Written Report
My independent research topic focused on the utopian community of the Amish. The Amish sprung up in the late 18th century following the persecution of the Anabaptists. Facing extreme threats to their civil and religious liberties following the murders of 2,500 Anabaptists, the Anabaptists were forced into hiding for hundreds of years. Jakob Ammann founded his own religious sect of the Anabaptists and eventually gained a large enough backing to follow him to North America. After learning how the community came to be, I was curious as to what values they felt were most important, as the community was in its beginning stages. As I began to read various exhibit sources, I realized that an extension of this question would be to compare the Amish communities of today compare to those of the past.
I began my research by looking at an exhibit source from the early days of the community. Through the view of an outsider, I was able to get a non-biased view of the community and was able to learn of the importance that the Amish hold on faith. Understanding that faith was the focal point of the Amish was significant because it gave me something to compare both the Amish of the 1800’s versus the Amish of the last quarter century. Through another exhibit source that came from an Amish woman about 20 years later, I was able to see the Amish community from the perspective of an active member. She constantly spoke of the fulfillment she felt among her community through the simplicity of their lives. This source gave me my first glimpse at how the community could possibly be utopian. After reading this source I decided to shift my research more towards how the community has been able to survive until today. Through looking at more contemporary pieces of work, I was slowly exposed to the issues that contemporary Amish societies face especially regarding education standards. With increased outside pressure on the Amish to conform to the outside world, they are faced with decisions on whether to keep their communities the same or adapt to the pressures that they face. The Old Order Amish make up the majority of the Amish community and adhere to the original beliefs of the religious groups. The Old Amish follow strict adherence to simplicity of life and limited to no involvement with members of the outside world. The majority of new communities are formed by disagreements over how much a group should be interacting with the outside world. In “The Paradox of Change in the Life Style of Iowa’s Old Order Amish”, Elmer and Dorothy Scwheider say that there is no preventing people from creating a new group because, “there is a clear understanding that expansion is vital” (72). This understanding between the Amish and the communities that slightly differ from them is essential because it shows that they still consider each other part of the same religious group. It also shows that there is awareness among some members of the Amish communities that in order for them to continue to thrive and to be fully content, they must adapt to changes in their world. Another problem that the Amish face is the increased price of land. With increases in prices, the Amish have been forced to move out West to places such as Iowa, Indiana, and Wisconsin. These communities have been forced to adapt to completely new environments which in turn has cause them to steer away slightly from its Old Amish roots. This piece by the Schweider’s was crucial in helping me understand the changes between the Amish society of the 1800’s and the society today.
Overall, my research was successful because I was able to find out how much the Amish society has changed since its upbringing and also how much the society has worked to remain the same. I was also able to learn how the society sees itself as a utopian community. The Amish practice the idea of letting its members decide whether they wish to remain a part of the Amish community and that in of itself is a utopian ideal. The free will that its members have is something that existed at the onset of the community and has held true till now. Even though hundreds of new Amish communities have sprung up since the 1800’s, over 80% of these communities are a part of the Old Amish Order. This shows how the community has for the most part been able to hold onto its original ideals even though it remains under constant pressure to conform to the norms of the outside world.
Word Count: 796
Bibliography
The Amish Chapter 1. Directed by David Belton. USA: PBS Distribution, 2012. DVD.
Hostetler, John. 1992. “An Amish Beginning”. The American Scholar 61 (4). The Phi Beta Kappa Society: 552–62.
Lutz, John. 1882. “The Omish”. Western Christian Advocate (1834-1883).
“One Day in the Life of an Amish Woman.” 1903. The Independent …Devoted to the Consideration of Politics, Social and Economic Tendencies, History, Literature, and the Arts (1848-1921): p. 1393
Schwieder, Elmer, and Dorothy Schwieder. 1976. “The Paradox of Change in the Life Style of Iowa’s Old Order Amish”. International Review of Modern Sociology 6 (1). International Journals: 65–74.
Wittmer, Joe. “An Educational Controversy: The Old Order Amish Schools”. Phi Delta Kappa International: 52 (1970): 142–45.