Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Symposium Review Of The Lives Of Amish Women—Karen Johnson-Weiner, Gracia Miller, Sheila Petre, Vlatka Škender

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Who should respond to a cultural anthropologist’s monograph about Amish women? In developing a symposium for Karen Johnson-Weiner’s The Lives of Amish Women, the author’s own text provided an answer. Inasmuch as Johnson-Weiner frequently quotes the voices of Amish women, how about an Amish woman offering an unmediated voice? And inasmuch as Johnson-Weiner quotes many plain Anabaptist women authors, how about one of the writers whom she discusses, an opportunity for the spoken about to speak back? And, finally, inasmuch as Johnson-Weiner’s disciplinary home is cultural anthropology, what about a cultural anthropologist who is experienced in Amish research?

And …

Masculinity Among The Amish: Characteristics, Hegemony, And 'Soft Patriarchy', Robert Strikwerda

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

This article examines both Amish masculine cultural norms and practices and the characteristics of Amish men specifically as men. The first goal is to pull together information from the secondary literature on Amish men and masculinity. Salient characteristics or traits such as egalitarianism, pacifism, and rationality are discussed, and placed in the context of Gelassenheit (yieldedness), of the gender relations within families, and of Raewyn Connell’s notion of “hegemonic masculinity.” The second goal is to assess the appropriateness of general characterizations of the Amish gender regime, such as one with women as second-class citizens to men or as a “soft …

Hemmed In? Considering The Complexities Of Amish Womanhood, Natalie Jolly

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

How have conceptions of Amish womanhood changed over time? In this article, I show that while early scholars offered only a rudimentary look at Amish women’s lives, current research is expanding and expounding upon this question. To begin, I survey early Amish studies literature, demonstrating that women’s lives rarely featured in these analyses. More recent scholarship demonstrates that when women’s lives take center stage, a fuller appreciation of the shape of women’s lives emerges. Specifically, I demonstrate that a simplified rendering not only masks the role women play but also obfuscates important aspects of Amish gender norms. I then turn …

Making Hay: Gendered Inquiry In Anabaptist Studies As Communal Endeavor, Natalie Jolly

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

No abstract provided.

Documental Fixity, Asy Sanches, Ronald E. Day

Proceedings from the Document Academy

The article discusses the concept of fixity in documents and documentality. Issues of control and power are discusses as related to these concepts.

Rhizome Blues: Introducing Document Teratology, Arthur Perret, Olivier Le Deuff, Clément Borel

Proceedings from the Document Academy

The aim of this paper is to defend a richer theoretical understanding of what we call monsters, and to argue for the development of document teratology, which we see as an important scientific issue for documentology. We start from the premise that the default state of communication is incommunication, and that documentation, developed to counter this, seems to have become overwhelmed from the inside by its own problematic development. We then discuss the opportunity of a document teratology, based on nuanced description of what the word monster means. We describe two strong imperatives, monstration and categorisation, and the tension between …

Embracing Monsters, Laurie J. Bonnici, Brian C. O'Connor

Proceedings from the Document Academy

We propose monsters are documents. Monsters show us, make evident to us, teach us. An exploration of five monsters, both popular and unknown, reveals they fit within a standard model of message making; the binary nature of that model separates meaning from message enabling explanation of evolving interpretations of a monster. We examine the coding and decoding of monster documents through a functional ontology lens. We posit that monsters defy protype and thus serve as attempts at documenting the undocumented. Simultaneously monsters present clues to understanding through imagery that spans the unfamiliar and the familiar allowing the recipient to engage …

Navigating Monsters: Credibility In The Twittersphere, Carrie A. Boettcher

Proceedings from the Document Academy

The increasing use of OSM during emergency, or potentially threatening, situations creates conditions in which emergency planners and responders need a high level of investigative skill to weed through a dynamic information landscape to determine the quality of information to contribute to improved situation awareness. This weeding process transforms the big data environment of OSM to focused information retrieval. Inquiry into indicators of quality in OSM (authority, objectivity, currency, coverage, and glyphicality) during severe weather situations informs how OSM impacts the information behavior of the severe weather enterprise of the U. S. Specifically, this paper focuses on investigation into how …

“What Is Truly Scandinavian?”—A Sas Commercial And The Document Complex Surrounding It, Roswitha Skare

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Scandinavian airlines (SAS) published a video (2:43 minutes long) under the title “What is truly Scandinavian?” on February 11, 2020, on the company’s social media sites. The ad was removed later that day, and a new and shorter version was published the day after. This paper takes a closer look on the video and the reactions on it. By focusing on the official Facebook-page of Scandinavian airlines and a range of documents that were published by SAS and others, the document complex surrounding the film is discussed in terms of connectivity and transformation.

