Communal Studies Association, 2010 New Harmony, Indiana ...

Lucy Jayne Kamau is Professor Emeritus at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. She received her PhDfrom the University of Chicago and, in addition to NEIU, has taught at Western Washington University and theUniversity of Nairobi, in Kenya. She has presented numerous papers and has published articles on RobertOwen‘s New Harmony and related subjects. She was president of the CSA from 2000 to 2002 and was on theBoard of Directors from 1992 to 2004.Session 1-BArchitecture and Environment in Utopian Communities(Thrall‟s Opera House)“Padanaram Settlement, A „Picture in Wood‟”Rachel Wright-Summerton, Padanaram SettlementHow does architecture reflect the philosophy of a people? Padanaram with its five storied lodges and log-cabinstyled buildings is a ―picture in wood‖. Smaller, two family and single homes frame the nearby lake and dot thelandscape. The Barn, the current gathering place, is an open wooden-framed building overlooking the sawmillsite of thirty years ago. Forty-four years ago,1966—one farmhouse. ―They will last at least a hundred‖ was thecommon thought about the mammoth communal buildings with their rough hewn lumber from the sawmill, handcrafteddoors, hinges from one of the blacksmiths, and their contents—wooden beds, chests and other myriadfurniture. Today a view from behind the walls of the buildings tells the story that times have changed.Hammering and sounds of construction fill the air. It‘s remodeling time! What does this say about the changesin Padanaram? What of the Past? Present? Future?Rachel Wright-Summerton is the archivist and a long-standing member of the community. She is presently anadjunct professor of education at Ivy Tech State Community College in Bloomington, Indiana. She hascompiled the essays of Daniel Wright, founder of the community, in My Word Shall Guide Thee, and is currentlywriting a history of Padanaram Settlement.“Planting the Seed of Vedic Culture in the West”Terry Sheldon, New VrindabanThe evolution of New Vrindaban Community from a land locked pioneer farm to a vibrant pilgrimage destinationis the story of how a single architectural wonder—Prabhupada‘s Palace of Gold—rewrote American architecturalhistory and changed a community‘s destiny forever. Built by twenty year old novices with no previous formaltraining, the Palace triggered a rural fine arts revolution in the rolling hiills of West Virginia. Scholars, studentsand the world media beat a path to the community doorstep to see sculpture, paintings, marble cutting,embroidery, gold leaf and stained glass masterpieces. These spiritually inspired works flowed from the Palaceperimeter to the surrounding community holdings as the community population mushroomed from a handful ofearly settlers to 750 residents in just a few years. In the words of a twenty year old who mastered numerousconstruction skills, ―We didn‘t build the Palace, the Palace built us.‖Terry Sheldon is one of the founding elders of New Vrindaban Community, one of North America‘s oldestcontinuously existing intentional communities. New Vrindaban is a pilgrimage site for thousands of Krishnaworshippers worldwide who travel to visit Prabhupada‘s Palace of Gold, an architectural wonder sometimescalled the ―Taj Mahal of the West.‖ Prior to adopting the lifestyle of a Hare Krishna monk, Terry helped organizeDetroit‘s first inner-city food co-op. In 1982, he pioneered America‘s first federally funded All Vegetarian Meals-On-Wheels project in Cleveland‘s Ward 5. A consummate networker, he founded The Small Farm TrainingCenter, a land based educational center and hands-on working organic farm based in New VrindabanCommunity. His students are trained to be confident farmers and spokespersons for both urban and rural basedsustainable development. Apprentices lead workshops and tours and charitably distribute surplus organic3

intern and then curator of collections at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Christian haspublished the following books: Shaker Songs (2002), Handled With Care: The Function of Form in Shaker Craft,co-authored with M. Stephen Miller (2006), Gather Up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection, coauthoredwith Mario S. De Pillis (2008), and Millennial Praises: A Shaker Hymnal, co-authored with JaneCrosthwaite (2009). He is currently working on a book with Carol Medlicott entitled As Branches of One LivingTree: Richard McNemar and the Music of the Shaker West.“Resources in Communal Studies at the University of Southern Indiana”Jennifer Greene, University of Southern IndianaThe University Archives & Special Collections (UASC) communal studies materials has grown over the decadesdue to dedication of many people working to preserve these unique histories. As many institutions today aredoing, the UASC is focusing on digital collections as well as trying to find new ways to make informationaccessible to both researchers and the public. The materials continue to grow as, in cooperation from theCenter for Communal Studies, we have begun to shift more of our collection development to contemporarycommunities such as Stelle and Padanaram. This presentation will highlight the new Communal Studies ImageCollection donated by Dr. Donald Janzen and the many tools now available through the website. It will include adiscussion about our preferred future growth areas and resources. The UASC and the Center for CommunalStudies is developing a survey to determine the scope of collections around the nation in order to create a betterunderstanding of areas that need attention as well as developing educational tools for further study in the field.Jennifer Greene is the Reference & Archives Librarian at the David L. Rice Library, University of SouthernIndiana. She has been with the University for three years as a full time archives librarian and worked for a yearat the Center for Communal Studies. She received a MLS from Indiana University in 2008 as well as completingher MLAS from the University of Southern Indiana in 2009. She is currently working on expanding onlineaccess to collections through digital galleries and finding aids.Session 1-DCommunities of the Christian Left(Gymnasium)“Jesus People USA as Enclave of Resistance: Christian Socialism Within Capitalism”Shawn David Young, Michigan State UniversityThe collapse of the counterculture provided fertile ground for a revival of traditional, orthodox Christianity amongAmerican youth during the late 1960s. The Jesus Movement was a revival involving various hippies whoconverted to evangelical Christianity. Founded in 1972, Jesus People USA (JPUSA) is one of the mostsignificant surviving expressions of the original movement. This commune owns and dwells in what was once ahotel building in Chicago‘s inner-city, operating based on what they perceive as the New Testament model ofcommunity. Members live in communitarian fashion, agree to voluntary poverty, work for one of manycommunity-owned businesses, and agree to turn over material assets to the community. This paper considershow JPUSA continues to be a vibrant, self-sustaining commune in Chicago's inner-city, remain relevant at itsannual Cornerstone Festival, and how they might reconcile the communitarian model with ―mission businesses,‖JPUSA‘s enterprises that engage free-market capitalism.Shawn David Young is a Ph.D. candidate in the American Studies program at Michigan State University. Hiscurrent research deals with the intersections of 20th Century evangelicalism, the Jesus Movement,countercultural expression, communal studies, and popular music. Young is interested in the connectionbetween emerging methods of expression and the formation of ideology as demonstrated within particularspaces and situations. Young's dissertation is titled Jesus People USA, the Christian Woodstock, and5

Conflicting Worlds: Political and Theological Evolution, 1972-2010. He has forthcoming chapters with Praegerand McFarland and a forthcoming article with the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture.“Comin‟ in the Backdoor: The Communal Organization of Koinonia Farm during the life of ClarenceJordan”Ann Coble, Belmont UniversityMany communal groups begin with a very structured idea of communal living and attempt to put that verystructured idea into practice. Organizational structure for this kind of group is obvious from the beginning: itcomes in the front door. Clarence and Florence Jordan and the group of people living at Koinonia Farm in the1940s – 60s began with many theological ideas about communal living, but they did not begin with an organizedidea about the structure of their communal living. Instead, their communal structure developed through theprocesses of trial and error, in the midst of the life of the community. Their ways of organizing their communitycame in the back door. This paper shows the development, or perhaps evolution, of communal structure atKoinonia Farm in the mid-20 th c.Ann Coble has been fascinated with communal groups since childhood. She is an adjunct professor of Religionand Honors at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. Her Ph.D. dissertation on Clarence Jordan and KoinoniaFarm was published in 2001 under the title Cotton Patch for the Kingdom. Dr. Coble has lived in two smallurban intentional communities, one in Boston and one in St. Louis. Her connection to New Harmony is that sheis a descendant of George Rapp‘s uncle.“Patchwork Central: The Beginning”Debbie Yoder, University of Southern IndianaThe focus of this project centers on the early years of Patchwork Central. There were numerous communitiesthat were springing up throughout the countryside during the 1970s, the majority of these found their roots inlarger metropolitan areas, unlike Patchwork, whose beginnings were established in a medium-sized town.Additionally, the University of Southern Indiana‘s archives holds a vast collection of untouched primary sources,and the Patchwork Community remains an active entity in Evansville, Indiana. These were the deciding factorsleading to the decision to focus solely on the Patchwork community, particularly on the early years, and theimpact this community had on the area.Deborah Yoder received her B.S. in Health Services with concentrations in Health Administration andGerontology from the University of Southern Indiana. Currently Deborah is working on a M.A. in Liberal Studieswith a concentration in Social Science at the University of Southern Indiana. Through these studies, she hasbecome interested in communal groups, especially the beginning of those that remain active in today‘s society.Deborah enjoys spending family time with her husband, children, and grandchildren. Among her many hobbiesshe enjoys traveling, quilting, and competing with her in dogs in dog sports. Deborah works closely with theVanderburgh County 4-H Dog Club assisting youth in training their dogs in obedience. She is also an activemember and instructor of the Evansville Obedience Club.Session 2-AArchitecture of Mormon Community(Atheneum/Visitors Center)“The Design of Zion: Mormon Sacred Space 1830 to the Present”Steven L. Olsen, Historic Sites, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints6

