Westminster College Sociology Professor Presents at Amish Studies Conference

Dr. Kristin Park, Westminster College professor of sociology, presented “The Perceived Influence of Amish Residents on ‘English’ Values, Beliefs, Behaviors and Interactions in a Small Community” at Elizabethtown College in June.

The presentation shared data from Park’s ongoing research involving in-depth interviews with non-Amish residents of a region with a significant Old Order Amish settlement.

“The research is discovering the perceptions, experiences and interactions that non-Amish have of and with their fellow Amish community members,” Park said. “Non-Amish participants respect the humility, willingness to live within limits and within religious frameworks, and slower pace of life of their Amish friends and acquaintances. Some participants expressed concerns about Amish racial insensitivity and examples of what they felt to be excessive and unwarranted restrictions on the life paths of their Amish friends.”

The conference, “Continuity and Change: 50 Years of Amish Society,” was sponsored by the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies.

Contact Park at 724-946-7251 or email kpark@westminster.edu for additional information.

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