Ishi, Briet's Antelope, And The Documentality Of Human Documents, Martin I. Nord

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Ishi, the “last wild Indian in North America,” was “discovered” in 1911 and spent the last years of his life living in an anthropology museum. There he was studied by anthropologists and viewed by the public as a living exhibit. In this paper, I take some initial steps in arguing that Ishi, the person, became a document to most people. The similarities between Ishi and Suzanne Briet’s hypothetical antelope, newly discovered and placed in a zoo, are eerie. Ishi, like the antelope, is brought into public knowledge as both an initial document and a wide variety of secondary documents derived …

Three Monstrosities Of Information, Ronald E. Day

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This article discusses three of my books and the types of information monstrosities they present.

Books And Imaginary Being(S): The Monstrosity Of Library Classifications, Melissa Adler, Greg Nightingale

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Thomas Jefferson sold his personal library and its classified catalog to the Library of Congress after the original library was burned in the War of 1812. He viewed the act of submitting his collection to the U.S. Congress as a means to inscribe his legacy and political agenda into the intellectual and cultural realm of the nation. Jorge Luis Borges was both a municipal librarian and the Librarian for the National Library of Argentina, as well as a prolific fiction and poetry writer. Borges’s fictions are a kind of catalogue in and of themselves, in which all books, all ideas, …

Seeing Indonesian Ghost Films Through Document Theory, — Suprayitno, Dian Novita Fitriani, Rusdan Kamil, — Rahmi

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Hantu, or ghosts, are portrayed as the incarnation of monstrous or evil souls wishing to harm humans. Most modern Indonesians still believe in ghosts, as suggested by a growing number of ghost films in recent years. From the 1970s until the present, more than 320 ghost films have been made and can be differentiated according to each culture, custom, and religion in Indonesia. Indonesian people believe that ghost films in Indonesia are scarier than ghost films from abroad because of a symbolic bond between ghosts and traditional myths represented in the films. This paper aims to understand ghost films …

The Brazilian Neodocumentalist Movement: An Historical Perspective, Gabriela Fernanda Ribeiro Rodrigues

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This article presents early studies on the repercussion of the neo-documentation movement in Brazilian Information Science, through a literary review on the history and evolution of Documentation in Brazil. Some currently approached questions by Brazilian researchers are presented here, with regard to the document and documentation under the neo-documentation perspective. Based on the work of these Brazilian researchers, by means of reconstituting the theoretical steps in the construction of these researches, it is traced to the pathways that indicate an original Brazilian Information Science neo-documentation movement. It is recommended that the subject be widely explored in the future, for being …

The Dragonslayer: Folktale Classification, Memetics, And Cataloguing, Alex Mayhew

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Tales of great heroes overcoming great monsters have been a part of storytelling since time immemorial. Some of these tales follow recurring patterns, and one such pattern is that of ‘The Dragonslayer.’ From tales of Tristan and Iseult and Saint George and the Dragon, to the confrontation with the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit, ‘The Dragonslayer’ has been an enduring example of a recurring pattern in storytelling.

Different knowledge organization systems seek to arrange and connect texts and their recurring patterns in different ways. Folklorists look for recurring motifs and some wiki editors look for common tropes in …

Documentary Ghosts, Tim Gorichanaz

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This paper explores how they documents provide evidence, particularly in anomalous cases, where the evidence is specious. I suggest that it is fruitful to consider such cases with the metaphor of ghosts, as ghosts suggest a breakdown in our everyday understandings of the link between life and death. I describe three types of ghosts and consequently three types of documentary ghosts. Documentary Ghost 1 is a document whose object no longer exists; Documentary Ghost 2 is a document that seems to evince one object, but upon scrutiny it evinces something else; and Documentary Ghost 3 is a document that seems …

Art Is Data Is Art, Nicole Orchosky

Student Projects from the Archives

The Digital Humanities field is rapidly introducing new and innovative ways in which we can analyze and explore large bodies of humanities material in order to make new discoveries and connections. This project serves as an introduction on how to use simple Digital Humanities tools to examine a dataset. In this project, data collected about the body of artwork exhibited in the 1913 Armory Show like medium, subject, or year of creation is analyzed using three different free-to-use tools. The data is then presented in a visual format that brings new questions and connections to light. The limitations and frustrations …

A Prized Memento Of The Civil Way: Joseph Abbott's "Lightning Brigade" Medal, James Brenner

Student Projects from the Archives

This silver medal commemorates Joseph N. Abbott's Civil War service with Wilder's Lightning Brigade, 1861-1865. The engraving on the reverse reads, "Jos. N. Abbott, Co. B, 98th Illinois. Dating to about 1887, these medals were features at post-war veterans' reunions.

Mcguffey's Second Eclectic Reader, Lisa Van Gaasbeek

Student Projects from the Archives

McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader

By: Lisa M. Van Gaasbeek

This article focuses on the life of William H. McGuffey and how he created his series of eclectic readers for children in school.

The Story Behind My Uncle's Copy Of Il Milione, Janos M. Jalics

Student Projects from the Archives

In 1983, a 1948 copy of Marco Polo’s Travels was given to my Uncle Laci by my Great-Aunt Kristi and Great-Uncle Paul. It was translated by William Marsden. The story of this book is surrounded by adventure.

