Janie Kiester Mini Ethnography on Amish Dinner Instructor, Michelle Stone, PhD Amish/Mennonite Information: Today there are over 12 different Amish and Mennonite groups in the Shipshawana area. They do not permit electricity or telephones in their homes. By restricting access to television, radio, and telephones, the Amish feel they are better able to keep the modern world from intruding into their home life. The Amish have long preferred farming as a way of life. They feel their lifestyle and their families can best be maintained in a rural environment. While they do not permit the use of tractors in their fields, these traditional Amish groups do use modern farm equipment pulled by teams of horses or mules. These traditional Amish groups…
Children in school are well behavior and know that they should always do as they are told by the teacher. The Amish culture teaches children and adults that they should be kind, nonaggressive, and respectful to others. The Amish do not receive money from the government, they are not allowed to participate in war, they don’t believe in material things, and they don’t believe in living in the city. The Amish do not use or have any electronics. They believe that you should feel blessed for what God gives you in life. They speak in a version of Pennsylvania Dutch. The Amish do not drive cars; their means of transportation is horse and buggy. In many people’s eyes, the Amish are strange and very different. As English men and women, we do not understand this way of life. We are used to and embrace all the modern conveniences. In the Amish culture, this simple way of life is normal and what they believe in. I think that this source is one of the best one I found on Amish culture for a research paper. It goes into great detail about what how the Amish live and what their value system is.…
The Amish is a group of traditionalist Christians that rely on simple living, plain dress and refuse to adapt to modern technology. The history of the Amish started in Switzerland in 1693 led by Jakob Amman. Today majority of the traditional descendants of the Amish live in Pennsylvania and Ohio.…
When we think of the Amish we think of an old-timey lifestyle of hard labor and strong values. This documentary shows the other side that is kept secret. It shows girls dressed in their traditional dresses and white bonnets chugging beers and dancing. It shows boys dressed in “English” (how they refer to non-Amish Americans) clothing. It even shows the Amish teens in bed together.…
The Amish society is one that is much closed off and segregated from the wider world, their almost non-existent reliance on the society around them has limited their exposure to outside influences. The whole base of their identity is generated by an unwavering faith in God, as a result of this religion touches all aspects of their daily lives. The Ordnung, a set of guidelines for religious Amish living, dictates not only what they can wear but the way in which they perform tasks such as what tools can be used to plough your farm and what foods you can put in your meals. Although religion is an influential part of Australian society it takes nothing to the extent of the Amish people with the Ordnung. Australia is a widely multicultural society which cultures and values are derived from those of the people who migrated there, the variety in restaurants, religion and clothing style a direct reflection of the many influences brought to Australia. The essence of Amish society is simple and mono-influential, a path to god, whereas the essence to Australian society is influenced by the many subcultures within.…
The Amish do not collect social security, unemployment insurance, or welfare. Instead, each Amish community makes sure that everyone 's needs are taken care of. In addition, the Amish community, in the form of small schools, controls education. Education does not usually extend beyond the eighth grade. The most impressive aspect of Amish life is the way in which they appear to be stuck in a time warp: They make an effort to live in the fashion of the 1600 's of their forefathers. They do not usually use automobiles, nor do they use electricity or phones in their homes. Instead, they use horse-drawn buggies, mules or horses to pull farm equipment, oil lamps to light their homes, and so on. Amish clothing is also distinctive: Women wear dresses, usually of a single bold color, a white apron, and black bonnets. The dresses use no buttons or fasteners other than straight pins. Men wear plainly cut black suits and flat-brimmed hats of black felt or straw. Men grow their beards (after marriage) but…
The Amish culture is one of fascination and attracts tourist. “The Amish family is the foundation of the Amish way of life. The family structure and traditions that seem to be taken from a page out of history have remained an integral part of the Amish culture” (http://www.exploring-amish-country.com/amish-family.html) The Amish are mostly horticulturist, because they farm. They have been farmers for many years, but the growing number of Amish citizens has made them look elsewhere for finances. Amish people have a strong belief in god, which has set the path for some very strong values. Men are the main farmers, but women can and do help. Men handle the finances of the home, while women handle the cooking cleaning, and gardening. Children are educated through the eighth grade, and then learn the adult way in the Amish culture. Amish people vary a great deal from church to church or community to community. Some have cars, some use gas powered farming equipment, and some keep ties with family who leave the culture, while other do not. Even though Amish culture seems simple, it’s far more complicated than people know.…
