Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Mid-Decade Update On Amish Settlement Growth, Joseph Donnermeyer, Cory Anderson

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

The rapid growth of the Amish population brings a concomitant growth of new settlements. This research note provides a mid-century report on new Amish settlement growth in North America, emphasizing that the vast percentage of today's extant settlements have been established in the very recent past. As settlements in-fill around decades-old settlements, spatially distinctive Amish regions are taking shape, both in states of historic settlement and neighboring states. The apparent recent success of geographically outlying settlements is also of note, given the unequivocal failure of such settlements in the more distant past.

Online Mapping Tools For Geolocating Amish Settlements, Andrew Wilson, Brian Lonabocker, Megan Zagorski

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

This technical note demonstrates the value of using online mapping tools as a method of geolocating Amish settlements. Primarily using freely available Bing and Google maps and published lists of the addresses of Amish ministers, we geolocated 1,362 Amish households in Ohio and 1,203 in Pennsylvania, representing about 10% of Amish households in those states. From these data we were able to derive a population density map of the Amish across Ohio and Pennsylvania. We caution that our map is merely a model and based on several assumptions, but the product is a finer resolution map of Amish distribution than …

Efforts To Improve Roadway Safety: A Collaborative Approach Between Amish Communities And A Professional Engineering Society, S. Dee Jepsen, Andrew "Dewey" Mann

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Lighting and marking recommendations for animal-drawn buggies and wagons were first established in 2001 through an American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Engineering Practice, EP576.1. Many Anabaptist communities who primarily rely on animal-drawn vehicles utilize this practice for marking their buggies and wagons; however they do not utilize the practice for their low-profile vehicles, such as pony carts. Visibility for pony carts on public roads is important to protect the operators, typically women and children. Following a series of tragic deaths in their community, the Holmes and Wayne Counties, Ohio, Amish safety committee raised the concern of having …

Interpreting Non-Amish Perceptions Of The Old Order Amish Using Cultural Relativism And Human Rights Frameworks, Kristin Park

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Relatively little is known about how ordinary non-Amish citizens interact with and perceive their Old Order Amish neighbors. This study used interpretive and semi-inductive approaches with in-depth interviews to describe and analyze interactions and perceptions of non-Amish research participants. Sixteen subjects were identified from purposive, snowball and theoretical sampling in a region near a sizeable, very tradition-minded Old Order settlement. All participants engaged in secondary relationships, while several individuals had intimate and enduring relationships with a small number of Amish individuals and families. While most participants perceived their Amish acquaintances and friends as honest, hard-working, caring and community-minded, some expressed …

Hoover Mennonites In Belize: A History Of Expansion In The Shadow Of Separation, Carel Roessingh, Daniëlle Bovenberg

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

We examine the migration history of the Old Order Hoover Mennonites located in the small, multi-ethnic country of Belize. The Hoover Mennonites live in the settlements of Upper Barton Creek, Springfield, Birdwalk, and Roseville. Characterized as one of Belize’s more conservative churches, the Hoover Church is also Belize’s most geographically dispersed Mennonite community. This paper brings together historical and present-day sources to account for and chart this dispersion. To describe what brought together this group between 1958 and 1984 and what drove their subsequent migration across Belize, we examine the religious and legal circumstances of the founding of their settlements. …

A Socio-Religious Introduction To The Apostolic Churches In North America, Cory Anderson

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

The Apostolic Christian Churches descend from the religious revivals instigated under the leadership of Samuel Fröhlich in 1830s Switzerland. Fusing Anabaptist thought into his revival through contact with Mennonites, Fröhlich’s movement constitutes a distinct religious tradition within the larger Anabaptist movement. Research about this Anabaptist tradition has remained sparse. This article helps introduce the Apostolics to a scholarly audience. It reviews the movement’s recent history in North America, tracing the history of both the largest body—the Apostolic Christian Church of America—and several smaller, generally more conservative, factions. In addition to establishing links between the Apostolics and other Anabaptist branches, this …

Amish Settlements Across America: 2013, Joseph Donnermeyer, David Luthy

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

This short research report is based upon previous editions of “Amish Settlements across North America,” which was published periodically in Family Life. It accounts for new settlements founded since the last edition (2008), as well as settlements which are recently extinct. The information is presented in a series of six tables, including a list of all Amish settlements as of September 30, 2013 (Table 1). Table 2 summarizes the number of settlements and church districts in each state, while Tables 3 and 4 shows trends in settlement increases, decade by decade, since 1900. Table 5 is a list of settlements …

Continuity And Change In A Southern Beachy Amish-Mennonite Congregation, William L. Smith

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Key leaders in a Beachy Amish-Mennonite church in southwest Georgia were interviewed to discuss the congregation’s history and position on religious beliefs and practices, gender roles and family life, education, work life, and areas of current concern. I then use the framework of boundary maintenance to assess the congregation’s viability. I conclude that while this congregation has experienced a variety of changes, its history reflects continuity rather than change.

