Essay on Maintaining the Amish Cultural Identity

Every culture consists of different things and every person within the culture is influenced by them. While many people tend to change themselves due to other cultures, other people believe that nothing is wrong with their culture and they wont change themselves due to others beliefs. One thing that is acceptable in one culture might not be acceptable in another, hence the need to conform to other cultures. However, someone from a certain culture might believe so strongly in their traditions and beliefs that they wont want to change as displayed in “An Indian Father’s Plea” by Robert Lake. This story suggest that just because someone is different it doesn’t mean that they are wrong, which is expressed the father when he says “He is not culturally disadvantaged, but he is culturally different” (Lake 91). Every culture consists of many different aspects, where the views they place on others is one of them. Some people wont change due to the views placed on them, but many people will so that they wont be viewed as different. No one wants to stand out in a bad way so that is why they conform to the views other people have. Culture is responsible for these views and the affect they have on

The diversity of culture is an incredible notion. It is unfathomable how the anatomy of the human race is so similar, yet so different in the behaviors and ideas that take place. The two primary cultures I am focusing on throughout this essay are the differentiation between popular culture, and indigenous culture. I will also make the point of folk culture, and how it has slowly transformed itself from its self sufficiency, to relying more on the ways of popular culture.

Culture is a behavior that consists of several critical elements, such as language, religion, race and ethnicity, clothing and politics. Culture is what one does in his/her daily life. In order to understand others, we must first keep in mind that every culture carries its own set of values and assumptions. Culture is an evolving, ever changing civilization, which includes several different groups people. For immigrants, America is a land of opportunity; for others it is just the best country in the world because of its economic success and/or its democratic political system. Americans usually value independence a lot, believe in equal opportunity, and have a direct communication style. In exploring the

Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.

Since the inception of human civilization there have been countless cultures and societies which have helped shape the current world today as we know it. The modern human race dates back more than 200,000 years and in that time frame many cultures have risen to great virtue and success only to deteriorate or cease to exist altogether. First before examining one of these cultures we must know what culture truly means. The Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Culture Center defines culture as a “dynamic social system,” containing the beliefs, behaviors, values and norms of a “specific organization, group, society or other collectivity” learned, shared, internalized, and changeable by all members of the society (Watson, 2010). In

The Amish are people who believe in Christ but have strict rules in their style of living, which is quite different from the modern society today. They live in a city in Philadelphia called Lancaster County, it is a very country style due to the acres of land each house has, the barn houses, and the animals. The uniqueness of their lifestyle to me is how they live in the world where technology is practically taking over every aspect, but they continue to stick to their beliefs and not change anything. To me it’s difficult to comprehend due to the fact that you can’t live like that in a majority of the cities today since technology is widely known. This is part of the reason why they live in their city far away in the middle of Philadelphia and have kept all their traditional ways. Part of the Amish belief is their separation from electricity since electricity is part of the “outside” world. They are not able to watch tv, have any public utility line running to their houses, or operate automobiles. It just blew my mind sitting there listening to how they live and how they follow all these guidelines in their life. For me it was different, but it intrigued me for some odd reason, just the fact that they have family time with no interruption, and dinner time with no distractions. Those two aspects alone bring families much closer and to me all the families in the world have become detached from true family time. Seeing their lifestyle and hearing all the guidelines they follow make me think of life without technology and how it would change our

Amish society is based on co-operation among people. By accepting the orodung, the Amish establish

The family care for their own and the Amish community gives assistance as needed. Therefore, the way how mainstream American life is driven by technology, I don’t think many Americans will take on the Amish culture.The Amish culture believes in the idea that everything has a reason in life. Their philosophy comes from their deep-rooted Christian faith from the church. They follow the basic tenets of the Christian religion by emphasizing on adult baptism, simplicity, community, separation from popular culture and the division of the church. In 1693, the Amish people formed their own branch of Anabaptism in Switzerland and eastern France under the leadership of their founder Jakob Ammann.All of the Amish communities today are from that group. We already know that within the Amish culture they do everything with hands, but there is some selective technology they do use by permit for agriculture. They use the tractor to help with the farming and time management. For the American society, farmers use computers, cell phones, cars and other technology, but for the Amish, they reject this technology because they believe it will do harm in their

A powerful sense of community and others before self is expressed by the Amish, according to the Encyclopedia of American Religious History.