In 1831, Joseph Smith revealed the centerpiece of his millennial utopia, Zion. This ideal urban society was tobe a world-wide network of mile-square settlements, each mirroring the social and territorial design of the city‘s―center place,‖ which was to be located in western Missouri. For Smith, the quest for Zion was ―the mostimportant object in view‖ for his new but enthusiastic following. Although the Mormon Zion was never fullyrealized as Smith had envisioned, a careful examination of its prescriptive dimensions sheds light on theessential nature of this protean religious movement. To do so, Steve adapts Paul Wheatley‘s concept, ―city assymbol,‖ to the location, layout, and social organization of the Mormon City of Zion. Such an approachillustrates the rich, complex, and provocative connections among Mormon metaphysics, sociology, eschatology,architecture, ritual, ontology, and iconography. Such an approach also informs many distinctive features ofcontemporary Mormonism.Dr. Steven L. Olsen is Senior Curator of Historic Sites for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Afterreceiving a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Chicago, he has spent thirty years researching andrestoring Mormon sites and landmarks throughout the United States and elsewhere. He has presented andpublished widely in the fields of Mormon studies and museum studies and has served in leadership positions fora variety of service associations of the museum, religious studies, and history professions. He also served for adozen years as adjunct professor of anthropology at Brigham Young University.“Mormon „Mission Field‟ Communities after World War II”Jan Shipps, Indiana University-Purdue University IndianapolisThis discussion of the architecture of Mormon "Mission Field" Communities after World War II will not deal with"bricks and mortar" architecture. Instead, it will begin by describing the Saints' experiences of community whenthese communities functioned as "Mini-Zions," especially in the late 40s, the 1950s, and 60s. Following thisbaseline, my description of LDS communities will look more closely at such communities in the Mormon cultureregion, comparing community in LDS communities before and after correlation. Finally, a return to mission fieldcommunities will examine efforts to maintain unity after correlation arrives.Jan Shipps is professor emerita of history and religious studies at Indiana University-Purdue UniversityIndianapolis. She is the author of Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition (University of IllinoisPress, 1987) and Sojourner in the Promised Land: Forty Years Among the Mormons (University of Illinois Press,2000). Her new book project is titled ―Being Mormon: The Latter-day Saints Since World War II.‖“City of God, City of Sprawl: A Comparison of Ideas of Zion”Paul D. Monson, Architectural and Urban DesignerMormon ideas about Zion and community have changed. How do present methods of city planning comparewith Joseph‘s? In part early Mormon ideas reflected the surrounding American context. In part they wereunique and particular, even claiming divine origins. In other words, Joseph's ideas about city building were atranslation similar to the Book of Mormon. The Nauvoo/Zion model does not meet modern lifestyles, normodern legal and politically realities, ie. the context has changed. Embracing this changing context, Mormonsnow build conventional examples of suburban sprawl, ignoring early Mormon city planning ideas. In contrast,the church continues to use the Book of Mormon as a measuring stick to judge secular norms. In what wayshave ideas of Zion embraced or resisted ―context?‖ If this context is inadequate at building community, whatlessons from our architectural/city planning history can be applied in a different, more secular, regulated, andtechnological world?Paul Monson received his Masters of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame in 2008 following aBachelors of Science from Brigham Young University and two years designing stained glass windows inChicago, IL. He currently designs doorways, windows, buildings, and cities at an architectural firm in thePhiladelphia area that specializes in traditional, ecological, and contextual solutions to modern problems. Mr.Monson has traveled and studied throughout the United States, Europe and Japan, seeking to understand thelessons of the past. His work emphasizes the need for public spaces and community, and the timelesssustainability of good traditional architecture. Mr. Monson is active in the LDS faith, and lives with his wife andthree children in Collingswood, NJ.7

“Drop City and Buckminster Fuller: Critiques of Technocracy”Erica Ando, Florida Atlantic UniversityIn establishing intentional communities, the counterculture of the 1960s rejected not only the values and socialstructures of the mainstream, but also embraced architectural styles to reflect their nontraditional beliefs. Thegeodesic dome, designed by Buckminster Fuller, often served as the prototypical building style for communessuch as Drop City in Colorado. With little building experience and using discarded materials, buildersconstructed their own geodesic domes, giving them feelings of self-sufficiency and autonomy they craved. Inaddition, Buckminster Fuller served as an inspiration for the counterculture, which emulated his fierceindependence. The original motives of Fuller‘s design, however, to promote a utopia of mass-production,technology and consumerism, contradicted the objectives of the communities. This presentation explores thecontradictory incarnations of the geodesic dome, and examines how the counterculture unintentionallysubverted Fuller‘s design while intending to celebrate it.Erica Ando is currently a student in the Ph.D. program in Comparative Studies at Florida Atlantic University.She has undergraduate degrees from Parsons School of Design and The New School, and a Master of FineArts degree in sculpture from Tyler School of Art. Her essay, ―La méthode Feldenkais et la soma-esthétiqueappliquée,‖ translated from the English, was published in Penser En Corps, edited by Barbara Formis (Paris:L‘harmattan, Paris, 2009). Her general interests are concepts of nature in architecture; environmental art;cultural responses to art, utopia.“The Temple of the People at Halcyon, California: Theosophy and the Architecture of Spiritual Forces”Paul Ivey, University of ArizonaThe Blue Star Memorial Temple was completed in 1924. This peculiar three-sided Temple was a physicalmanifestation that was believed to gather spiritual forces that emanated from the unique siting of the utopiancommunity known as Halcyon, founded by Dr. William Dower and Francia LaDue, from Syracuse, New York.They founded Halcyon in 1903 based on their reinterpretation of Helena Blavatsky's theosophical teachings andalso developed the Temple Home Association, a cooperative venture in property, mixed agriculture and potterythat emerged from the socialism of Eugene Debs and Upton Sinclair. Like other followers of the CooperativeCommonwealth, they projected a large circular city with central temple as their stated goal. This presentationwill outline the specific utopian projections for the town of Halcyon, the building of its Temple and othercommunity buildings, and the solidification of the group's spiritual ideas in a community setting that emphasizedinventiveness as key to spiritual evolution.Paul Ivey is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Arizona where he teaches modern andcontemporary art and theory. He received his Ph.D. from Binghamton University in 1992. He is currentlycompleting a book on the intentional community of Halcyon, California. He is also author of Prayers inStone: Christian Science Architecture in the United States, 1894-1930 (Illinois, 1999) and studies the builtenvironments of esoteric and alternative religions and utopian societies in the United States. Paul has giventalks on these topics at several conferences including Sacred Space, Utopian Studies, the Society ofArchitectural Historians, and the American Academy of Religion.Session 2-DShaker and Harmonist Music(Gymnasium)“Reconstructing the 1817 Harmonist Christmas Cantata: „Wo sprundelt deine heil‟ge Quelle?‟”Emily Lapisardi, Old Economy Village9