Occupation Patterns Of Amish Settlements In Wisconsin, John Cross

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

This article explores occupation patterns of Amish households and settlements in Wisconsin. Wisconsin has seen dramatic growth in Amish settlements over the past 50 years. Using household occupation data reported in Amish directories, dairy producer license listings, and surveys of Amish leaders in 2012 and 2015, this article describes primary household economic activities. Key findings include (1) a rate of 58 percent of Wisconsin’s Amish households are employed in some type of farming, (2) 37.4 percent of all Wisconsin Amish households have dairy herds, and (3) in 32 percent of Amish settlements, woodworking jobs dominated. Maps visualize the proportion of …

Bourdieu In Plain Anabaptist Studies? A Symposium Review Of Good Gingrich, Luann. 2016. Out Of Place: Social Exclusion And Mennonite Migrants In Canada. Toronto, On: University Of Toronto Press., Jeffrey Longhofer, Steven Reschly, Luann Good Gingrich

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Editor’s introduction—This symposium offers the reviews of two authors who, without sparing whatever criticism can be mustered, hold her work up as archetypal for rigorous methods and theory in plain Anabaptist studies. I have little more to say about Luann Good Gingrich’s work than that it is has been long, long in waiting. But let me add just a bit more and say why.

Now here is a study where a researcher has brought thick theory to interpret meticulously collected and presented interview data about a plain Anabaptist group (Old Colony Mennonites) in the context of broader forces. Yet, with …

Explaining Anabaptist Persistence In The Modern Economy: Past Paradigms And New Institutional Theory, Martin Lutz

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Amish and plain Anabaptist economic research has focused either on the religious ethic in the tradition of Weber—religious convictions drive economic behavior—or the ethnic resources model—resources are mobilized to entrepreneurship. Both approaches (1) neglect the greater market context within which the plain Anabaptists have been embedded since the Early Modern Period, and (2) focus primarily on either early Anabaptism or the late 1900s. This article presents New Institutional Economics Theory as an alternative paradigm which understands people's economic behavior by the institutional contexts they are in. It looks at the World War II economy in the United States when many …

The UnDistinguished Scholar Of The Amish, Werner Enninger, -Or- Has The Time Yet Come For Rigorous Theory In Amish Studies?, Cory Anderson

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Werner Enninger embodies the highest standards of methodological rigor and theoretical insight in Amish studies, and this article synthesizes his 30-some publications written in English. Enninger was a socio-linguist from Germany who conducted field research in Delaware in the 1970s and published intensely in the 1980s. His mixed methods address common hurdles field researchers face and offer meticulously detailed qualitative and quantitative data. Enninger’s theory can be organized around a social system model that fuses structural functionalism and symbolic interactionism. Within the model, he proposes a four-part superstructure—(1) core, group-defining values, namely, religious community and separation, (2) are realized in …

Of Shoulders And Shadows: Selected Amish Scholarship Before 1963, Joseph Donnermeyer

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

John Hostetler’s first edition of Amish Society in 1963 is a milestone in the advancement of scholarship about the Amish. It was revised and re-issued through three more editions. Even though the fourth and final edition was released nearly a quarter century ago, in 1993, Amish Society remains the most frequently cited authoritative sources about the Amish. Yet, there was a wealth of other solid scholarly work about the Amish before 1963, by such notable authors as Elmer Lewis Smith, Calvin Bachman, Walter Kollmorgen, Charles Loomis, and William Schreiber. The purpose of this review essay is to re-consider the merits …

Birthing New Kinships: The Cross-Pollinating Potential Of Amish Health Research, Natalie Jolly

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

In this article, I explore the connections between Amish gender socialization and Amish birth practices to suggest that an Amish construction of femininity shapes the ways that Amish women experience childbirth. This study is framed by Amish women’s health research and takes as a point of departure two observations often made about Amish childbirth practices: (1) medical research has found that Amish women have shorter labors than their non-Amish (English) counterparts, and (2) doctors, midwives, and birth attendants have argued that Amish women’s expression of pain during labor and delivery differs substantially from their English counterparts. I draw on my …

Reviving The Demographic Study Of The Amish, Corey Colyer, Cory Anderson, Joseph Donnermeyer, Rachel Stein, Samson Wasao

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

The Amish exhibit distinctive demographic patterns, notably high fertility. While scholars have studied Amish population dynamics for more than a half century, recent research in this area is limited. We believe the time is ripe to reverse this trend. This article reviews data collection methods, points to a variety of accessible sources of new data, presents some preliminary results from the analysis of one such source (the McKune dataset for Holmes County, Ohio), introduces the research agenda and work of the newly formed Amish Population Research Group, and reviews past demographic findings to situate our agenda. An invitation is extended …

