Author: Joe Donnermeyer

Joseph F. Donnermeyer is professor emeritus in the Rural Sociology program, part of the School of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University. His Amish research concerns examination of the demographic dimensions of the Amish, including population growth, settlement expansion, and occupational change. He has co-written two books about the Amish (A Quiet Moment in Time and Lessons for Living) and about two dozen peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

Dr. Donnermeyer now supervises an online course titled “Amish Society”, and recently developed an online continuing education course of the same title. He continues as an adjunct professor at the West Virginia Center for Violence Research, West Virginia University (Morgantown), and the University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales. He is the founder/editor of the International Journal of Rural Criminology and cofounder/coeditor of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (https://plainanabaptistjournal.org).

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Amish & Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Women: Comparing Attitudes Towards TV, Radio, Magazines & The Internet

Amish & Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Women: Comparing Attitudes Towards TV, Radio, Magazines & The Internet

ByJoe Donnermeyer
4 Comments

On January 8, the first day of the so-called Spring Semester at The Ohio State University, the Department of Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures sponsored a very interesting and special presentation by Professor Rivka Neriya-Ben Shahar on “Old Order and Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Women’s Responses to the Media.” Her lecture was built from a comparison of two very distinctive groups by lifestyle and…

Plain Talk About Health: Linguistic Aspects of Mediation Between Amish and Health Care Professionals

Plain Talk About Health: Linguistic Aspects of Mediation Between Amish and Health Care Professionals

ByJoe Donnermeyer
1 Comment

The very first issue of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities was published in the Summer of 2020, and in that issue, the lead article was written by Mark Louden, who is the Alfred L. Shoemaker, J. William Frey, and Don Yoder Professor of Germanic Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His article focused on what is arguably the most distinctive difference between Plain people…

JPAC Latest Issue Out Now: Michigan Amish, PA Dutch, Old German Baptist Brethren, “Ukrainian Amish”, & More

JPAC Latest Issue Out Now: Michigan Amish, PA Dutch, Old German Baptist Brethren, “Ukrainian Amish”, & More

ByJoe Donnermeyer
1 Comment

The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities has released volume 4, issue 1. In this issue of JPAC, we begin a new series introducing Anabaptist research centers and their holdings and management. We begin with the Ohio Amish Library and the Geauga Amish Historical Library and will feature additional centers in the coming issues. From the fields of legal studies, demography, socio-linguistic scholarship, and ethnographic religious…

Who Are The “Michigan Circle” Amish?

Who Are The “Michigan Circle” Amish?

ByJoe Donnermeyer
2 Comments

From time to time, Amish America features published articles from the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC). This one was published in Volume 3, No. 1 (2022) issue of JPAC, written by Edsel Burdge, who is a research associate with the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. Edsel devotes a great deal of time to keeping track of…

Excerpts from “Of Buggies and Blinkers”, on The Ohio Buggy Lighting Law

Excerpts from “Of Buggies and Blinkers”, on The Ohio Buggy Lighting Law

ByJoe Donnermeyer
5 Comments

Today’s guest post is by Joe Donnermeyer of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities. It is on a topic that we have covered fairly extensively over the past several years – the buggy lighting issue, particularly as it has unfolded in Ohio. The state’s 2022 law requiring flashing lights on buggies predictably brought about conflict with members of the most conservative Amish communities. Joe shares…

Learning from Amish Letters

Learning from Amish Letters

ByJoe Donnermeyer
3 Comments

In an age of sophisticated computer software that can calculate a hifalutin statistical outcome which only a few mathematical geniuses can understand, one can forget the value of other ways to knowing about peoples and cultures anywhere in the world. In volume 3, issue 2 of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC), however, we are reminded of the importance of plain, everyday communication between…

New Edition of The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC #6) Now Available

New Edition of The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC #6) Now Available

ByJoe Donnermeyer

A new edition of the The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities has been released. The Journal is published twice yearly and is available for free online. As the title suggests, it covers all manner of research subjects pertaining to Amish, Plain Mennonites, and other Anabaptist peoples. Check out the latest issue here, or the full archives here. So what’s in the latest edition? This intro,…

Lancaster County Amish: An “Incredible Demographic Exception”

Lancaster County Amish: An “Incredible Demographic Exception”

ByJoe Donnermeyer
1 Comment

The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities will soon publish its sixth issue. From time to time, we’ll be sharing interesting findings from articles published in JPAC here at Amish America. This is the first featured post, written by one of its co-editors, Joe Donnermeyer, who was recently a Snowden Fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pieties Studies at Elizabethtown College. ~Erik When No…

New Issue of JPAC (Volume 3, Issue 1) Now Available

New Issue of JPAC (Volume 3, Issue 1) Now Available

ByJoe Donnermeyer
1 Comment

Joseph Donnermeyer shares word that the latest issue of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC) has been released. If you wanted to make it to the Amish conference at Elizabethtown College this past summer but weren’t able to, this issue ought to be well-received – it features articles from the conference, as Joe explains: The new issue includes articles on population growth and new…

Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC) Issue #4 Now Available

Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC) Issue #4 Now Available

ByJoe Donnermeyer
4 Comments

The fourth issue (Volume 2, Issue 2) of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities has just been released. This is a free online journal (access previous issues 1, 2, and 3). Journal co-editor Joseph Donnermeyer shares the following on the latest edition of JPAC: The fourth issue (Volume 2, Issue 2) of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities was just released. On the front cover…