The Harmony Society‘s music archives at Old Economy Village document the life of this community and provideinsights into the Harmonists‘ theology and rituals. The Society's 1817 Christmas cantata, which premiered inHarmony, Indiana, was composed during a pivotal period of musical growth and reflects both the Society'scommunal nature and its German-American heritage. This paper explores the non-Harmonist sources for, andthe Society‘s adaptation of, the texts of the cantata‘s chorales and arias. Reconstruction of the score from fortypertinent manuscript partbooks reveals the involvement of upper-echelon Harmonists in its inception, as well asthe cantata‘s continued growth and adaptation through subsequent Christmases. Musical excerpts from thework will be included in the presentation.Emily Lapisardi, secretary of the board of the Friends of Old Economy Village, also founded the Old EconomySingers, portrays Gertrude Rapp, and raises silkworms. She recently completed a Bachelor‘s of Music in VocalPerformance from West Virginia University (summa cum laude, WVU Foundation Outstanding Senior, HonorsCollege Outstanding Senior, and the university‘s Rhodes and Marshall scholarship nominee). She haspreviously presented for several national and international conferences including the Communal StudiesAssociation, Moravian Music Foundation, International Society for the Study of European Ideas, and as keynotespeaker for the Great Lakes Gathering of the Herb Society of America.“New Voices from the White Water Shakers: The George Amery Hymnal”Cori Munro, Northern Kentucky UniversityA manuscript hymnal compiled in the 1870s by White Water Shaker George Amery was recently discovered inthe possession of his descendants. It is an unknown Shaker music manuscript, never before catalogued orstudied. In this presentation, Cori will present preliminary findings from her work transcribing and analyzing thepoetry and writing in the hymnal, including the rare use of an early system of phonology, or ―shorthand.‖ Thecontents of the hymnal help to reveal a level of spiritual animation at White Water that was unusual for theperiod. It also will reveal the interconnections among Shaker sites East and West.Cori Munro graduated from Northern Kentucky University in 2008 with a BA in History. She is currently pursuinga Master‘s Degree in Public History at Northern Kentucky University. In 2008 she held an internship position atHancock Shaker Village. She has also worked as an intern for Friends of White Water Shaker Village. Herresearch on the George Amery hymnal is being supported through a grant from the Gladys Kreible DelmasFoundation.“A Comparison of the Music of the Harmonists and Shakers”Bobbie Christie, University of Southern IndianaDuring their Indiana era (1814-1825), the Harmonists often interacted with the Shakers, particularly with thesettlement at West Union, further north along the Wabash River near Vincennes, and several Shaker groups inKentucky. Trading of goods and supplies between the Harmonists and the Shakers was beneficial to bothparties. The music of the two groups provides interesting comparisons of their histories, their lifestyles and howthey worshiped. Points of comparison will consider group leadership, countries of origin, musical styles, originsof texts and tunes and how the music was preserved.Bobbie Christie received a Bachelor of Arts in Music History from the University of Louisville and was alsogranted the University‘s School of Music Senior Award in Academic Achievement. She wrote her senior‘s thesison Harmonist music. She has worked for Historic New Harmony and is the Senior Administrative Assistant forthe College of Liberal Arts at the University of Southern Indiana. She is currently pursuing a Master of LiberalStudies.Session 2-EUtopia on the Rio Grande(Harmonie Haus Theater)10

Film screening, “Utopia on the Rio Grande”Robin Riley, Northwestern CollegeUtopia on the Rio Grande is the story about a spiritual seeker who experiences a personal revelation, one thattells of a new era in human existence where poverty and war are eliminated. This historical documentarycaptures John B. Newbrough‘s unique personal revelation and follows his journey toward making it a livingreality. The folk captures a moment in 19th century American history where a small group of like-mindedidealists set out to change the world by creating a peace colony in the desert southwest. The film features localand national scholars and authorities, extensive reenactment scenes as well as a significant amount of archivalmaterial. It features period music arrangement and performance by Twin Cities guitarist Dave Dakota Hull. Thisthree-year project has been produced on very limited funds for an audience that wants to know about whathappened to this mysterious community and its people. It is also of interest to historians of intentionalcommunities, educational organizations and history buffs who study spiritualism. The project was shot in HDVand edited in FCP.Robin Riley teaches production courses in television and film/video as well as broadcast news at NorthwesternCollege in St. Paul, MN. Utopia On the Rio Grande is his first historical documentary project on spiritual andreligious topics. He has been a long-standing member of the Broadcast Education Association and is locallyinvolved with the Independent Film Project Minnesota. Dr. Riley also co-curated the New Mexico Farm andRanch Museum‘s exhibit on Shalam Colony (Sept. 2008 – May 2009).Session 3-ATheorizing Intentional Communities(Atheneum/Visitors Center)“The Spectrum of Cooperative Living”Donald Janzen, Louisville, KentuckyThis paper expands the concept of cooperative living beyond what the CSA has traditionally studied andexplores how it exists in mainstream society and all cultures. A three-fold classification is proposed that coversthe spectrum of cooperative living.Don Janzen is a professional anthropologist and founding member of the Communal Studies Association. Hehas been studying cooperating communities for 35 years and has visited over 200 communities.“Living Communities: Why Utopia Matters”Jake Lyon, University of Detroit MercyAmerica‘s contemporary culture has popularized the ideas and attitudes common to dystopian critiques ofsociety. The pessimistic warnings offered by such imagery must be balanced, however, by hopeful, utopianvisions. Due to the lack of literary and cinematic utopian sources, it falls to America‘s historic and presentutopian societies to offer important precedents and lessons on the improvement of society. In seeking suchlessons, one must first understand three major historic issues common to utopian experiments, includingleadership, ideological continuity, and economy. Next, an examination of the overall success or failure of thesecommunities provides a means of deciphering the purposes and values of each society‘s processes andpractices. The conclusions of this study lead to lessons applicable to the development of Americancommunities today. In this instance, these lessons can be defined as the need for living authority, living visions,and living systems.11

Jake Lyon grew up in West Michigan with a general aversion to cities and large crowds. Thanks to an interest inthe built environment, Jake soon found his way to Detroit to study Architecture at the University of Detroit Mercy.After three years of studying the art and science of buildings, the desire to impact greater individual change incommunities led him to pursue a second master‘s degree in Community Development. After six years oftraining, Jake now considers himself an Urbanist and often plans events in hopes of drawing a crowd.“Access to Intentional Community as a Measure of Expressive Liberty”Rob Wanzek, Washington University in St. LouisWhat sorts of social organization systems work in intentional communities and which do not? What can politicaltheory learn from intentional communities? How can intentional communities fit into a larger theoreticalframework for social organization? These are the central questions. The success and persistence of intentionalcommunities demonstrate how political theory must go beyond the dominant Western theories of liberalism anddemocracy, and follow Berlin and Gray in acknowledging the fact of value pluralism, the incommensurability ofvalues. In this context, Galston‘s ―expressive liberty,‖ the ability to live a life in which one identifies with theorganizing principles of one‘s group or social order, is the central goal. Rob‘s main contribution is to apply thisconcept to communities within nation-states, rather than applying it between nation-states. An individual‘s abilityto create, join, and leave intentional communities can be seen as a useful criterion for measuring the amount ofexpressive liberty in a society.Rob Wanzek is a junior at Washington University in St. Louis majoring in Political Science and minoring inAnthropology and Public Health. His interest is mainly in political and social theory, especially democratictheory and critiques of rational choice theory. He plans to go to either law school or graduate school in PoliticalScience or Anthropology upon completion of his undergraduate studies. In his spare time he enjoys working atthe student-run garden at Washington University, the Burning Kumquat, as well as tutoring high school studentsthrough the college-prep organization CollegeBound.Session 3-BCreating Community in the Modern World(Thrall‟s Opera House)“Financing Innovation in Community”Tom Braford, Culver Way EcovillageWe will explore the exciting new form of financing used at Culver Way Ecovillage in St. Louis, which comparesthe full cost to society and the environment of conventional housing with the projected cost of financing andliving in community, providing employment, provisioning food and utilities using new, more efficienttechnologies. Culver Way will be a full state-of-the-art, adaptive reuse with extensive green features, includingpanelized construction with Structural Concrete Insulated Panel System (SCIPS), matched with a SovereignTechnology Credit Obligation (STCO) that is itself designed to enable and then capture the full value of everevolving social, technological and economic innovation. Culver Way will serve as a model for a larger networkof grid-neutral, urban ecovillages that are part of a plan to cut CO2 emissions by 80% by 2020 that will bepresented at the St. Louis Climate Prosperity Summit, October 7-10, 2010.Tom Braford has devoted much of his life to intentional community building. He is a founder of St. Louis‘ CulverWay Ecovillage, the St. Louis 350 Collaboration and the campaign to have the St. Louis region be known as EcoCity USA. He is currently creating the St. Louis 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign for the State of the WorldForum with the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2020 through the establishment of sustainablelifestyles and economies. He and his wife, Carol, are committed to creating a nurturing, sustainableenvironment for their new grandchildren, Connor and Iliana.12

