Casey Roberts
Katherine Otter
Cultural Anthropology
June 16, 2014
Research Ethnography Project: Inside Amish
Introduction
During this project I decided to observe the culture of Amish, also known as "The Plain People". My intention of this project was to look out for the behavior and find out the thoughts of the Amish, to see how their culture that seems so anachronistic has survived and grown while surrounded by a culture that would seem to be so detrimental to its basic ideals. I chose to observe the Amish culture at an Amish Farmers Market in Joppa Maryland. At this Amish Farmers Market I will observe and conduct interviews with three different Amish people. I chose this location because it was relatively close to my house, and would be easy to travel there and conduct my project.
I chose to visit the Amish Farmers Market on Friday June 13, Saturday June 14, and Monday June 16, since the market is closed on Sundays.
English: Amish couple shopping in Aylmer, Ontario,...
English: Amish women at the beach, , USA Français...
Two Amish girls in traditional attire, Lancaster C...During these three days I observed what they wore and how they communicated with people outside of the Amish culture. During these three days I also constructed interviews with three different people that are inside the Amish Culture. The five open ended questions that were asked during the interview were; What do those inside the Amish community think of people who live outside their culture?, What do you think of technology?, Is there a reason the Amish culture dress they way they do, if so what is it?, What exactly is the "Rumspringa", and why do the Amish have it?, and what happens if someone from the Amish community leaves for the outside world? In order to keep the identification of the Amish people secure, I have changed their names to Person #1, Person #2 and Person #3.