linda [sic] Bradley in Journal of Mennonite Studies, vol. 15 (1997). If you enjoy reading fiction, a certain LA Bradley wrote another article in 2017. For a sociologist, she somehow makes observations that don't match my experience at all.Judas Maccabeus wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 8:51 pm Oh, that must be a hoot to read. Do you know what journal it was in?
Article is at https://jms.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/jms/ ... ew/499/499
In essence, she had a conclusion she wanted to arrive at, which is that (a) Holdemans once had a strict mode of plain dress (which they never actually did; in the 1930s, their clothing would have looked the same as their neighbours), and then (b) that the cape dress is an important part of exercising social control over women. This conclusion is an interesting one since Holdemans never have used cape dresses at all, unless you count John Holdeman and wife and their 25 relatives and associates from 1859-1874 before they joined with groups of Russian Mennonites.
The article starts off confusingly with fictitious place names:
Whilst there is a place called Bend, there sure isn't any place called Mayfield that is a county seat. The only Mayfield in California currently sits underneath Stanford. I am guessing she decided to rename Glenn to Bend and Willows to Mayfield. This was published in 1997, and my wife grew up there, and she sure doesn't remember most of their food being home grown and preserved - unless you considered large scale rice or corn farms or walnut or almond orchards.Bend is a town and rural district of 250 people on the Sacramento River in Northern California. It is a small community of white middle-class farm families, the vast majority (65 families) of which are Holdeman Mennonites. The Holdemans drive ten miles to the county seat of Mayfield (pop. 4000) to shop for grocery staples. Most of their food, however, is home-grown and preserved.
This is another "import" from other Mennonite groups - Holdemans don't hold to a doctrine of "uncut hair" like certain other groups do and trimming, cutting, or otherwise shortening hair is commonplace.The most specific item that illustrates this is the black head covering worn over uncut hair pinned into a bun.
This is a case where I wish a sociologist were correct; it is true that (some) groups of Mennonites (including Holdemans) have less obesity that surrounding people, but I have not seen much evidence of the spiritual teachings she described above, and people I have asked sure can't remember any. (I am also a bit shocked to hear the prevailing obesity rate of women in Glenn County was 40% in 1997. The obesity prevalence now is 32% which is below the national median.)It follows that gluttony, too, is despised. Over time the Holdeman Mennonite community has seen obesity as a sign of gluttony and generally indicative of a lack of control. "Lust of the flesh" is a term used by the Holdemans to indicate sensory enjoyment of anything from eating to sexual pleasure. Although their major social activity is eating, ideally it is a functional, rather than pleasurable activity. According to the Holdemans' physician, the obesity rate of women in the surrounding community is forty percent, while only ten percent of the Mennonite women are considered obese; these rates have stayed consistent in the past decade.
It's true there weren't cases of out of wedlock pregnancy, but, well, there have been excommunications for fornication or other similar sins. I am also not sure I would concur "a very rare occurrence" given how many people from that setting are adopted (whom I've met) who would have been being raised in 1997. It is also flatly not true that "birth control ... [is] regulated by the church"; whilst once again I think it should be, it isn't, and people mostly make their own choices.Similarly, sexual expression is kept under tight rein, and is only allowed within the confines of marriage. During my years with the Holdemans, there were no cases of premarital pregnancy, due in large part to the constant separation of the sexes from adolescence until marriage. Motherhood and adulthood are synonymous; married women unable to conceive (a very rare occurrence) will adopt children. The occasional spinster generally marries a widower later in life, and then has step-children. Birth control, sexual behavior and the physical expression of love between man and wife are regulated by the church
Upon reading the article a bit deeper, the author does state that the cape had vanished in the community she interviewed (after earlier asserting the cape dress is a standard part of the uniform), but that didn't stop Wikipedia from citing her article as follows:
Having spendtplenty of time in California, I can attest that not all necklines are high, not all bodices (or even most) are loose, and fitted waists have basically gone out of style, replaced by loose waists. And there isn't a cape at all. I don't know how people can get this so wrong.The women of the Holdeman Mennonite community in California wear a cape-dress that has a high neckline, loose bodice and fitted waist. The cape of the dress covers the shoulders and bust.
A while ago, Mennonite World Review had a good article that books and news articles about the Amish tend to reflect what people want to see, not the way things actually are, and often are more of a reflection on ourselves than the Amish. It appears this author is the same way. (My mother in law was one of the people who met this researcher.) She is well-cited, and it is questionable how much of any sociological research like this can be relied on it when it gets so many details wrong, and then comes to conclusions that don't seem to line up with how the culture actually is at all.