Anthology features professor’s research on role of head coverings in Amish life

    As part of a research project, K-State professor Jana Hawley lived in an Amish community in Jamesport, Mo., from 1991-92.

    One significant strand of her research concerned the function of fashion in the Amish society. Hawley contributed an article on the role of religious headwear, which appears in a recent anthology, "The Veil: Women Writers on its History, Lore and Politics."

    Edited by Jennifer Heath and published by the University of California Press, "The Veil" featured writings from 21 scholars, all representing and teaching about different histories and social contexts for veiling in different cultures.

    Heath found Hawley's research in the process of collecting information for the anthology.

    "We often see the veil as a Muslim thing," Heath said. "I wanted to contextualize the history and politics of the veil and put it in the perspective of a worldwide phenomenon. Not only Muslims wear a veil, but it comes in all forms, including the Amish head covering."

    Hawley spoke of how she got to know the Amish people.

    "With patience, they would accept me, even though I was an outsider," Hawley said of her time with the Amish.

    In chapter five, "The Amish Veil: Symbol of Separation and Community," Hawley said Amish religious head coverings are worn to signal a separation from the broader American culture.

    "While it is true that Amish clothing customs are steeped in religious leanings and traditions from the Bible," Hawley wrote in her chapter, "after a year of living among the Amish, I am convinced that for many Amish, several of their customs derive more from deep-seeded convictions of what it means to be culturally Amish than from religious conviction."
    All Amish are supposed to wear a religious head covering, Hawley said. The women wear a prayer cap or bonnet and the men wear a hat made of straw or felt.

    "The Amish belief system is Christian-based, and as such, their head coverings stem from 1 Corinthians 11, which dictates that men should have their heads uncovered for prayer, but that women should cover their heads at all times even when they are not praying," Hawley continued in the book.
    "There are primarily two reasons for this belief: submission to God and to man, and because the Bible says women are to ‘pray without ceasing.'"