Amish women: work and change – an investigation into the lives of Amish women in Pennsylvania and Ohio

Handrick, Frances M. (2019). Amish women: work and change – an investigation into the lives of Amish women in Pennsylvania and Ohio. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis describes and analyses the changes in the lives of some Old and New Order Amish women in Ohio and Pennsylvania from about 1970 to the present day. To do this, I used an ethnographic method, living with Amish families in both states for each of my three fieldtrips between September 2012 and October 2014.
My work identifies and describes changes that have taken place in the lives of Amish women since 1970’s. It identifies ways in which the well-documented move out of farming by the Amish in both states, occurring at the same time as the growth of the tourist industry in Lancaster and Holmes County settlements led to opportunities for Amish women to work outside the home, and may additionally, have created the need for them to do so.
I show how these changes have been able to happen in a community that might initially appear to be unchanging. Using Bauman’s Liquid Modernity, I give examples of how the same pressures that are affecting mainstream life are impacting the Amish community.
My thesis fills a gap in the literature in that it concentrates on the lives of women and what has changed for them. It is the first PhD thesis to cover this material.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):