Amish in practical life - Article Example

Amish in practical life The part of the chapter, I found most fascinating was reading about the Amish culture. It’s wonderful to know that there are still some traditions alive that do not compromise on their values and beliefs and are successful in preventing themselves from getting influenced by the outer world. The fact that the U.S. still is inhibited by people who practice Christianity in practical life, as is stated in the text book(Neuliep, 2009), “ the Amish follow the Bible as literally as possible, citing “Be ye not conformed to the world” (Romans 12:2) as their fundamental principle.” was truly surprising. Learning about their verbal and non-verbal communications was also interesting, the way a female dresses in that culture sends an automatic message to what kind of treatment she should expect. But unlike other communities where only the females are required to observe preservations about clothing etc. the Amish have defined guidelines for the men too. The married men can be clearly distinguished from those who are not by their appearances. The lifestyle of Amish people is quite impressive, and unbelievably simple. Their beliefs about the influences of technology and minimal use of it are unimaginable to people like us who are self-accepted slaves to technology. One view would say, that the Amish are backward, non-developing, non-evolving, and narrow-minded. The so many restrictions in their life regarding everything, from the way they dress to the way they live, celebrate and carry out day to day activities may led one to believe that these people are living a bounded life with no rights of their own. They cannot chose their way of living as everything is pre-planned for them. The men would work in fields and work for the family’s income, the women will be responsible for the operations of the household. It would seem to people of 21st century that those people are living way back in time. The funeral in Amish culture is also carried out very simply, “ graves are hand dug. The funeral service is simple, with no eulogy or flowers. Grave stones are simple, following the Amish belief that no individual is better than the other” (Powell 2010). This belief of their communicates a simple truth of life that whatever a person achieved in life or how great one becomes but no one can deny death which makes everyone equal. After knowing in depth about their culture, I couldn’t help but conclude that; The thoughtfulness of the these people, the simple and most humble values adopted by them allows them to live life to the fullest and in depths for sure. Defining open-mindedness is narrow mindedness since a truly open-minded person would see with respect all kind of cultures and accept with open-heart their values and custom adopting those who fit his/her liking. CHAPTER 3 Generalization I: The Amish are the most humble Americans. According to Neuliep, “humility, self-denial, and submissiveness are at the core of Amish values”(2009). The lifestyle and communicating methods as described in the text confirm this generalization. The fact that they give a chance to youth belonging to the culture to choose between the two ways of life (theirs and contemporary American culture) to follow shows the fact that they don’t even force their own children to adopt and follow their values. The practice of shunning those who decide to follow the other culture is a hard one but necessary in order to maintain their boundaries. The education system followed by the Amish is different from the rest of Americans they do not encourage higher studies and education till 8th grade is considered sufficient by them. They hardly use any electrical appliances, or modern vehicles, which shows that they are hard-working and live life simply without affected by media or other technical developments. According to Robinson, the Amish do not like to be photographed as they consider it to be evidence of vanity and pride. Also, the Amish were never known to keep slaves (2008). This makes one conclude that a group with no violent history and still living such non-aggressive, non-exciting, non-technical life would probably be the humblest of all Americans. Generalization II : In traditional Hmong culture, women maintain subordinate roles. “One way, Hmong women demonstrate their subordinate status is by walking directly behind their husband when in public”(Neuliep 2009). The role of women in this culture is limited to child-bearing, maintaining the household and be present in service of their husband. Women get married early, generally when they reach the age 13 to 18 on the other hand the marriageable age for men are far more acceptable i.e. between 18 to 30. In Hmong culture custom is that the husband pays a large amount when marrying, to the bride’s parents, usually around $5000 to $ 10,000. An older man marrying a young girl is common (Lindsay 2008). This serves as a big encouragement to the parents of the bride, who thus, do nothing to reconsider this practice and change it. As a result, a girl becomes a mother at the age of 16 or 17 with no chance of learning or education. Burdened with responsibilities as such a tender age, these girls experience a life full of troubles and pressures of married life. To make their life more intolerable, the practice of polygamy is also accepted in this culture. Usually, the second wife is given preference and the first one left alone with her troubles to live a life of agony. These practices clearly define the subordinate roe of women in Hmong culture supporting the generalization made. CHAPTER 4 I Generalization : Environments have a virtual effect on the nature of communication. This generalization can be supported by a general example; the kind of words two people would choose to interact in a classroom would differ significantly from what they use outside it. Also, “the more familiar we are with the situation the less uncertainty we experience.” (Neuliep, 2009) so, an environment having greater information load (representing