Some of the books go into great detail in how rumspringa occurs and how it follows through. Some books like the one Tom Shachtman wrote titled To Be or Not To Be Amish goes into detail but its from an amish teens point of view. He talks about how rumspringa works and what parents can actually learn from this practice. He states” Nearly all continue to live with their families, however, and many, maybe even a majority, do not go to the parties or otherwise engage in behaviors that Amish parents and church officials consider wild. Rather, they attend Sunday singings, occasionally go bowling, take part in structured activities supervised by church elders — tame stuff — but they have license to do things they have never done before. An individual's rumspringa ends when he or she agrees to be baptized into the church and to take up the responsibilities attendant on being an adult member of the Amish community.” He interviews these Amish teens and their parents. he also speaks with the Amish community just concerned with the activities that these teens partake in. he explains that he wants to get a better understanding of what they are doing and how they go about doing this certain…
The thriller film ‘Witness’, directed by Peter Weir in 1985, tells about cultural conflicts between the Amish of Western Pennsylvania and Modern American corruption and violence. Philadelphia Police officer, John Book was obligated to hide from the three brutally and corrupt police officers as they were looking for a little Amish boy, Samuel Lapp. The boy witnessed the brutal killings and identified the killer as the three police officers. The ‘Witness’ strongly displayed many images of people and incorporated several techniques and images in various scenes to portray the contrast between two different worlds.…
in simple lifestyles and being "separate from the world," this is hallmark for the Amish.…
practices like Rumspringa. The Amish also participate in a lot of social roles or expectations in…
The Amish are averse to any technology which they feel weakens the family structure. The conveniences that the rest of us take for granted such as electricity, television, automobiles, telephones and tractors are considered to be a temptation that could cause vanity, create inequality, or lead the Amish away from their close-knit community and, as such, are not encouraged or accepted in most orders. Most Amish cultivate their fields with horse-drawn machinery, live in houses without electricity, and get around in horse-drawn buggies. It is common for Amish communities to allow the use of telephones, but not in the home. Instead, several Amish families will share a telephone in a wooden shanty between farms. Electricity is sometimes used in certain situations, such as electric fences for cattle, flashing electric lights on buggies, and heating homes. Windmills are often used as a source of naturally generated electric power in such instances. It is also not unusual to see Amish using such 20th-century technologies as inline skates, disposable diapers and gas barbecue grills, because they are not specifically prohibited by the Ordnung.…
It is fact that the Amish culture is dominated by males, men are seen as more important than women; males traditionally being the leaders of the community. Men in the Amish culture are heads of the church, head of their family, are held responsible for the decisions and welfare of their family and are passed down family farms from generation to generation. In the Amish culture, females are expected to traditionally accept their role to marry and be a farmwife, when Amish women marry they are agreeing to be submissive to their husband. This means that the husband has control over his wife and the decisions and orders he makes are the ones that she must stick by. Amish women also are the primary caretakers of the home and also school the children.…
Amish community I think I wouldn’t have done anything different because I don’t think I would have known how to prepare myself. It’s like when you have never left a state before but you are leaving to go out of state. The first time I left the state ever I didn’t know what to do or think but it was a shock to see mountains and different weather. I think the only way to prepare yourself for a culture shock is to do a little research to prepare yourself to eat like they do, and see how they do things in life. The culture shock that I had recently was that I went to an Amish community for some fresh strawberries and raw milk.…
Amish society is very different from American society. Both societies have different beliefs and value very different things. The Amish reject modern advances, while the rest of America is constantly striving for the latest technology. The Amish believe in humility and religion above most everything else in life. They have very simple lives and believe in surviving with just the necessities. They are very community and family oriented. Americans put more value on money, material possessions, becoming “successful,” and having fun. Most Americans are independent and fend for themselves, while the Amish work together as a community and are very close.…