Recovering Thirty-Five Years Of A Factory Worker's Life, Kristie Zachar

Student Projects from the Archives

The Westinghouse Electric Corporation's plant in Sharon, Pennsylvania operated from the 1920s till the 1980s and saw a number of significant events during that period. This article uses a belt buckle that was given to one company employee as a 35-year service award, and it explores the historical significance of the object by focusing on the major events its owner was involved in during those 35 years. It looks closer into the life of one Westinghouse employee while also exploring significant events that influenced the company itself as well as the small town of Sharon, Pennsylvania.

Hot Dog Vs. Christian Fundamentalism In 1920s America, Nicole Orchosky

Student Projects from the Archives

Hot Dog: the Regular Fellow’s Monthly was a satirical magazine published by the Merit Publishing Company in Cleveland, Ohio throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Editor Jack Dinsmore included crudely humorous short stories and poems, images of scantily clad women, and editorials and opinion pieces offering his own commentary on current events. In the case of the December 1921 issue, Dinsmore offers scathing criticism of religious Prohibition supporters, namely Billy Sunday and Reverend John Roach Straton. This paper examines how an opinionated independent publication representative of its anti-Prohibition readership reacted to the Temperance Movement and subsequent outspoken Fundamentalist Christian figureheads.

Review Of Renegade Amish: Beard Cutting, Hate Crimes, And The Trial Of The Bergholz Barbers—Donald Kraybill, Shawn Francis Peters

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Donald Kraybill is the author, coauthor, or editor of over a dozen books on Anabaptist and Amish culture. The latest addition to this list is Renegade Amish: Beard Cutting, Hate Crimes, and the Trial of the Bergholz Barbers. Like its predecessors in Kraybill’s oeuvre, this is a thorough, even-handed, and accessible volume that provides keen insight on Amish culture.

Electronic Resources Updates - 2020 Q3, Sean Kennedy, Gregg Harris, Melanie Mcgurr

Electronic Resources Quarterly Updates

No abstract provided.

Review Of Cates, James. 2014. Serving The Amish: A Cultural Guide For Professionals. Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press., Lawrence Greksa

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Anyone interested in Amish health, particularly mental health, is familiar with the publications of James Cates, a clinical psychologist who has extensive experience working with the Amish in the Elkhart-LaGrange settlement. In this book, Cates set himself the goal of providing guidance for human services professionals working with the Amish. I’m not a human services provider but, in my opinion, he succeeded in this goal. This book will also be useful for others, however, because Cates discusses some sensitive topics (e.g., drug abuse and addiction, violence towards women, and child abuse) that generally receive little attention in descriptions of Amish …

Review Of Stevick, Richard. 2014[2007]. Growing Up Amish: The Rumspringa Years [2nd Edition]. Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press., Denise Reiling

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

The first thing that should have caught my attention when I received my copy of Richard Stevick’s second edition of Growing Up Amish was that he had changed the cover image from one of a male and female adolescent riding in an open-top buggy—the picture of traditional conformity—to an image of a single male, walking down the road in a blatantly cocky fashion, under his own power rather than being conveyed, staring unabashed, straight into the camera. His black vest is flapping open, and his white shirt is partially untucked, loose, and gaping around the collar, so big as to …

University Libraries Reopening Plan July 2020, Melanie Smith Farrell

Research, Publications, and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Electronic Resources Updates - 2020 Q2, Sean Kennedy, Frank Bove, Gregg Harris

Electronic Resources Quarterly Updates

No abstract provided.

Review Of For The Sake Of A Child: Love, Safety, And Abuse In Our Plain Communities—Allen Hoover And Jeanette Harder, Trudy Metzger

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

For generations, a silent cry has arisen from within “my people,” the Conservative Anabaptist (CA) community, among whom I grew up: Who will listen, among us, to the cries and plight of abuse victims? Whether due to sexual abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, or other failures to protect, victims have long been voiceless. Long, they have gone seemingly unnoticed. In For the Sake of a Child: Love, Safety, and Abuse in Our Plain Communities, Allen Hoover and Dr. Jeanette Harder answer this question with: We have heard. We will respond. [First paragraph]

Review Of Strangers And Pilgrims: How Mennonites Are Changing Landscapes In Latin America. (Vol. 2)—Kennert Giesbrecht, Kerry Fast

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Strangers and Pilgrims is first and foremost a photo documentation of colony life of Low German-speaking Mennonites in Latin America with accompanying commentary. With volumes published in German and English, Strangers and Pilgrim’s main audience is Low German-speaking Mennonites in Latin America and their diaspora communities in Canada and the United States. It is patterned after its bilingual forbearer Gäste und Fremdlinge/Strangers and Pilgrims (1987), also published by Die Mennonitische Post, yet it has some marked differences. Volume I was almost entirely photographs with captions, whereas Volume II includes considerable amounts of text. Volume I focused on the …