“Enter Like A Lover – thoughts on race, class, universities, and communities”Bob Hansman, Washington University in St. Louis―Build relationships, then build structures.‖ For the past few years, a course in Community Building has lookedto new ways to develop a sustainable relationship between the student architecture community at a prestigiousprivate university, Washington University in St. Louis, and their neighbor up the street, the Wellston Loop areaaround Martin Luther King Drive, one of St. Louis‘ poorest and most ravaged urban communities. Crossingborders of race and class, the course looks to ways not just to bring students and residents together, but toultimately break down those distinctions altogether in the quest for a shared presence and place and purpose,transforming relationships as well as structures, and, in the process, trying to create at least one small, modestversion of Martin Luther King‘s ―Beloved Community.‖Bob Hansman received his BFA (Drawing and Painting, English Literature, Religious Studies) in 1970.Highlights of his college years were meeting Coretta Scott King and Bobby Kennedy and getting beaten up bythe Ku Klux Klan, and ever since then he has been making up his life as it goes based on the lessons helearned then. Now an Associate Professor in the College of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis,since 1994 he has also directed—with a former student and now adopted son-- City Faces, a year-round art andmentoring program for youth in St. Louis public housing.“Methods of Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Intentional Communities”Andrea Rose Fondaw, Washington University in St. LouisConflict is an inevitable part of every co-living experience, but in the context of intentional communities and ecovillages,it has the ability to establish deep inter-personal connections, building a sense of fellowship thatstrengthens the community as a whole. Intentional communities handle friction and conflict with a varied arrayof methods and philosophies, many of which span the divide between individual and community. In Andrea‘sresearch paper, she explores both historic and contemporary methods for resolving conflict in intentionalcommunities, while examining how these practices can facilitate powerful interpersonal relationships within thecommunity. Ranging from secular to religious groups, she draws examples from a diverse selection ofcommunities around the world, resulting in a study of the different approaches to one of the most basic and yetmost challenging aspects of communal living.Annie-Rose is a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis majoring in anthropology with a minor in arthistory. A Merle Kling Honors Undergraduate Fellow, Annie-Rose is interested in studying other examples ofcommunity, particularly refugee camp communities in India, which she hopes to visit as part of her Fellowsthesis work next summer. In addition to her academic pursuits, Annie-Rose also works as a writer for ElevenMagazine in St. Louis, and will be completing an internship with their journalism division this summerSession 3-CHouse of David and Conflict Resolution(Gymnasium)“House of David/City of David colonies located in Benton Harbor, Michigan”Kevin Clutter, Independent HistorianBoth communities have distinctive architecture, and they built their environments to fit their social and religiousneeds as well as a way to reflect their faith. Additionally, Kevin will expound how their faith and beliefs were a13

constructed environment within themselves and how this was translated to the outside world and became a wayof converting prospective members and helping in raising funds to support the communitas and provideadvertisements for their projects. It is his intention to use his vast collection of post cards and other materialrelating to these communities to achieve this. In addition, he has been receiving information and advice fromRonald Taylor of the City of David.Kevin Clutter has a MA in American history and has been trying to enter the museum/history field for severalyears. His interest in the House of David/City of David has been a 20-year study. Previously he has presentedpapers on the subject at the CSA conference in Pittsburgh and most recently at the National Association forInterpretation Area 4 Workshop. Over the past several years he has been working on a manuscript about thisunique religious movement with hopes of finding a publisher, and he visits the City of David on a fairly regularbasis. Kevin is a life-long resident of Hammond, Indiana, and he takes frequent trips to the American westwhere he hopes to eventually settle full time.“House of David/City of David: A Case Study in Cultural Geography”Sarah Scherer, The Iliff School of TheologyThe Israelite House of David has drawn attention for its lively history of unusual commercial enterprises, manyof which were oriented to entertainment, tourism, and the service sector. This study reviews the main featuresof the group‘s commercial enterprises explicitly from the standpoint of cultural geography. It will consider theways in which the distinctive location of the Benton Harbor, Michigan area provided conditions to which thegroup creatively responded, thus shaping the ways in which the group‘s commercial enterprises evolved.Drawing from the analytical perspectives of cultural and urban geography, it offers a fresh set of explanations forsome of the group‘s distinctive features.Sarah Scherer graduated from Northern Kentucky University in 2010 with a BA in Geography. She also holds aBA in Sociology from Purdue University. Her interests lie in the intersection of religious practice and humangeography. She is beginning graduate program at Iliff Theological Seminary in Denver, Colorado.Session 3-DRitual, Theology, and Memory in Early Mormonism(Working Men‟s Institute)“Owenite, Shaker, and Harmonist Influence and Interactions with Early Mormonism: Isaac Morley‟sPursuit of the Perfect Community from the „Family‟ to the United Order”Douglas Lloyd Major, Independent Historian, and William Ross Major, University of California,Santa CruzThe genesis of the Mormon movement was contemporary to many intentional communities most notably theShakers and those of Robert Owens. This paper explores the interaction and influence these groups had on thedevelopment and evolution of the communal theology of Joseph Smith. When Smith arrived in Kirtland Ohio in1831, he found that his new adherents were practicing a form of communal ownership on Isaac Morley‘s farm.In 1824, Morley joined the Campbellites under the influence of Sidney Rigdon. Rigdon broke his affiliation withCampbell after attending the Owens/Campbell debate because of his desire to form a New Testament society.The presenters will illustrate, using Isaac Morley‘s first person experiences, the many attempts the Latter-daySaint made to create a Zion community and society.Douglas Lloyd Major is a Doctor of Optometry in private practice in Paso Robles and Los Osos, California since1985. He has presented research in early Mormonism at the Sperry Symposium, BYU; the John Whitmer14

