The Amish and the Media

Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-0-8018-8789-5
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 288 Seiten, Format (B × H): 159 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 544 g

Reihe: Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies

This collection is the first scholarly treatment of the relationship between the Amish and the media in contemporary American life. The essays not only focus on the Amish as subjects in mainstream media—news, movies, TV—but also view them as producers and consumers of media themselves.

Of all the religious groups in contemporary America, few demonstrate as many reservations toward the media as do the Old Order Amish. Yet these attention-wary citizens have become a media phenomenon, featured in films, novels, magazines, newspapers, and television—from Witness, Amish in the City, and Devil's Playground to the intense news coverage of the 2006 Nickel Mines School shooting. But the Old Order Amish are more than media subjects. Despite their separatist tendencies, they use their own media networks to sustain Amish culture. Chapters in the collection examine the influence of Amish-produced newspapers and books, along with the role of informal spokespeople in Old Order communities.

With essays from experts in the fields of film and media studies, poetry, American studies, anthropology, and history, this groundbreaking study shows how the relationship between the Amish and the media provides valuable insights into the perception of minority religion in North American culture.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Umble, Diane Zimmerman

Weaver-Zercher, David L

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Andere und Moderne Christliche Glaubensgemeinschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: The Amish and the Culture of Mediation
Part I: The Old Order Amish as Media Images
Chapter 1. Witnessing the Amish: Plain People on Fancy Film
Chapter 2. Reel Amish: The Amish in Documentaries
Chapter 3. "Why We Fear the Amish": Whiter-than-White Figures in Contemporary American Poetry
Chapter 4. Pursuing Paradise: Nonfiction Narratives of Life with the Amish
Chapter 5. Heritage versus History: Amish Tourism in Two Ohio Towns
Chapter 6. Hollywood Rumspringa: Amish in the City
Part II: The Old Order Amish as Media Producers and Consumers
Chapter 7. Amish Informants: Mediating Humility and Publicity
Chapter 8. Inscribing Community: The Budget and Die Botschaft in Amish Life
Chapter 9. Publish or Perish: Amish Publishing and Old Order Identity
Chapter 10. "Wicked Truth": The Amish, the Media, and Telling the Truth
Conclusion: The Amish, the Media, and the Nickel Mines School Shooting
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Weaver-Zercher, David L
David Weaver-Zercher is an associate professor of American religious history at Messiah College and author of The Amish in the American Imagination, also published by Johns Hopkins.

Umble, Diane Zimmerman
Diane Zimmerman Umble is a professor of communication at Millersville University, author of Holding the Line: The Telephone in Old Order Mennonite and Amish Life, and coeditor of Strangers at Home: Amish and Mennonite Women in History, both published by Johns Hopkins.

Diane Zimmerman Umble is a professor of communication at Millersville University, author of Holding the Line: The Telephone in Old Order Mennonite and Amish Life, and coeditor of Strangers at Home: Amish and Mennonite Women in History, both published by Johns Hopkins. David Weaver-Zercher is an associate professor of American religious history at Messiah College and author of The Amish in the American Imagination, also published by Johns Hopkins.