Heritage in Translation by Eythana Miller

Today we bring you the second recorded session from the Plain Roots Conference held in Middlebury, Indiana on June 26 and 27. This one features Eythana Miller, who presented on her project Heritage in Translation.

Eythana is the Program Manager and Secretary of ADSF. She grew up in Libby, Montana, in an unconventional Amish community and moved to California at 17. She attended Shasta College in Redding before transferring to Berkeley to study political economy, graduating in the spring of 2025. She is a 2025 recipient of the Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize, through which she is working on an oral history and language preservation project centered on her hometown. She enjoys literature, both journalistic and creative writing, and learning about development economics. Education has been deeply formative and meaningful for her, and she is delighted to work with ADSF to help bring that opportunity to more people.

Heritage in Translation is an oral history of the community where Eythana grew up. She interviewed 38 community members, who tell of their transitional years as they modernized slowly out of an Old Order Amish lifestyle without officially leaving the church. They share about growing up traditionally and try to define what makes a person Amish. These interviews were conducted in Pennsylvania Dutch and are presented online with English subtitles.

You can learn more about Eythana’s story and unique project by watching the video below.