Historical Association/Communal Studies Association in Kirtland, 2007; and the Mormon History Association inSpringfield, Illinois, 2009.William Ross Major is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He received hisBachelor of Arts in Literature and History from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2010.“Nauvoo Remembered: Ritual, Power, and Historiography in the Latter Day Saint Movement”Adam S. Brasich, Wabash CollegeThis paper will analyze the Community of Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS)through the lenses of the ritual theories of Clifford Geertz and Catherine Bell. The theories will be applied to therestored historic sites of Nauvoo, Illinois, an intentional community inhabited by Latter Day Saints from 1839-1846. Through their historic interpretations of the Nauvoo community, differing emphases on power and truthbecome apparent between the two modern churches. While the LDS church makes a strong claim to absolutetruth and uses its history to bolster this claim, the Community of Christ chooses to interpret history through ahistorical-critical lens and to make less absolute claims concerning truth and power. Two separatehistoriographies of Nauvoo have developed since the Latter Day Saint community in Nauvoo dispersed.Applying ritual theory to Nauvoo, Adam attempts to explain the different historiographies and to analyze theirimplications.Adam S. Brasich is a senior religion major at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana. While fascinated bycontemporary theology and American religion in general, he is particularly interested in 19 th century Americanreligious history. He received a grant from Wabash College to visit Nauvoo, Illinois, to conduct the fieldworknecessary for this research. He presented a version of this paper at the Celebration of Student Research,Scholarship, and Creative Work at Wabash College in January 2010, and he recently earned the John N. MillsPrize in Religion, a recognition granted to the top junior religion major at the college.“Protecting Sect Boundaries: Ritual, Prophecy, and Charismata in the Church of Jesus Christ(Cutlerite)”Christopher J. Blythe, Florida State UniversityFollowing the death of Joseph Smith (1844), a number of sects emerged each claiming to be the sole heir to theMormon religion. With the exception of the ―main body‖ which followed Brigham Young to the deserts ofmodern-day Utah, the vast majority of these communities were absorbed into a newly established Mormonmovement: the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite)was the only movement to withstand the RLDS missionary intrusion. In this paper, I will explore themechanisms used by the Church of Jesus Christ to establish firm sect boundaries, maintain their community‘sorganization, and promote internal commitment – namely the use of esoteric ritual, millennial prophecy, and theindividual practice of charismata. This case study will illuminate a religious community‘s quest for survival in acompetitive religious marketplace.Christopher Blythe received his Masters degree at Utah State University, where he studied under Philip Barlow,the Leonard Arrington Chair in Mormon History and Culture. He holds bachelor‘s degrees from Texas A&MUniversity (Anthropology) and Utah State University (Religious Studies). He currently serves as editor in chief ofthe Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies and co-director of Mormonisms: An Oral History Project. InAugust, he began a PhD program in American Religious History at Florida State University.Session 3-EZoar, Amana, and the Moravian Brethren: Community Building inThe New World (Beal House)15

“German „Zoarites‟ in Tuscarawas County: An Ohio Separatist Society, 1817-1898”E. Suzanne Owens, Loraine County Community CollegeThis illustrated presentation will examine the village, structures and architectural history surrounding theremarkably prosperous communal Society of Separatists of Zoar, Ohio. The evolution of this religious band thatfled Lutheran persecution in Wurttemberg, Germany to settlement near the Tuscarawas River of eastern Ohioand into a communal arrangement that lasted nearly to the 20 th century is preserved in the remarkably intact,and historically protected village today. The mix of cultural, religious and communal beliefs that defined theZoarites can be ―read‖ in the gridded layout of the Society‘s buildings and garden, their architectural styles anddetailing (including the sect‘s Star of Bethlehem and acorn symbols), as well as in furniture design. Spanningthe 19 th century, Zoar‘s structures document architectural history from log constructions, to typical ―Midlands‖framed structures, to a succession of ―styled‖ buildings adapted to communal purposes, but with Germaninfluences and distinctive ―Zoarite‖ elements. But these buildings also trace the rise of the Society‘s selfsufficiencyand economic success in agriculture, in the production of goods (via the Ohio and Erie Canal,several miles of which the Zoarites built through their land), and tourism. Photo-documentation of several ofthese historic structures and overall site views of the village today will accompany the story of this importantOhio communal experiment.E. Suzanne Owens, Ph.D. is Professor of Arts and Humanities at Lorain County Community College (Elyria,Ohio) where she teaches ―History of American Architecture‖ and other interdisciplinary courses in art history andliterature. She holds a B.A. from Miami University, M.A. from the College of William and Mary, and Ph.D. fromThe Ohio State University. Post-doctoral studies in cultural theory at The School of Criticism and Theory(Yale/Northwestern) and architectural history at University of Virginia followed. She is a fine art and adocumentary photographer, currently working on a project based in antebellum communities of Georgia‘s SeaIslands.“Blueprint for the Universe: The Community of True Inspiration‟s Catechism Vol. II”Emilie Zuber Hoppe, Amana Church Society“Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns your house, for endless days, O Lord.” Psalm 93:5. So begins theCommunity of True Inspiration‘s Catechism Vol. II first published in Germany in 1841 then re-issued inEbenezer, NY in 1857 by community Elders. Catechism II offers the Inspirationists‘ understanding of God‘sblueprint for the universe. It was a foundational document for the Community during the years that leadersChristian Metz and Barbara H. Landmann served as inspired instruments. Translated into English in 1999, it isbeing used today by the Community (now known as the Amana Church Society) to further its work. This paperwill discuss the history and contents of Catechism II within the context of Inspirationist faith and communitydevelopment in Germany and in America.Emilie Zuber Hoppe is an Elder of the Amana Church Society, past President of the Amana Elder Council and amember of the Amana Society. A graduate of the University of Iowa, Hoppe is the publisher of Willkommen, aseasonal guide to the Amana Colonies, and the author of Seasons of Plenty: Amana Communal Cooking(University of Iowa Press), co-editor of The Morning Star (Amana Church Society) and of Catechized Instruction. . . Part II (aka Community of True Inspiration‘s Catechism II, Amana Church, 1999).“A Bridge Collapses – A Look at the Eighteenth Century Contact Between the Moravian Brethren andthe Inspirationists”Janet W. Zuber, Amana Church SocietyThis presentation will trace the correspondence and visits between these two groups, emphasizing theconnection between Graf Nicolaus Ludwig con Zinzendorf of the Herrnhuter Brethren and Br. Johann FriedrichRock of the Community of True Inspiration. The timeline of this association extends from 1730 to 1742. Thereare letters, testimonies and historical data to be reviewed and, while we in Amana have always known of this16

connection, it is not generally known among the Moravian Brethren. Our records are complete, albeit inGerman, and require translation, most of which I have already done.Janet W. Zuber is Translator for Amana Church Society and Chairman of Amana Church Society's ArchiveCommittee.Session 4-APerspectives on Stelle(Atheneum/Visitors Center)Panel:Malcolm Carnahan, Former President of the Stelle GroupJoanna Carnahan, Stelle CommunityLeslie M. Alexander, Ohio State UniversityDaniel J. Glenn, Independent FilmmakerCarroll English, Stelle CommunityThe panel will describe Stelle‘s history and philosophical underpinnings from its beginning to the present. Theseare the subjects that each speaker will address: Malcolm Carnahan on the ―architecture‖ or founding concept;Joanna Carnahan on the early educational system developed; Dr. Leslie Alexander with a Power Pointpresentation on her life as a child in Stelle (―But I Don‘t Know the Pledge of Allegiance!‖); Dan Glenn, moviemaker, showing footage on solar and wind technology used in Stelle today; and Carroll English, describing thecontemporary community. Walter Ring, moderator, will field questions from the audience.Panelists:Malcolm Carnahan was a member of The Stelle Group from 1968 until the non-profit entity was liquidated in2006. Malcolm was a resident of the community of Stelle from 1973 until 1982 when he moved to Dallas toassist Stelle‘s founder create a second community, Adelphi. Malcolm was President of The Stelle Group for 13years. Malcolm is currently Chief Operating Officer of CoCard Marketing Group, LLC, a cooperatively ownedcompany, with 90 offices across the United States. Malcolm currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, withwife, Joanna. Malcolm received his B.A. from Eureka College in 1959 and M.Div. from Vanderbilt DivinitySchool in 1963.Joanna Carnahan is an early learning education specialist and was a member of The Stelle Group with herhusband, Malcolm, from 1968 until 2006. Joanna was a charter member of Stelle‘s Learning Council and ofMotherschool, a support organization for mothers in the Stelle community. She was a contributing writer for theStelle publication, Parenting for Excellence. Joanna received her B.A. from Vanderbilt University and M.A.T.from Columbia University, Teachers College, as well as post-graduate certification in infant mental health fromThe Washington School of Psychiatry. Joanna currently resides in Nashville with her husband, Malcolm.Dr. Leslie M. Alexander is Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University, where she teachesAfrican American, African Diaspora, and early American history. Her teaching and research interests focus onBlack culture, nationalism, identity, and political movements. She received her B.A. from Stanford University,her M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University. She is the author or editor of several books and articles includingAfrican or American?: Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City, 1784-1861, which was published bythe University of Illinois Press in 2008 and won a national book award.Daniel J. Glenn is an independent entertainment professional and filmmaker, currently employed by WarnerHorizon Television, a division of Warner Brothers Studios. He is involved with the current hit shows airing onABC and TNT networks. Most notably he worked on the mega-hit Two and a Half Men for CBS. Dan grew upin the community of Braidwood, about 30 miles from the Stelle community. This allowed him to gain a unique17