The Functionalist Problem In Kraybill’S Riddle Of Amish Culture, Michael Billig, Elam Zook

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Much of contemporary Amish scholarship manifests an implicit functionalist paradigm that harkens back to mid-20th-century social science. This perspective tends toward optimistic, even “Panglossian,” explanation of traits, in which everything that the Amish do or believe has a use, purpose, or reason; i.e., a function. The vagaries of history and the ebb and flow of power may be acknowledged, but they are relegated to minor explanatory factors. This essay provides a close reading of Donald Kraybill’s popular The Riddle of Amish Culture. It demonstrates the functionalist premises behind many of the explanations offered in Riddle, despite the …

Seventy-Five Years Of Amish Studies, 1942 To 2017: A Critical Review Of Scholarship Trends (With An Extensive Bibliography), Cory Anderson

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

After 75 years, Amish studies has received no field reviews, an oversight I rectify with this article using several citation analysis techniques. I offer criteria for defining Amish research, which results in 983 references that are analyzed. Amish studies has a very highly centralized core of works; the top one percent of cited references account for nearly 20% of every citation in Amish studies, with Hostetler, Kraybill, Nolt, and Huntington dominating the top list. Few consolidated subareas exist, exceptions being language and health- population research. Analyzing Amish studies chronologically, the field early on accepted the definitive-sympathetic-authoritative-comprehensive-insider research approach, which legitimated …

Mapping Positive Change In Manitoba, Chihuahua, Mexico, Gracia Schlabach

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

While working in Manitoba Colony, Mexico, as teacher under Old Colony Mennonite Support from 2009 to 2014, I gathered data about the community from conversations and periodicals such as Kurze Nachrichten aus Mexico, Deutsch-Mexikanische Rundshau, Das Blatt, and Die Mennonitische Post. This information shows both changing demographics and positive growth that stems from improved literacy.

The Dynamics Of Boundaries: Obedience And Transgression Among Bolivian Old Colony Mennonites, Anna Sofia Hedberg

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Boundaries keep people apart just as they keep people together. Boundaries are social constructs made by man in order to maintain the natural order of things. The aim of this article is to elaborate on the social construct of boundaries and particularly acknowledge their dynamic character. Social and cultural boundaries are passable, changeable, and negotiable. Nonetheless, boundaries are fundamental to many peoples’ existence and survival as ethnic and cultural communities and must therefore be acknowledged as essential human needs. By focusing on the members of a conservative Christian community—Old Colony Mennonites in Bolivia—as they carry out practices in relation to …

No Sunday Business': Navigating Religious Rules And Business Opportunities In The Shipyard Mennonite Settlement, Belize, Carel Roessing, Daniëlle Bovenberg

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Within the Old Colony Mennonite settlements of Belize, the relationship between religious and economic practices entails a constant navigation of the acceptable, where threats of worldliness come from technology and from contact with outsiders. This paper takes as its focus the business of a butcher in Shipyard settlement, whose daily work testifies to a navigation of both of these potential threats. This entrepreneur uses technologies of energy, transportation, and communication—operated in part by an outside worker—to extend the radius of his meat business. The tense environment of Shipyard’s religious diversity frames our discussion of these observations, leading us to reconsider …

Hutterite Colonies And The Cultural Landscape: An Inventory Of Selected Site Characteristics, Simon Evans

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Hutterite colonies are a growing and sustainable element in the cultural landscape of the Canadian Prairies and Northern Great Plains of the United States. Their increasing numbers do something to offset the disappearance of the smallest service centers on the plains. While the diffusion of these communities has been well documented, the morphology of the settlements has been less well studied. New technology makes it possible to remotely evaluate selected characteristics of almost all Hutterite colonies. This paper describes the differences, with respect to orientation, layout and housing types, both between the four clan groups and within the Dariusleut and …

Advances In Hutterian Scholarship, William L. Smith

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Review of: Janzen, Rod, and Max Stanton. 2010. The Hutterites in North America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Review of: Katz, Yossi, and John Lehr. 2014[2012] Inside the Ark: The Hutterites in Canada and the United States [2nd ed.]. Regina, SK: University of Regina Press.

