Weaponizing Amish Country Tourism: An Update on Selling the Amish

Abstract

The 2012 book Selling the Amish: The Tourism of Nostalgia investigated what is it about Amish Country tourism that visitors find compelling when what they encounter in tourist towns seems, on the face of it, so contrary to the plain and simple life of the Amish. This article briefly summarizes the original findings of that study and then provides a research update, highlighting some surprising developments in the merchandising of Amish-themed tourism venues, not just in Ohio but also in Indiana and Pennsylvania. While American flags were certainly common in the three tourist towns described in Selling the Amish, merchandise now promoting guns and gun violence is new. The research update suggests further inquiry and theorizing on links between tourism and Christian nationalism is warranted.

Keywords: Amish Country tourism, Behalt, Swiss Festival, Der Dutchman, slow food, visual rhetoric, material rhetoric, Christian nationalism, Hold Fast merchandise

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