The Amish - a Cultural Look

The Amish - A Cultural Look

Loren Martin

Donald Anderson

ANT 101

19 November, 2012

The Amish – A Cultural Look

When we think of Amish, we think of horse drawn buggies, homemade clothes, straw hats and bonnets. This is all set in a quiet, peaceful country side in rural America. There is a lot more to the Amish community than what most tourists see on an average drive through Amish country. This paper will look at several things about the Amish Community. We will look into their beliefs and values, economic organization, and gender relations.

The history of the Amish begins with the advent of the Anabaptist movement in 1525. Because of the extreme differences of the people involved in the Anabaptist or Mennonite movement, it often caused factions to split off from the group. Such was the case with Jakob Amman starting in the year 1693. Mr. Amman’s principle disagreement was something about the Meidung, or the practice of shunning.

According to William Crowley, “This practice formerly had been more important to the Mennonites, but had lapsed in practice during Amman's day.” (1978) This apparent apostasy led to Mr. Amman leaving the Mennonite movement and starting his own church. They ended up excommunicating all other Mennonites that did not practice the Meidung. They were known in the ammansh which eventually evolved into the present Amish.

William Crowley goes on to tell the story of the Amish by saying that “As a result of Amman's efforts, Amish congregations arose in Switzerland (Bern Canton), Alsace, and the Palatinate “How large the following of Amman was is unknown."13 This early spread of the Amish faction was accomplished almost wholly through proselytization and involved little migration of people. Such missionary fervor and attempts to gain adherents stand in vivid contrast to the absolute non- proselytization practiced by the Amish today. (1978)

The Amish are a transitioning culture. Historically they were...