Cross Cultural Comparison

The AmishBy Miss Fiona Brown, St. Peter’s Catholic College

Rules of a Cross Cultural Comparison

Consider how their lives are similar and different to yours.

Don’t make value judgements on whether their experiences are better or worse than yours

Avoid ethnocentrism – The belief that one’s own group or culture is superior to all other groups or cultures.

Generalisations – broad conclusions that cover information about the majority of a group rather than detailing specific variations within groups - may be made.

Generalisations are valuable in case studies for the purpose of broad comparisons but any conclusions drawn may not apply to all Amish people.

The Amish - Origins

The Amish people are direct descendants of the Anabaptists of sixteenth century Europe. Anabaptism is a religion that came about during the reformation era. During sixteenth century Europe, people were changing their ideas about religion. Prior to this time, Europe was traditionally united in "One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church". However this "One Church" did much more than regulate people's spiritual needs. It was highly connected with the state and politics, and during the Reformation, people began to take a stand against the Church. After 1517, the Roman Catholic Church began to lose much of its political and moral authority, and at this time, reformers such as Martin Luther stepped in and made changes to Church structure and doctrine

The term Anabaptist first started out as a nickname that meant "rebaptizer", because this group rejected the idea of infant baptism. They said that because an infant does not have the knowledge of good and evil, it can not have sin. The Anabaptists were seen as a threat to Europe's religious and social institutions and were therefore persecuted. As a result of this persecution, Anabaptists emigrated to find refuge in places such as Moravia, Alsace, Palatinate, and the Netherlands.

http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/amish.html

The Amish movement was founded in Europe by Jacob Amman (~1644 to ~1720 CE), from whom their name is derived. In many ways, it started as a reform group within the Mennonite movement -- an attempt to restore some of the early practices of the Mennonites. http://www.religioustolerance.org/amish.htm

Where Amish communities are located in the USA today

Question: How many countries do the Amish live in today?

Answer: The Amish live in 24 states of the United States (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, Maine, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Montana and Washington) and the Province of Ontario, Canada) Data provided by THE BUDGET and Courtesy of America's Amish Country II.

Interaction between culture and religion

There is a close reciprocal relationship between the areas of religion and culture.

Religion is profoundly influenced by its cultural context because religion cannot be expressed other than through a particular cultural setting and context.

http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/pennsylvania/a/amish_2.htm

http://www.800padutch.com/amishpeople.shtml

Ordnung

Electricity and telephones are not connected to Amish houses because they are considered ‘worldly’

Amish will not own cars Amish travel in horse drawn buggies Education is completed in Year 8 Breaking of rules may result in ‘shunning’

Modernisation

http://www.amish-heartland.com/?pathToFile=%2F%2Farticles%2F-Amish+Culture%2F&file=World+Around+Them.txt&article=1

Family

Web links to information on Amish Weddings

http://www.windycreek.com/Brian/amish-cultural-dynamics.html

http://www.800padutch.com/amishweddings.shtml

http://www.amish-heartland.com/?pathToFile=%2F%2Farticles%2F-Amish+Culture%2F&file=amishweddings.txt&article=1

Gender Roles

Father head of family Unmarried women can work Married women work within the family Older males educate young boys

Farming and working with wood and leather

Older women educate young girls Homemaking skills and business skills

Working children give all pay to their father to support the family

Family all live close to each other

Personal Reflection

What commonalities and differences can you see between you and the Amish in terms of Family?

Use specific examples. Complete this on the Personal

Reflection worksheet

Hmmm

Roles and Status

Status for the Amish is not like in Western societies but there is a hierarchy of leaders, it’s commonly based on Religion.

Males provide leadership

Council of EldersChurch Bishop – Established leader of community

Church ministers and deacons support them

Adolescents can experiment with the world of the “English” (nonAmish) before committing to Amish life. This time is known as ‘Rumschpringes’

Your turn to think

What positives do you see coming out of such a “time out” period for Amish adolescents and what challenges do you see them having to face as a result of “time out”?

How is cultural continuity of the Amish threatened by Rumschpringes?

Personal Reflection

What commonalities and differences can you see between you and the Amish in terms of Roles and Status?

Use specific examples. Complete this on the Personal

Reflection worksheet

Hmmm

Conflict, cooperation and decision making

Society is based on cooperation. All accept the ordnung therefore common set of values for all.

In the community people accept authority of God and bishops, ministers and deacons

In the family children accept parental authority. Ultimately all must be personally responsible. Shunning of people who break baptismal vows

often occurs.

Barn raising shows cooperation

Amish tend not to see much of the media but with modernisation, conflict with the media begins to occur

http://www.800padutch.com/amishshooting.shtml

Personal Reflection

What commonalities and differences can you see between you and the Amish in terms of conflict, cooperation and decision making?

Use specific examples. Complete this on the Personal

Reflection worksheet

Hmmm

Gender

Male

Leader of the community

Provider Farm normally

passed onto men

Female

Homemaker Marry to be a

farmwife

Gender stands to be challenged by modernisation and change in today's world and becoming harder for continuity to prevail especially in regards to females.

Personal Reflection

What commonalities and differences can you see between you and the Amish in terms of Gender?

Use specific examples. Complete this on the Personal

Reflection worksheet

Hmmm

Communication

Interaction and communication occurs in the family first and foremost then through the church providing community activities as an opportunity to communicate with other.

Amish are bilingual German – used at church Dutch/German – create a dialect for

everyday conversation English – children learn it and talk with

nonAmish in English.

Personal Reflection

What commonalities and differences can you see between you and the Amish in terms of Communication?

Use specific examples. Complete this on the Personal

Reflection worksheet

Hmmm

Power and Authority

Authority Bishops are

influential, main link to the ordnung & God

Council of Elders hold authority, this authority is rarely challenged

Power Male head of family

– powerful position of organisation, experience and effective running of the family farm business

Bible major source of power and authority

Personal Reflection

What commonalities and differences can you see between you and the Amish in terms of Power and Authority?

Use specific examples. Complete this on the Personal

Reflection worksheet

Hmmm

Glossary of Amish Words to use

The English – (nonAmish) Rumschpringes Ordnung Anabaptists Shunning

Your turn to think

Writing Task What are the most significant

differences between your life and that experienced by a typical Amish adolescent?

Use your Personal Reflection sheet and notes taken during the case study to answer this question