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Plain Women: Gender and Ritual in the Old Order River Brethren. By Margaret C. Reynolds. Edited with a foreword by Simon J. Bronner. Pennsylvania German History and Culture Series, Number 1. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001. Pp. xii + 192. Index, list of informants, references, figures. $29.95 cloth. Plain groups within the United States are often misunderstood as all being the same. In Plain Women: Gender and Ritual in the Old Order River Brethren, Margaret Reynolds discusses the Old Order River Brethren as one particular "plain" group, and examines its attitudes towards gender, ritual, and custom. At once integrated and segregated from the "world," this small Pennsylvanian sect is rooted geographically and theologically in the sixteenth century Swiss/German/Dutch Anabaptist reformation. Published posthumously, Reynolds uses her unique perspective as both insider and outsider in her fieldwork. As an adult who had been a participant in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ during her childhood, Reynolds had general knowledge and insight into the German-Protestant value system prior to her research. This study is informed both by her previous experience within a pietistic belief system and by her more contemporary adult life as folklorist, academic, and individualistic woman. Reynolds takes great pains in this ethnography to differentiate between the Old Order River Brethren and other similar groups, particularly the Amish. The River Brethren do follow many of the same outward and inner practices as other plain groups, but in some ways they are more conservative, and in other ways they are more modern. The history and religious development of the River Brethren is outlined in some detail in the first chapter, laying the groundwork for what follows. In the second chapter, Reynolds focuses on dress as a marker for women within this sectarian group. Reynolds distinguishes two main cultural themes in terms of clothing and gender: clothing is a way for women to bond through cohesion, and a way to create boundaries and thus ensure survival of the River Brethren culture. This chapter explores how women create and adapt dress within individual and cultural parameters, and how their clothing and hair are markers of age, conservatism, and religious conviction. Finally, Reynolds examines the social functions of River Brethren women's clothing in terms of the image they present to the outside world, to other members of their community, to themselves, to their families, and to God. Foodways is the focus of the third chapter, and here Reynolds discusses roles that various women play in both commercial and non-commercial foodways enterprises within the River Brethren home. Among this group, food is seen not only as a woman's way to nourish and provide comfort to her family, but also a way for her to express her religious devotion to her faith and culture. Some women have also used their culinary skills to make money, from baking pies and bread to selling in farmers' markets to hosting "authentic" meals for tourists. While cooking for one's family is an acceptable and, indeed, expected role for women, creating an entrepreneurship can raise the ire of other community members, particularly if a woman's endeavors attract large numbers of outsiders to the community, or in some way seem to subvert the values and identity of the River Brethren. This sometimes results in conflict between enhancing the family's economic situation and conforming to social mores. Breadmaking is at the heart of the final chapter. As the central preparatory element for the most sacred ritual of the Old Order River Brethren, the love feast, making bread with other women of the community marks a woman's integration into the River Brethren as both a believer and an adult. Reynolds concentrates on this ritual as a means of preserving social order, since breadmaking participants must be pure on the inside in order to participate in this sacred, communal duty. The importance of women within the River Brethren is highlighted through the fact that all baptized women, single and married, are accorded equal adult status in their participation in this most significant ritual. Through her detailed analysis of the breadmaking ritual, Reynolds emphasizes the importance of symbolic behavior for women of the Old Order River Brethren as a means of creating and maintaining cohesion as a society against threats from the outside world. Kristin M. Harris |
