Visiting scholar explores Ecuador connections

July 9, 2024

A dark-haired man wearing glasses and a red, black, and white woven poncho is seated at a table covered with books and a computer. — Julián Guamán visited the Mennonite Historical Library for a few weeks of research this spring. Guamán is a Kichwa leader in the Iglesia Cristiana Menonita de Ecuador (Christian Mennonite Church of Ecuador) and a scholar of Latin America studies.

For three weeks this spring, the Mennonite Historical Library (MHL) was honored to host Julián Guamán as a Schafer-Friesen Research Fellow. Guamán is an indigenous Kichwa leader in the Iglesia Cristiana Menonita de Ecuador (Ecuador Mennonite Christian Church-ICME) and a scholar of Latin American studies. Building on his PhD dissertation that proposed a typology of evangelicalism in Ecuador, Guamán is currently writing a more detailed history of Anabaptist groups in Ecuador.

“In Ecuador, Anabaptism is largely unknown both among evangelicals and in society and academia in general,” stated Guamán. “[Yet] Anabaptists have been in the country since the 1940’s, first as collaborators in evangelical missionary societies and then as missionaries with their own mission agencies.”

While the majority of sources Guamán has consulted for his project are located in Ecuador, he also needed access to North American mission documents and reports, some of which can be found in the MHL’s collection. “All of the research will be useful to me,” said Guamán, “but the surprise was the information from the Evangelical Mennonite Conference in Canada.” In some of the periodicals of the EMC, Guamán encountered additional evidence of Mennonite participation in the mission societies of other evangelical groups. Guamán was also able to access five Ecuador-related interviews from the Jaime Prieto Interview Collection.

In addition, Guamán spent time researching at the Mennonite Church USA Archives in nearby Elkhart, Indiana. Guamán was particularly interested in locating correspondence from the early years of Mennonite Board of Mission involvement in Ecuador. Following his visit, Guamán will continue to analyze the research he collected with hopes of publishing his findings in 2025, in coordination with the 500-year commemoration of Anabaptism.

While a visitor on the Goshen College campus, Guamán graciously took time to share with various groups of faculty about the history of the indigenous Mennonite church conference and growing evangelical indigenous movements in Ecuador.

The costs of Guamán’s travels and expenses while in Goshen were covered by the Schafer-Friesen Research Fellowship. Made possible by an endowed gift from Geraldine Schafer Friesen and her husband, Dr. Abraham Friesen, the fellowship is awarded by the MHL to encourage use of its holdings, the world’s most comprehensive collection of Anabaptist, Mennonite, Amish and Hutterite printed materials.