perspective on the community of Stelle as a near-by neighbor. Dan is currently producing a film about Stelle.Dan received his B. S. in documentary films from Northern Illinois University, and his M.A in Film/Televisionproduction from Boston University. He currently resides in Los Angeles.Carroll English has been involved with the Stelle enterprise for 43 years, beginning with the original group thatwas forming in Chicago in 1967. Carroll was one of the first residents of the community of Stelle and hasmaintained her home there since 1974. She received her B.S. in Education and Spanish from Florida StateUniversity and M.S. from Northwestern University in Religious Education and Counseling. She was a teachingmissionary for five years in Cuba prior to, during, and after its revolution. She has traveled extensively, alsovisiting a number of intentional communities across the U.S. In addition to her life-long involvement ineducation, Carroll is a skilled gardener and maintains interest in research in organic gardening methods andPermaculture. Carroll is the author of Poems Marking the Passage of One's Life, and Five Years inRevolutionary Cuba; A Memoir.Session 4-BMillennialism(Thrall‟s Opera House)“The Rock: 30 Years Later”Christine Magula, Utah State UniversityIn 1979, Bob Foster founded "The Rock" (officially the Rockland), an intentional community in southern Utah.Although in the latter-half of the twentieth century a number of Fundamentalist groups have establishedcommunes throughout the West, the Rock is peculiar in contrast to the typical Mormon Fundamentalist scene.Whereas these new communities limit membership to the adherents of their own sects, The Rock providesshelter for several independent fundamentalist families (75 members) whose only mandatory commonalityconsists of a belief in the Book of Mormon, polygamy, and a communal constitution established by the headcouncil. Foster remained the community's leader until his death in 2008. In June, Christine conducted a seriesof oral histories with the current residents of The Rock. The focus of those interviews were to determine theimpact of Foster's passing on the community's dynamics.Christine Magula was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but has traveled and lived throughout theUnited States, and Japan. She is currently finishing a degree in Religion at Utah State University with a minor inthe Japanese language. Christine is associate editor of the Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies. Inaddition to her interests in New Religious Movements and Japanese religion, Christine is currently conductingresearch on nineteenth-century Mormonism and disabilities, working with Utah State‘s Center of Persons withDisabilities.“The Architecture of Jonestown and how it both Created the Community and UltimatelyDestroyed It”Laura Johnston Kohl, Jonestown Survivor and Former Synanon ResidentLaura spent time in Jonestown Guyana as it developed into a community of over 1,000 people, from 1977 untilNovember 1978. She will present an audiovisual and oral presentation about the community architecture as itdeveloped in the deep rain forest of Guyana. The isolation of Jonestown allowed rich friendships andcooperation to flourish within the egalitarian community, while the remoteness allowed a paranoia, inspired byJim Jones, to infect the residents. Within the community, the architecture enriched and also complicated ourlives.Laura Kohl has lived communally for one-third of her life in Jonestown and in Synanon. She has presented atthe last two CSA conferences on different aspects of life in Peoples Temple, and she has been interviewed inmany other settings. Laura has just published her autobiography through iUniverse, JONESTOWN SURVIVOR18

An Insider‟s Look. She is a regular contributor to the SDSU-sponsored website at http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/, aswell as a member of the Peoples Temple Speakers Bureau for the Jonestown Report. She is interested in allaspects of communal living and the mechanics of creating a functioning community.Session 4-CTheosophy and New Age in the Mid-Twentieth-Century(Gymnasium)“A Visit to Sointula: A 20 th Century Finnish Community on Canada‟s Western Coast”Charles LeWarne, Edmonds, WashingtonSointula was a Finnish communal society established on a small island on the far western coast of BritishColumbia in the first years of the 20 th century. Far removed from urban centers and accessible only by boat, itwas one of the most remote such communities in North America. Nevertheless, with a strong organizationbehind it and support from the home country and other sources, it grew rapidly to a community of over 200persons within a few years, having an agricultural base and some industrial pursuits. But the authority of itsidealistic founder soon gave way to a more practical rival. Despite such upheaval and economic problems, thecommunity endured, and even after the communal aspect was dissolved, it retained a strong Finnish culturalatmosphere. Over future decades this altered only slightly as urbanites seeking a rural life style and thencountercultural hippies, including Americans escaping the Vietnam war for more liberal Canada, came to live onthe island. This presentation will outline the history of Sointula focusing on an intended visit to the island inAugust 2010 seeking a glimpse of its past.Charles LeWarne is a longtime member and former president of the CSA. His work has focused oncommunities in the Pacific Northwest including the publication of Utopias on Puget Sound, 1885-1915, and lastyear‘s The Love Israel Family: Urban Commune, Rural Commune.“Imaginary Tibet: Blueprint for a Western Utopia”Stanley J. Thayne, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillTibet is imaginary. It is no more so than America, true, but it is, nonetheless, imaginary. The purpose of thispaper is to explore many of the rhetorical images that have been assembled to construct this Western socialimaginary called Tibet. In particular, I will examine images of Tibet in Theosophical and Americancommunitarian contexts. Tibet was the prime location, for example, where Madame Blavatsky posited herhidden masters—adepts capable of incredible mental and spiritual feats. In the 1930s one Clifford Naden ofnorthern Idaho, a satellite member of a southern Utah community known as the Home of Truth, claimed to havereceived a visitor from Tibet who had learned from the Lamas there the secrets of a perfect society which wouldsoon be established, through their communal efforts, in America. Tibet provided, in this instance, a blue print forthe ideal new society of the dawning New Age.Stanley J. Thayne is a graduate student in the Religious Studies PhD program at the University of NorthCarolina at Chapel Hill. He holds an MA degree in U.S. History from Brigham Young University, where he wrotea masters thesis on a religious community located in southern Utah during the 1930s and 40s known as theHome of Truth. He has published articles in the Journal of Mormon History and presented papers at theAmerican Academy of Religion and American Society of Church History. His primary research focus is newreligious movements in the American West.“Atomic War and Golden Age Prophecy in an Early Cold War Era Esoteric Community”Brad Whitsel, Penn State-Fayette19

