The Farming Family: Work, Character, and Change in Rural America

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION | The independent family farm holds a unique and cherished place in the American landscape. As a symbol of American virtue, it reassures the present by hearkening to an imagined past of families strong in character, tightly knit, and working together toward a common goal — survival. With shifting work habits, new technologies, and a more competitive global marketplace, how have the lives and values of farming families adapted? How do families internalize character in a new context? In this ethnographic paper, cultural anthropologist Tom Fricke returns to the place of his youth — the farming communities of North Dakota — to explore the changing lifestyles and rooted work ethic of the farming family.