Anika Reynar

Yale University

Mennonites, Maya, and Genetically Modified Seeds: Towards practices of restorative solidarity in Campeche, Mexico



Biography

Anika is pursuing a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Environmental Management at Yale Divinity School and Yale School of the Environment. Anika has been formed and nurtured by the Canadian prairies and the Mennonite Church. Anika's work focuses on the intersections between theological commitments, agricultural practice, and patterns of migration and displacement. These interests have led Anika to work with refugee communities, in urban agriculture, and with churches who are engaged in reparative action with Indigenous communities.

Paper Abstract

In the Campeche region of Southeast Mexico, Maya communities have tended bees and forests for thousands of years. Twenty years ago, Old Order Mennonite groups migrated to the area in pursuit of arable land and religious freedom. In Campeche, Mennonite colonies began practicing widespread deforestation and planting genetically modified soy, which depends on heavy pesticide use. These industrial farming practices are compromising native seed varieties, contaminating water sources, and negatively impacting the health of honeybees and Mayan communities. This paper emerges out of my own work with the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition, a Mennonite network in the United States who were invited to support Maya land defenders as they seek to engage their Mennonite neighbors in practices of restorative solidarity. In this work, our Mayan partners consistently remind us that they do not see themselves as fighting against the Mennonites. Rather, Mayan communities are working to resist broader neoliberal systems that are damaging the land and both Maya and Mennonite communities.

Restorative solidarity invites critical attention to stories of migration, the intersections of the personal and political, and liberative traditions that may inspire new relationships of justice and compassion. Through a framework of restorative solidarity, this paper will explore the political, social, and theological factors that led Old Order Mennonites –traditionally pacifist and anti-technological communities – to be willing to adopt the use of genetically modified seeds. Through this exploration, this paper will challenge forms of 'colonized hope' that led to Mennonite migration to Campeche, and to the adoption of damaging forms of agriculture. In doing so, this paper will finally look towards liberative traditions within both Maya and Mennonite communities that may lead to more compassionate relationships with one another and the land.