One of the lesser known accounts of date-setting and prophetic disappointment in an American alternativereligious commune is that of Shamballa Ashrama, a proto-New Age community founded in Colorado by ClaudeDoggins during the Depression years. Doggins, who later adopted the title ―Dr. Doreal,‖ was a life-long studentof the esoteric and drew many of his ideas concerning a forthcoming global disaster from both occult andscience fiction sources. In particular, it was the atomic conclusion of World War II which led him to predict thearrival of a final and total war between the United States and the Soviet Union, first in 1946, and later in 1953.When the prophesied events did not occur, the community of several hundred members did not fold but rather,through Doreal‘s guidance adopted a less urgent time frame for catastrophe and generally navigatedsuccessfully through the period of failed prophecy.Brad Whitsel is an associate professor of political science at Pennsylvania State University-Fayette Campus.His research interests include millenarian movements, group separatism, and religion and politics. He haspublished journal articles and chapters in these areas and is author of The Church Universal and Triumphant:Elizabeth Clare Prophet's Apocalyptic Movement (Syracuse University Press, 2003).Session 4-DOwenite New Harmony(Working Men‟s Institute)“The Pestalozzian Educational Presence at New Harmony”Gerald L. Gutek, Loyola, ChicagoThe literature on the Owenite community at New Harmony generally asserts that the Pestalozzian method ofeducation was introduced to New Harmony under the auspices of William Maclure and implemented by thecommunity‘s principal educators-- Joseph Neef, Marie Fretageot, and Phiquepal d‘Arusmont. This paper‘s mainthrust examines the Pestalozzian presence at New Harmony. It: (1) briefly identifies the Swiss educator,Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1747-1827); (2) analyzes the major components of the Pestalozzian method ofeducation: (3) comments on the method‘s introduction to the United States by William Maclure and JosephNeef; (4) assesses Pestalozzianism‘s relevance to Robert Owen‘s community-building at New Harmony. Theassessment relates the paper to the conference theme of communitarian architecture, not in terms of building,but rather as a social design for community.Gerald L. Gutek is a professor emeritus of Education and History at Loyola University Chicago. He teaches andwrites in the history and philosophy of education. His books about Pestalozzi, Owen, and New Harmony arePestalozzi and Education.(Random House, 1968. Reissued by Waveland Press, 1999.)and Joseph Neef: TheAmericanization of Pestalozzianism. (University of Alabama Press, 1978). His book, Historical and PhilosophicalFoundations of Education: A Biographical Introduction, (Merrill/Prentice Hall, 2005) includes chapters on RobertOwen and Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Gutek‘s most recent books are The Montessori Method: The Origins of AnEducational Innovation (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2005); Philosophical and Ideological Voices inEducation.(Allyn and Bacon, 2004) and New Perspectives on Philosophy and Education (Merrill/Pearson, 2009). Hehas published articles in the History of Education Quarterly, Educational Theory: Journal of the Midwest History ofEducation Society, Proceedings of the Midwest Philosophy of Education Society, and the Research Guide toEuropean Historical Biography.“Robert Owen and the Advent of Secular Perfection in Antebellum America”William Allen Griffiths, Southern Illinois UniversityIn the maelstrom of experimentation that was Antebellum America Robert Owen stands tall as a successfulbusinessman in Scotland and a religiously non-aligned innovator in both Scotland and Indiana. His addresses20

to Congress in 1825 set him apart from other modes of experimentation. Here was a visitor, nay investor in therepublic with ideas that showed his interpretation of the ideals of the constitution, primarily equality and thepursuit of happiness. The argument is made that with a wider and wider gulf developing between manufacturersand their workers Owen was seen by the government as a potential bridge between the two which would bothameliorate the perceived problems while, at the same time, creating a new form of hierarchy that would be moreacceptable than the old tyranny of patriarchy. At the same time he would be able to re-create and maintain theAmerican work ethic that Benjamin Franklin had recommended, create equality in education and, successfullydivorce religion from politics. New Harmony, Indiana has largely forgotten the legacy of the man: this is simply areminder.William Allen Griffiths is a PhD. Student at Southern Illinois University. He completed his preliminaryexaminations in 2009 and is currently working on his dissertation provisionally entitled From Rural to Industrial:The Rise and Fall of Johnston City, Illinois 1896-1930 which tracks the joining of the southern Illinois coal fieldwith the state and national economies and its demise following the boom period up to World War I. He was alsoa co-author and editor of From G.I. Bill to Generation X: a Pictorial History of Student Life at Southern IllinoisUniversity, published by Arcadia Press in 2006. He has written reviews for peer review journals the latest beinga review of The Historic Chicago Graystone: a User‟s Guide for Renovating and Maintaining Your Home. Eds.Dan Wheeler, James Wheaton and Tasneem Chowdhury, (Chicago: UIC City Design Centre, 2008), in TheJournal of the Illinois State Historical Society, July, 2009. Griffiths is also a poet having written poetry for TheSmall Press Review, The Chiron Review, and The Circle. He has also had reviews of poetry published invarious poetry magazines.“The Smithsonian „Castle‟ and its Utopian Roots in New Harmony, Indiana”John F. Sears, Independent ScholarThe medieval revival style of the Smithsonian ―Castle,‖ chosen in 1846 by Indiana Congressman Robert DaleOwen and his brother, the geologist David Dale Owen, reflected their conception of the primary purpose of theSmithsonian: the diffusion of practical scientific knowledge. Their view of the Smithsonian, both as a buildingand an institution, grew out of the utopian experiment of New Harmony, Indiana and David Dale Owen‘sexperience in renovating a series of buildings in New Harmony for use as a chemical laboratory, geologicalmuseum, and lecture hall. These multi-use facilities, among the most advanced of their kind at the time, servedas models for the Smithsonian. Although the building as actually constructed did not completely fulfill the Owenbrothers‘ vision, it marked a milestone in the transformation of America into a more democratic culture in whichscientific research and public education played central roles.John F. Sears, Ph.D. is an independent scholar with a special interest in landscape history. He has taught atTufts, Boston University, and Vassar College and served as Executive Director of the Roosevelt Institute inHyde Park, NY. Sears is the author of Sacred Places: American Tourist Attractions in the Nineteenth Century,―Karl Bodmer‘s Eastern Views,‖ and ―‗How the Devil It Got There‘: The Politics of Form and Function in theSmithsonian ‗Castle,‘‖ among other works. Sears is currently researching a book on Eleanor Roosevelt andworking on the creation of an historic site at the old town common in Hawley, Massachusetts.Session 4-EPreservation in Historic Intentional Communities(Beal House)“My 15 years on Harmony‟s Historic Architectural Review Board”Delsa White, Harmony Borough‟s HARB and Historic Harmony, Inc.21

The presenter will explain how the Historic and Architectural Review Board (HARB) was formed in Harmonyalong with a short history of the organization, the controversy it caused, and how she personally becameinvolved. Then, further explanation will include legal issues involved, some failures and some achievements,and finally a hopeful future for the HARB and Harmony Borough.Delsa White's association with intentional communities started at an early age. Her association with theHarmony, Pennsylvania HARB began shortly after she and her husband bought and restored the FrederickRapp House in l992.“Stillness at Last: Preservation of the Built Environment at Sabbathday Lake”Adam Krakowski, University of VermontThis presentation takes a close look at the past, current, and future preservation issues on the uniquearchitecture at the last remaining Shaker village at Sabbathday Lake, New Gloucester, Maine. The focus is thelast one hundred years, a time where the community added and removed many structures, and its biggest assetalso became its biggest disruption. Route 26 is a historic roadway that traveled directly through the center ofthe Shaker community. This roadway was ultimately moved in 2003 due to harm from vehicles traveling merelyfeet from the historic structures. The work also touches on the creation of structures and the removal of otherswhile addressing previous scholarship on these structures from primary sources within the community. Whilethe community finally has stillness and peace from a hundred years of constant automobile travel, there arepreservation issues that remain.Adam Krakowski is a graduate student in the Historic Preservation program at the University of Vermont. Beforestarting his studies at the University of Vermont, he worked as a conservator on early American and Englishdecorative arts, learning traditional methods of seat weaving, woodworking, and gilding. His research interestsare in both the history and preservation issues within the Shaker communities of the northeast and the builtenvironment of costal New England. Adam resides in Montpelier, Vermont, with his fiancée Noella.“Rediscovery and Demolition of 1811 Harmonist Eidenau Mill Dam at Harmony, Pennsylvania”John Ruch, Historic HarmonyAfter founding Harmony, PA, at the end of 1804 and organizing as a commune, the Harmony Society built twowater-powered grist mills and another to produce vegetable oils, the latter then expanded with grist and otheroperations. A grist mill it had purchased was sold as part of an 1810 land deal with the founder of neighboringZelienople. The first mill building, constructed of hewn logs in 1805, is the lone survivor -- as a private residence-- of all the mills erected in the society's three communities. Until shortly before its July 2009 removal, virtuallyno one had any idea that the wood and stone crib dam of the Harmonists' 1811 grist mill, which had beendemolished in 1914, remained essentially intact in the Connoquenessing Creek. Artifacts of the Eidenau milland its long-hidden dam were retrieved during the dam's removal.John S. Ruch has lead history and preservation organizations for nearly four decades. John is President ofHistoric Harmony, the volunteer, nonprofit historical society that operates the eight-property Harmony Museum,Harmony, PA. He is a board member of Friends of Old Economy Village and was a founder of WesternPennsylvania Museum Council. He is a trustee of the preservation group that owns a 1758 Quaker meetinghouse in New Jersey, where he formerly chaired a township landmarks board, was local historical society vicepresident and a founder of a statewide landmarks commissioners organization. He retired from PPG Industriesas manager of corporate public information.Session 5-ASpaces of Collaboration: Toward Communities of CreativityAnd Sustainability (Atheneum/Visitors Center)22

