Understanding the Amish
For my Ethnography project, I have
chosen the Amish because I have always held some interest for their culture and
because I grew up very close to an Amish community. The Amish are located in at
least 24 states, Canada, and Central America, however about 80% of the Amish
population is focused in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. I personally grew up
about 25 miles from an Amish area in southern Wisconsin, they had a shop called
bent and dent which my grandparents frequented. Because their living areas are
scattered, the temperature and rainfall varies depending on the area. In the
northern United States rainfall varies from year to year happening most often
during spring months, there are four seasons in each year, spring, summer,
fall, and winter. Snowfall happens during winter and sometimes spring, but
levels vary from year to year. There are a lot of temperature variations in
their area of the U.S. annually. However, having lived here for decades, other
than a change in clothing options during certain parts of the year, they do not
need to adapt to the different seasons during the year.
The Amish are a very isolated people,
they sometimes open shops and offer their services to other cultures, however
they hold themselves back and have no interest in the affairs of others, unless
they are directly affected. They typically live in very rural settings, with
hand built housing. For these reasons they do not compete with other cultures.
The type of plants grown by the Amish again depends on their location, they do
grow their own food such as potatoes, corn, tomatoes, etc. However what they
can grow is limited by their location, be it the U.S. or Canada. They typically
are known to have horses to pull their carriages and some farming Amish have
livestock such as cows, pigs, goats, and chickens.
Environmental Stresses and Adaptions
The Amish culture doesn’t have any
environmental stresses to adapt to however, culturally they should have adapted
to the times and to some extent they have, but they are very firm in their
religious beliefs such as not using electricity, cars, etc. The store I
mentioned earlier had a register that they never plugged in and the lights were
old fixtures that ran on solar and something else, I’m not sure how to explain
it, it wasn’t bulbs but more like wires that lit up from an electrical current
or something to that extent. The Amish lifestyle could be seen as a threat to
their survival because it closes them off from a lot of new technology, such as
vaccinations for new diseases and new treatments for old diseases.
Two
long term physical adaptations the Amish have developed over time to deal with
environmental stress are their lack of pigment, meaning their white skin and
their body type, tall but somewhat thick. Light skinned people have a type of
melanin in their skin called “pheomelanin” Which is lighter in color in comparison
to the type of melanin seen in darker skinned people, white skinned people also
have less of this pigment which causes their lighter skin, because the sun is
not so intense in the United States where the majority of Amish live, they have
adapted to have lighter skin. This helps regulate their absorption of
Ultraviolet UV rays through their skin. The Amish’s body type helps them keep
warm in the winter and stay somewhat cool during the summer time, making
working and surviving easier.
Some cultural adaptions that the
Amish have made over time are the openings of Amish businesses, Allowing
marriage outside their religion, and adapting to new languages based upon where
they are located, here in America they have learned some English, at least
enough to get by in their businesses. The Amish realized through time that just
building houses and growing their own food source, was not enough to get by
especially here in the U.S. so, they began opening small shops some for
clothing, some for food, and even some for furniture. By making these adaptions,
the Amish have found it easier to flourish in the environment they live in. By
understanding English they can work better with English speaking customers in
their businesses. Going back to allowing marriage outside their religion
happened because of health problems from children born of incest. Children born
of incest not only had physical deformities, but some mental issues as well,
the only way to stop it was to allow people into their religion and allow
outside marriages.
Amish
Language
The
Amish language is known as Pennsylvania German (popularly known as Pennsylvania
Dutch). I believe the language family for the Amish language of Pennsylvania
Dutch is Palatine German since most of their word structure is derived from
this language. Although influence of English on Pennsylvania Dutch is over
stated, a small percentage of the Amish’s vocabulary is derived from English,
however the core grammatical structures are Palatine German. To my
understanding there is not a written version of Pennsylvania Dutch, however
Amish do read books mainly their bibles in Standard German or English. I can
infer that as the Amish have grown somewhat with the times, they have adapted
their language to be better suited in their environment. According to my
readings although Pennsylvania Dutch is their home language, very few can speak
it now and it is not often taught anymore.
Gender
roles and Expectations
The Amish
have only two specific genders, man and woman. Typically the woman is in charge
of raising children and taking care of the house while her husband works and
makes money or the family. However there are some cases where the wife may own
or run a business in which case typically the husband will help house work.
