of economic resources along with deeply embedded assumptions about ethnic and cultural difference made substantive equality in partnership difficult to sustain. Close attention to these challenges can shed light on ways in which Christian organizations can at least mitigate, if not resolve, the deeply entrenched power differences that have historically plagued engagement and partnerships across the world.