unfamiliarity) has a higher chance of exhibiting excitement, anxiety and less control. It is observed that at a social event like parties, where not everyone is acquainted with one another usually the excitement levels are high. When visiting a pub or a bar with dance floors, where mostly people are strangers whether in a group or pair, lot of noise and disturbances are observed. On the other hand, when visiting a worshipping place we observe a silent and serene atmosphere ; This effect can be contributed to the consequences of built-environment factors. Cultural environment also plays a role in conveying a message for example in our culture it is not normal to see two guys walking hand in hand and are most likely to be considered gay if seen in such a way. “While, in Saudi Arabia, two men walking together are likely to hold hands as a sign of trust” (Neuliep 2005). II Generalization : Time speaks louder than words. Two kinds of cultures are identified on the basis of time orientations monochronic and polychronic cultures. According to Neuliep (2009) People belonging to monochronic cultures strictly plan their schedule, they value time as money and tend to segment time for different activities. For such people if activities not carried out according to the plan led to stressful situations, provoking a tense behavior. While People belonging to the other culture stress the importance of relationships and completion of one activity to determine the occurrence of other. They are more tolerant towards delays and interruptions. Communication between two people belonging to these two environment may led to a lot of stress and uneasiness. When appreciated for coming late in a lecture, the student understands that he is been criticized for his lazy behavior. Here the time or situation conveyed the message than the words which were contrary to the situation. In Arabian countries for example, if, an American businessmen has come for a meeting and the Arab is busy due to an activity that is taking more time than usual for completing, this would be taken as them as the indication that the right time for the meeting has not yet arrived. While the American would become more and more tense because of his schedule all going wrong. He may require to then postpone may of his meetings and plans. Nigeria has a heterogeneous social structure, the three dominating cultural groups of Nigeria are the Yoruba (21%), Hausa & Fulani (29%) and Ibo (18%), comprise 70% of Nigerian Population (Neuliep, 2009). These three groups are defined by their dominant area of existence, Hausa & Filani occupying the most vast area of the north. While the other two groups occupying the southern area. The language spoken by them is distinct from one another. Although government has declared English as the official language of the country, still they tend to use their own group specific language while communicating at personal or social level. The Nigerian marketplace is a place that brings people of different ethnic groups and languages together for the buying and selling of various commodities. Although they seem to be working together and living together through this picture of the marketplace, in reality, the scenario is quite different. The northern area dominated by the Hausa & Filani group are Muslims and the groups belonging to the southern region are Christians. Hausa & Filani are the most powerful and in their effort to implement the strict Muslim rules in the country as a whole has led to inter-communal wars in the past. The country which served as a British colony till 1960’s and then subjected to military rule is highly fragmented with a high level of mistrust among the various groups. The efforts at democratization of the country have failed due to the defects in the constitution that defines unequal power relations between the different federal units (Nigeria 2000). While in America, the macroculture is a strong one and well established, the microcultures are mostly immigrants (like Amish) or refugees (like Hispanics) who have been accommodated by the state. The immigrant may not be treated mercifully, by the macroculture inhabitants but the government has insured their recognition and grant of human rights. The microcultures here can preserve their culture only by shunning themselves completely as done by the Amish otherwise the micro-cultures are threatened to dissolution. As the general American attitude is not that of acceptance and tolerance, as a result, many cultures find it difficult to preserve their cultural values. As stated by Neuliep (2009) “older hmongs try to preserve their traditional ways, while the contemporary culture, including the education system encourages their assimilation.” The microcultures in America rely on the states’ education system (except Amish) and require to adjust and learn the ways of the dominant culture in order to survive and become part of the economy. Hence, more effective ways of communications needs to be implemented that may gradually led to and change of attitudes of people belonging to either groups. REFRENCES 1. Neuliep, J. W. (2009) Intercultural Communication: A Contextual Approach (4th Ed. Thousands Oak, CA: Sage 2. Powell, Albrecht 2010, Amish 101- Amish Culture, Beliefs, and Lifestyles, retrieved online from: http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/pennsylvania/a/amish_3.htm 3. Neuliep, J.W. (2005) Intercultural Communication, retrieved online from: http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/11824_Chapter1.pdf 4. Nigeria 2000, International IDEAS’s Programme in Nigeria, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, retrieved online from : http://www.idea.int/publications/country/upload/nigeria_07.pdf 5. Robinson B.A. (2009), Practices of various groups: The Amish, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, retrieved online from : http://www.religioustolerance.org/amish4.htm 6. Lindsay Jeff (2008), Culture Clash: the Hmong in America, retrieved online from: http://www.jefflindsay.com/hmong-clash.html Read More