Generally though Amish women with young children almost never have jobs, unless
they are working out of the house like stores or bakeries. There are also times
where the husband will help with the wife’s work and she in turn helps with his
work.
Considering
that women are allowed to work on occasion and sometimes own businesses I would
have to say there gender roles are not very strict when it comes to work,
however when it comes to child raising, that is specifically the wives job
until her son is old enough to begin working with his father. Her daughters
however, will be taught house and child care duties for such a time when they
become wives and generally will not spend time doing outside work with their
father.
There are no
negative repercussions for a man or woman doing the others job, because
typically when it does happen there are reasons which make it acceptable. If
the man cannot make enough so the woman works as well selling baked goods or
vegetables this is acceptable, the only thing a woman cannot do is be the religious
head of the house, she may teach her children religion, but may never be in
charge of it
According to
my readings children learn their place and gender role at a very young age,
they are taught their duties by their mother, until the boys are old enough to
work outside with their father and learn their own work for when they become
men.
For the Amish
there is no in between gender so their biology defines their gender roles. A
woman is a woman and must do her womanly duties and it’s the same for a man. On
occasion woman may help with a man’s role or vice versa, but their biological
genders define who they are.
Sadly odds
are that the protagonist in the story, “The Blessed Curse, “would not be accepted
for the very same reason, her parents did not fully accept her. The Amish are Anabaptists
which is a small part of Christianity, they would see her as an abomination,
just as her parents did. I haven’t seen any form of direct punishment which she
might have been issued, so I can only be certain that she would be shunned all
her life and never fully accepted.
Amish Nutrition and Diet
Traditionally
the Amish receive their subsidence through horticulture. The Amish till their
own land, grow their own crops, and harvest them, sometimes they also have
gardens which they harvest as well. All this depends on the season, certain
crops can only be planted during certain times. They also have animals on their
farms such as Cows, Chickens, and Pigs. The Amish are not quick to change and
show no signs of transitioning into a new form of subsidence anytime soon, if
ever.
The main food
items that make up the Amish’s diet are typically vegetable and fruits they
grow along with meat, milk, and eggs from their farm animals. The foods they
receive from their livestock are mostly year round, the vegetables and fruits
can be year round, however not if they are to be fresh. Wives are taught to dry
out fruits and veggies as well as canning or pickling them, depending on the
fruit or vegetable. So for example, while a fresh tomato may only be available
for about half the year, they can have canned tomatoes year round.
The Amish do
not really have different social classes, the only difference in class might be
a man who ranks higher because he is a pastor, but generally everyone is equal.
The Amish
generally are healthy nutrition wise, they have access to all the different
types of food necessary to be healthy, they grow crops and they have access to
meat from their cattle. The Amish are very self-sufficient and do not depend on
anyone, especially outsiders. They make use of what they have and do not allow
themselves to need extra things. They live fine on what they are able to
produce and own, so they do not have any food items that they are dependent on
that are hard to obtain. They do not seem to be lacking for any nutrition in
any way.
Yes, the Amish
produce crops in surplus and preserve them, to eat during the fall and winter
seasons when they cannot grow during the cold seasons. They surplus crops they
grow as well as meat that they butcher from some of their cattle.
The
specialization of labor is hard to say, my first thought was to say no because
woman most often only do their duties and no matter if she might be better at a
man’s work, it is not acceptable for her to do it. However, when a mother has
multiple daughters or sons, each child can be given a job within their gender
role, which they are best at. Whether that counts as a specialization of labor
I can’t really say, if say a woman produces no daughters or sons then her and
her husband all do their gender role jobs alone whether they are best at them
or not, the roles will not be switched.
Yes, the Amish to distribute their goods with
each other and sometimes people outside of their religion. Sometimes they sell
produce to each other and other times, the women run shops and sell goods to outsiders.
They do not however redistribute wealth amongst themselves or outsiders.
The Amish
have currency that is used to buy and sell goods, but the type of currency
depends on their location, Amish that live in the U.S. use our currency, the
dollar bill, quarters, dimes, pennies, etc.
The Amish use
currency to trade with outsiders, who buy art, quilts, and foods from the Amish.