Janzen, a historian, and Stanton, an anthropologist, spent twenty-five years visiting Hutterite colonies in the United States and Canada, witnessing firsthand the changes to Hutterite life. The authors provide readers with an exceptional historical-social-cultural analysis of the everyday lives of Hutterites. The Hutterites are a communal group and an intentional community who share …

Doubling Time And Population Increase Of The Amish, Joseph Donnermeyer

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Current estimates of Amish population growth often cite a “doubling time” figure, but fail to substantiate the source from which the estimate was derived. As well, some estimates of population increase, such as by the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, use net change in the number of church districts as a proxy to determine population change, rather than a more precise counting up of children and adults. Unfortunately, a direct “head count” of the Amish, and changes in this count overtime to create a doubling time estimate, would be very daunting, Until there is a …

Amish Education: A Synthesis, Cory Anderson

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Amish education is one of the most researched subtopics in Amish studies. This article is a meta-analysis of the existing literature about Amish education, finding that most research discusses how the parochial school system functions to socialize students into the broader Amish social system. In particular, the school socializes students into (1) several major Amish-defining internalized dispositions, ideologies, and outlooks and (2) the meso- and micro-level Amish social structure. Several anomalies do exist, including their educational approach to special needs children, parochial school dysfunctions, and alternative schooling methods. The article concludes with suggestions for future research, including more rigorous ethnographic …

Conservative Mennonite Storybooks And The Construction Of Evangelical Separatism, Jennifer Anderson, Cory Anderson

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Group-produced literature is representative of and reinforces group behaviors, norms, and beliefs. This study focuses on the missionary theme in literature from three Conservative Mennonite publishers, identifying two major constructs of what we term evangelical separatism. First, Rod & Staff depicts evangelism as establishing stable, integrating church communities in places where none exist, making their offering accessible to any who would care to join while also withholding assessment of outsiders. Second, Christian Light Publications and TGS present missions in a more aggressive, individualized mode, whereby the outside is viewed as a land of darkness and the missionary, in embodying Christ’s …

The Growth Of Amish And Plain Anabaptist Communities In Kentucky, Joseph Donnermeyer, Cory Anderson

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

This article examines the growth of Amish and plain Anabaptist communities and population in Kentucky, one of the few southern states with a sizeable plain Anabaptist presence across much of its rural areas. Within the Amish religious tradition, this study focuses on both the broadly defined Old Order Amish, namely, those who prohibit ownership of motor vehicles for transportation, and the Amish-Mennonites, those who allow ownership. We provide an overview of their community formation and present a county-based estimate of their population. There are now 53 Amish communities in Kentucky, and a population of nearly 10,000. Over half (27) of …

Church District Fissioning And Watershed Boundaries Among Holmes County, Ohio, Amish, Scott Long, Richard Moore

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Upon reaching 40 households, an Amish church district typically divides into two smaller, relatively equally sized districts. This article analyzes the relationship between Amish church divisions and topographic demarcation lines within Clark Township, Holmes County, Ohio, from 1930 to 2010. In findings, divisions often follow physical geography boundaries, such as ridges that outline the edge of a watershed, or rivers and streams that essentially define topography within a watershed. Further, Amish leaders divide churches with objectives based on several socioreligious factors, from the maintenance of the faith community to the goal of preserving Amish neighborhoods and rural identity, while also …

Living On The Edge: Old Colony Mennonites And Digital Technology Usage, Kira Turner

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Mainstream society’s perceptions of traditional Mennonites tend towards viewing them as technologically deficient. Yet, cell phones, computers, and tablets are increasingly prevalent within this population. Challenging stereotypes, this article considers digital technology usage by Old Colony Mennonites (OCM) in Southwestern Ontario (SWO). Rooted in the Anabaptist tradition, a lengthy history of migration led the OCM to settle in Mexico. Yet, due to economic circumstances, many continue to travel to and from SWO, resulting in a transformation; from maintaining an isolated lifestyle to one that includes some form of mainstream society. This shift includes digital technology usage, specifically texting, social media, …

Book Reviews Of Weaver-Zercher's Thrill Of The Chaste And Keiser's Pennsylvania German In The American Midwest, Sarah Jasmine Stork, Lara Downing

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Over the course of her book, Valerie Weaver-Zercher guides us through an analysis of the constituents of the increasingly popular Amish-fiction genre. In particular, her chapters explore the content of stories that fall within the genre, the general writing style employed by authors of Amish fiction, the common ways that Amish fiction functions for readers, and a few concerns with regards to the genre that Weaver-Zercher finds worthy of additional attention. In discussing the content of Amish fiction, Weaver-Zercher not only presents common attributes of the main characters (especially the protagonist) but also establishes major themes in the story settings …

Reliability And Validity Of A Scale To Measure Prejudice Toward Old Order Amish, William Mcguigan

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Numerous studies have examined prejudice in regard to race, age, sexual orientation, and gender, among others. However, there remains a paucity of research on prejudice toward Christian religious groups. In particular, prejudice towards one of America’s fastest growing religious groups, the Old Order Amish, is rarely examined. Using social categorization theory and based on McConahay’s modern and old-fashioned racism scale, an “Attitude Toward Amish” scale is developed and tested. Factor analysis revealed one dominant component and high internal reliability. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for future research of this rapidly growing population.