The Amish people are a subculture group. This culture is one of the more distinctive and colorful cultural groups across America. Their rejection of modern technology is what has kept them apart of the high tech culture. They start back in the sixteenth-century Europe when a rebaptism of adults was then a crime punishable by death. Anabaptists or rebaptizers were groups’ that threatened civil and religious authorities. The Swiss Anabaptists followed a Jesus life were they loved their enemies, forgiving insults, and turning the other cheek. While other groups we’re more into violence. The Amish came in 1693 when the Swiss and the South Germans Anabaptists split into two groups: Amish and Mennonites. Looking for political stability and religious freedom they moved to North America where they first settled in southern Pennsylvania then to Ohio, Indiana, and to other Midwestern states. Were they have been able to maintain a distinctive subculture. They try to maintain cultural customs to preserve their identity. Amish speak a dialect of German known as Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvania Dutch. This language is not a written language. Amish use the English when conversing with non-Amish individuals. When talking in Pennsylvania German to each other they tend to switch to English

In the twentieth century they still continue to be persecuted even though it is not as harsh, they spend large amounts of time in jail and even suffer abundant quantities of fines for following the religious pathway of Christ. The Amish order continues to strive for their religious rights although their struggle with the state and government does not get any easier. The torture that the Amish persevered through and continue to battle against is an example of how Kraybill proves that they helped pave the pathway toward our religious independence.

The Amish are a small group of people that live in a secluded area of the eastern United States of America. The cultural group known as the Amish has constituted themselves as a unique entity in America's diverse landscape. Amish life is centered on religion, agriculture, and the family. For most people who live outside of the Amish culture, this group seems out of touch with the present time; a culture of another era. This belief is primarily attributable to the Amish belief in simplicity and their rejection of modern technologies (The Amish 2011). One of the most important aspects of Amish life and livelihood is agriculture; the Amish focus much of their life on the growth and harvest of food and other crops. The various factors that affect the culture are based upon agriculture; including the Amish beliefs and values, economic organization, gender relations, kinship, political organization, sickness, social change, and social organization.

Cultural identity refers to the feeling belonging to a certain culture that is attributed to the upbringing of an individual in the given culture. Cultural identity gives a person the sense of belonging and belonging towards their culture. Modern cultural studies show that cultural identification has taken a new face. Various cultural identifiers can be used to identify the culture of an individual. These identifiers include nationality, language, location, gender, religious beliefs, history, and ethnicity. Culture is important in shaping the identity of an individual. The efforts of people trying to preserve their cultural identities can bring about hatred and division in the society. This is likely to happen especially in large cities

The Amish, who are also called “The Plain People” or Old Order Amish, originated in Switzerland in approximately 1525. They originated from a movement called the Anabaptist movement. Jacom Amman was the leader. This happened during the reformation in the16th Century Europe. They believed in holding on to traditions and keeping themselves separated from the world. He was stricter about this than other Anabaptists of that time. The Anabaptists were against the union of church and state and also against infant baptism. They felt that each individual should make this choice for himself when he or she is old enough. They felt the age for baptism was about 18 years. This disagreed with the laws of the time. It was

The Amish have a lot of beliefs and values. They follow the basic beliefs of Christian faith, focusing mainly on adult baptism, simplicity, community, and separation from everyone else. Amish are taught to be selfless and put Jesus and the community first, yourself last, and others in between. Obedience, humility, and simplicity are what the Amish express. If they disobey someone, it is considered dangerous to them. They take no pride in what they do because they don’t want to stick out to others. Their clothing, house décor, and architecture is very simple because once again, they don’t want to stand out.