The benefits are allowing for more outside relationships between outsiders and
the Amish, this allows more trade which means more money. This is negative
however, because it has allowed more people to see their living, which has led
to misinformation about them and also people trying to change them, because
some outsiders don’t like or accept the way the Amish live and believe they
must change because we don’t like it. This is one of the reasons cultural
anthropology is so important it allows us to look into things from the inside
and to understand why things are the way that they are, we may not accept it,
but we can understand it.
Marriage:
Marriage for
the Amish is monogamous, and yes cousin marriage does happen, because for so
long the Amish were not allowed to marry outside of their church, over generations’
incest began happening frequently, because there were no new suitors.
A young man
or woman may pick a suitor to marry from their church only and from then on
they will marry and be together until they die, there is no divorce.
The Amish do
not exchange anything when they marry, the only thing that might be given is
the son’s father may pass down his land to his newly married son, but the
daughters receive nothing to give their new husband. Generally it would seem by
the order of things that men are more valued, however it could be argued that
women are more valued because without women you cannot have children, you have no
one to take care of household duties, and that the only reason women don’t
bring anything into a marriage is because they are worth so much just by
themselves. Still, I think it would be safe to say that men are more valuable
in marriage then women just based upon how a marriage goes, the man might have
something, but the woman always comes in with nothing.
The Amish
practiced incest for a long time because of a lack of new blood inside their
tight knit community, so no they have no rules or regulations against incest,
although it is less frequent now that marriage is allowed outside of their
religion.
The man
inherits a farm from his father when he is grown and gets married, then he lives
there with his new wife and any children they might have. Some women who marry
outside of their religion, go to live with their husbands and never return to
the community. If there is no farm to pass on, the couple will live with one of
their families and do factory work until they can afford a farm of their own.
The Amish
view being gay as a sin that must be confessed and is punishable by their
priest. The Amish are fairly certain gay occurrences in their community are
very rare and seen in a very negative light.
Kinship:
The Amish do
not really have a descent pattern, because their most important relationship is
with god. I wouldn’t say they ignore descent lines, more like they are just
less emphasized, than in most other cultures.
The male
parent possesses the most authority in the family.
Good property
is only passed down to the son, who is newly married, by his father. There are
no inheritance rules however, a son may not receive land if their father has
none. Generally the only thing passed down through generations is land.
The Amish
have do not practice naming patterns, most of their life revolves around work
and religion, and do not put much detail into naming of children.
Social
Organization:
The Amish are generally egalitarian, and don’t
have any stratified structure. However all individuals are not equal gender wise.
What I mean is one man is equal to all other men in the community, but a women
is not equal to a man, however she is equal to all other women. Men generally
have more social power, but that is not always true, in the event a woman owns
a shop of some sort she may be equal to her husband socially, but never above
him. Statuses do not exist, so there are
no levels to climb up to or fall down to. Everyone is at the same level and no
one person is better than another.
Political Structure
Generally the
Amish do not involve themselves in politics and they do not accept government subsidies.
Generally the Amish only take part in voting in rare cases when some sort of
law coming into place directly affects them in some way. There is no political
power, so there is no political power transferring. The laws of the Amish are
read and interpreted by their priest, however they are believed to have come
directly from the lord himself, and they follow the laws of the lord. The only
known form of punishment for breaking these laws is confession to the priest
and sometimes a 6-week long shunning of the individual by the entire community.
The Role of Violence
With this image I want you to notice none of them appear angry
in fact the only strong emotion visible is sadness, the Amish are not violent people.
In Amish culture
violence is not tolerated, they are calm and peaceful people, who value their
peace and wellbeing. Violence is very rare in their culture and as such I could
not find any form of violence in their culture. The only violence I saw was
their form of punishment for gossiping which can be as minor as getting a visit
from the priest and the matter being dropped completely to as major as a
Six-week ban, where everyone shuns the guilty individual. Violence is viewed
very negatively and unnecessary by the Amish, in fact they refuse to defend
themselves, if faced with an aggressive neighbor they will simply pick up and
move, rather than fight.
Amish Religion
The Amish
religion is known as Anabaptist, however they are sometimes thought to be
conservative Protestants by outsiders. The Amish religion fits inside Christianity,
which is a larger branch of religion that contains multiple religions. The
beliefs and practices were originally based off of the writings of the founder
of the Mennonite faith, Menno Simmons.
