This paper examines the Amish barn raising feast within Dietler's and Herbich's theoretical
framework of the Collective Work
Event (CWE) and elucidates the role of the feast within the barn raising event, as well as the event itself within a broader social context. The investigation begins with a description of barn raisings within the Old Order Amish
community of Goshen, Indiana and then discusses the concepts of the Work Feast and Work Exchange beneath the CWE rubric. Finally, barn raising as an ethnographic object is analyzed using Dietler's and Herbich's six descriptive factors to determine the relevance of the
framework to the Amish and to uncover other aspects relevant to a larger discourse of feasting.