Amish powerpoint - THOP

1. Cross Cultural Comparison
The Amish

2. 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.

3.  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.

4. 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

5.  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.

6.  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.

7. 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.

9. 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.

10.  They are best known for their simple
living, plain dress and resisting modern
technology.
 Communities are usually self-sufficient
and deliberately separate from the
outside world.

11. The Amish church
 The Amish churches; rules are very strict
and must be obeyed by all.
 These are called the “Ordnung” and cover
most aspects of daily life.
 Rules include:
 1. Separation from the world
 2. Hard work
 3. Women’s submission to her husband
 4. Refusal to buy insurance.

12. Ordnung
 The Ordnung is a set of rules for Amish
living.
 Ordnung is the German word for order,
discipline, rule, arrangement,
organization, or system. Because the
Amish have no central church
government, each assembly is
autonomous and is its own governing
authority.

13. 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’

14. 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

15. Gender Roles
 Father head of family
 Unmarried women can work
 Married women work within the family
 They can not hold positions of authority
 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

16. Personal Reflection
 What common traits and differences
can you see between you and the
Amish in terms of your Family?
 Use specific examples. Hmmm

17. 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 Elders
Church Bishop –
Established leader of
community
Church ministers and
deacons support
them

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

19.  Rumspringa is a period when some
Amish youth, boys more than girls,
experience greater freedom.
 It is a rite of passage that adolescents
go through.
 Translated as “hopping around”
 They are no longer under the control of
their parents on weekends and,
because they are not baptized, are not

20. A minority of Amish youth do diverge from
established customs. Some may be found:
Wearing non-traditional clothing and hair
styles (referred to as "dressing English”
Driving vehicles other than horse drawn
vehicles
Not attending home prayer
Drinking and using other recreational drugs

21. 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?

22. Personal Reflection
1. What is your opinion of Rumspringa?
What positives do you see coming out of
such a “time out” period?
2. How is cultural continuity of the Amish
threatened by Rumschpringes?
3. What commonalities and differences
can you see between you and the Amish
in terms of Roles and Status?

23. 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.

24. Barn raising shows
cooperation

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

26. 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.
Hmmm

27. Gender
Male
 Leader of the
community
 Provider
 Farm normally
passed onto men
Female
 Homemaker
 Marry to be a
farmwife

28.  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.

29. Personal Reflection
 What commonalities and differences
can you see between you and the
Amish in terms of Gender?
 Use specific examples. Hmmm

30. 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.

31. 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.

32. Personal Reflection
 What commonalities and differences
can you see between you and the
Amish in terms of Communication?
 Use specific examples. Hmmm

33. 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

34. Personal Reflection
 What commonalities and differences
can you see between you and the
Amish in terms of Power and
Authority?
 Use specific examples.
Hmmm

35. Glossary of Amish Words to
use
 The English – (nonAmish)
 Rumschpringes
 Ordnung
 Anabaptists
 Shunning

36. Your turn to think
Writing Task
 What are the most significant
differences between your life and that
experienced by a typical Amish
adolescent?