The Amish
religion of Anabaptist focuses on monotheism, believing in the lord god and his
son Jesus. Anabaptist actually acquired their strange name because unlike
typical Baptists they did not believe in infant baptism, instead they believed
in adult believer baptisms. They wanted you to be old enough to understand and
want what you were being given. God and
his son are the focus of their religion, you may begin to think this would mean
polytheistic because there’s more than one deity, however the father, son, and Holy
Ghost are considered to be one and the same, just in different forms.
The Amish
believe the story most of us are familiar with, the beginning stated in the
bible, with god creating everything and making Eve from Adam, I’m sure most
know the story. There is no single one factor, practice, belief, or doctrine
that is used by all Anabaptists, which I could describe to you, however the
dislike and not allowing of infant baptism is universal for all Anabaptists.
The amish specifically believe in the virgin mary, eternal life, satan, etc. Their church practices do not allow women to
hold positions of power, and they have a specific church leader ship that is as
follows: Völliger Diener: (a.k.a. Full Servant or Bishop), Diener zum Buch:
(a.k.a. Servant of the Book or minister), Völliger Armendiener: (a.k.a. Full
Servant of the Poor or Full Deacon), and Armendiener: (a.k.a. Servant of the
Poor or Deacon). For the Amish, religion runs their life and they could not
function without it. Their religion is everything to them, their lifestyle,
their work, and their family.
Art:
Amish art is
most commonly expressed in paintings and quilts. The benefits of these art
works is money, sometimes paintings are sold, other times they are kept for the
house or passed down as a gift, but quilts are always sold unless needed, they
are one of the most main stream things women sell.
The only
musical expression I can think of is in church, the Amish sing in choirs and
during church sessions. The benefit in their eyes is becoming better and more
pure for their lord.
For the Amish
being prideful is a sin, they do not do performances at all and I would venture
to guess it is because they are not to be prideful and vain. To perform in
front of the entire community could be seen as a way to act prideful and vain,
trying to show off how talented an individual is. That would be very much
frowned upon and not allowed.
Religion is a
part of everything the Amish do, so of course it does take part in their art.
Amish artists make sure to include a balance of humility and simplicity against
vanity, every art piece must have this. This is so they do not come off as
acting prideful or vain with their artwork. The benefits of this could be that
it is a very specific type of art and therefore could be seen as rare and it
probably only obtainable from the Amish, which would not be a benefit for them
because it is seen as vain, but it is a benefit for outsiders looking to
purchase unique work.
Conclusion: Cultural
Change
The Amish
have been somewhat effected by other cultures, but it is at their own pace. For
example the Amish choose to adapt certain new technologies which benefit their
cause, but are not seen as lazy or sinful. The Amish use cash registers when
necessary, because they benefit their work. However, they do not allow
televisions or other electrical entertainment devices. The positive impacts
would be showing others they are strong and stand their ground, however the
negatives would be the issues and disagreements they run into with other
cultures because they refuse to change.
I
believe the Amish culture is healthy and thriving, I see no reason to believe
they may be in danger of disappearing or becoming something else, the Amish are
very firm in their way of life. I don’t believe the Amish will ever lose their
cultural identity, because they are too hard working and set in their ways to
allow such a change to occur.
The Amish
hold a weak role in the modern world mostly because of how small their
population is in total. However this is also because of their general reclusive
nature towards outsiders. Unless something directly affects them, they do not
generally reach out to do anything outside of themselves.
Bibliography
Link for
location: http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/pennsylvania/a/amish.htm
Physical
Adaption links: http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_4.htm
Links to
culture: http://www.amishnews.com/amisharticles/traditionalfamily.htm
Food Link: http://amishamerica.com/what-do-amish-eat/
Violence
Link: https://cas.uab.edu/peacefulsocieties/societies/amish/
Currency
Link: http://people.howstuffworks.com/amish1.htm
Religion
Links: http://www.religioustolerance.org/amish.htm
Social
Status: http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ796146
Political
Structure: http://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/social-organization/government/
Art Link: http://www.welcome-to-lancaster-county.com/amish-art.html