“The Local Food Movement and Community Building”David Ciepley, University of DenverFood production, which used to be a central locus of community building, with sharing of machinery and labor attimes of irrigation, planting and harvest, has become increasingly individuated with the advent of industrialagriculture. The local food movement, however, has reversed this trend. Community gardens, communitysupported agriculture (CSA), and ―permaculture,‖ have generated new sites of community building and, in thecase of permaculture in particular, new experiments in communal living. David‘s paper discusses the rise of thelocal food movement in opposition to the rising environmental costs and check-out price, and declining safety,quality, and nutritional value, of industrial food. Then it explores the community-building dimension of thedominant local food alternatives, with cases drawn from the author‘s own local food initiatives and hisinteractions with those of others. This includes (1) the founding of the ―Bridge Garden,‖ a community garden atthe University of Denver in which individual plots are shared by a neighbor and student—the first effort atbridging the town/gown divide in living memory; (2) the founding of a permaculture garden, also on the campusof the University of Denver; (3) efforts to develop collective CSAs that pool yard space in the city of Denver, and(4) the turn of ecovillages to permaculture as a food resource and communal ethic, with cases drawn from theEastern, Midwestern, and Western United States.David Ciepley is Assistant Professor in political science at The University of Denver. He joined the faculty in2006, after taking his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and holding postdoctoral fellowships at WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis and The University of Virginia. He is the author of Liberalism in the Shadow ofTotalitarianism (Harvard University Press, 2006) and is currently working on a book on corporations and theirsubversion of liberalism.“Taming Chaos: Play and the Building of Fluid Communities”Jim Block, DePaul University, and Vanessa Walilko, Artist and Independent ScholarGiving our own meaning to the world and creating our own ways to play and act in it are fundamental parts ofhuman life; today, when we are never in spaces that encourage it, it should be no surprise that so many of usfeel desperate and unfulfilled. The presenters‘ goal is to reflect on how, in the words of child theorist VivianPaley, ―chaos finds a sensible shape‖ by trusting the ―potential of the imagination to find its own questions andseek solutions.‖ Communities are at their best the coming together of common stories. But from theperspective of politics, that is the problem: stories are what arises from sharing play with all of its ambiguities,false starts and redoings, in a word, chaos. For Peter Grey and Johan Huizinga, play requires freedom. ForSchiller, a person is only truly alive while playing. Communties, on the other hand, have always wanted pre-setmeanings. Not only are these meanings imposed on us, but we are expected to spend our lives reproducingthem.How do we bridge this gap, building communities out of play? How can we foster the sense of freedom requiredto sustain a fluid space? Beginning from thoughts about ways to encourage children to gain facility andconfidence with indeterminacy by learning how to play in coherent and collaborative ways, the two authors, anartist and a university teacher, will suggest ways art and education respectively can become the sites – explicitlyspaces – of collective story-building, forms of incipient communities. This will include classrooms, studios,museums and other projects-spaces. The result will they hope be fluid communities that are stronger for beingshared and democratic. In this presentation, they will be using the work of Paley, Marcuse, alternativearchitects and educators, Paul Goodman and others.“‟Playing with Politics‟: Stephen Gaskin and the Countercultural Experiment with CommunityFormation”Morgan Shipley, Michigan State UniversityIn Eros and Civilization, Marcuse writes ―In a genuinely human civilization, the human existence will be playrather than toil, and man will live in display rather than need.‖ In many ways, the space liberated through playhas become a myth, the Neverland fantasy of escapisms found in the myriad of modern technological23

innovations. Such innovations claim to provide the contemporary agent with greater access to ―autonomy‖ andself-actualization. Yet buried within this milieu of liberal-capitalist determinism and truisms lies the realrelationship and potential between/for the individual self and community. Politics must not divide or externalize,but can be imagined and constituted along a shared subjective experience of community by regaining our senseof play. In developing this thesis, Morgan turns to segments of the 1960s counterculture who provide examplesof community through play, where space, both physical and liminal, is produced through shared reflections andcollective discourse. The process of ―dropping out‖, while often carrying a stigma of refusal, represented thereal attempt to experiment with and play through space. Looking specifically at Stephen Gaskin, this paperintends to explore the ways in which Gaskin‘s communal classrooms (Monday Night Class, during the Caravanand on the Farm) represent an attempt to play with our collective experience, to challenge the ways in which thetechnocratic imperative of the 1960s pushed the individual further and further into isolation and consumption.Such an exploration will hopefully lead us back to play, to a shared position from which we can learn toconstruct more fluid and democratic communities.Morgan Shipley is a PhD candidate in American Studies at Michigan State University. He earned his BA inPolitical Science from DePaul University and his MA in Social Science with an emphasis in Political Theory fromthe University of Chicago. His research centers broadly on the history, nature, and manifestation of AmericanRadicalism. More specifically, he is interested in the intersection between political/social theory and popularculture and the ways that radicalism creates space for transformation, looking chiefly at the 1960s. Morgan isalso interested in literature of dissent as a popular expression of radicalism.Session 5-BNineteenth-Century Communalism(Thrall‟s Opera House)“Paean to Big Brick: Bishop Hill‟s Architecture and the Commitment to Communal Life”Jon Wagner, Knox CollegeA key controversy surrounding the nineteenth century Swedish colony at Bishop Hill, Illinois concerns whethersectarian leader Eric Janson intended the colony to be communal, or whether (as some followers later claimed)communalism was only a temporary expedient to facilitate the emigration and initial establishment of thecommunity. Much light can be shed on this question through an examination of Bishop Hill's architecture, whichfavored buildings singularly unsuited to single-family living, culminating with the last building erected duringJanson's lifetime, the megalithic Big Brick. Using floor plans and historical photographs, this paper willdocument the community‘s architectural investment in communalism, the problems this presented for later noncommunalliving, and some speculations on the reasons for conflicting post-communal interpretations of BishopHill's commitment to communalism.Jon Wagner is Professor of Anthropology at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. His doctoral work at IndianaUniversity (PhD 1975) was based on ethnographic fieldwork in a Midwestern religious commune. His academicwritings have touched on both contemporary and historic communal societies, with particular reference toBishop Hill, a subject of scholarship over the past 37 years. His other interests include utopian philosophy,futuristic visions and narratives of progress, and the evolution of human cooperation.“Reports of Progress: Alcander Longley‟s Newspapers”Jeff Wells, Texas Christian UniversityAlcander Longley (1832-1918) organized secular utopian communities and published newspapers thatpromoted the communitarian cause. Longley, a printer from Cincinnati, joined the North American Phalanx,America‘s largest Fourierist community, in 1853 and soon commenced publishing the Index. Longley later24

sought to promote his own phalanx and launched the Phalansterian Record in December 1857. Longleychanged the newspaper‘s name to Social Record in August 1858 to mark his adoption of Christian Communism.After briefly living among the French Icarians at Corning, Iowa, Longley adopted the opinion that only theabolition of private property and the voluntary adoption of communal living would prevent such social andeconomic discontent as shook the country in the late nineteenth century. Longley moved to St. Louis and beganpublishing The Communist. Longley used The Communist (1868-1885) and its successor, The Altruist (1885-1917) to promote the communities he founded throughout southern Missouri.Jeff Wells is a doctoral student in history at Texas Christian University. Wells graduated Summa Cum Laudefrom Missouri Southern State University in 2001 with a bachelor‘s degree in history. He graduated fromMissouri State University in 2008 with a master‘s degree in history. His master‘s thesis, ―The Communist andthe Altruist: Alcander Longley‘s Newspapers and Communities,‖ studies the career of a nineteenth-centuryMissouri utopian. Wells worked as a journalist before pursuing his doctoral degree in history. His journalismcareer included stints as a staff writer at daily newspapers in Missouri and Kansas and as editor of a businessjournal.“David Lamson: Bruised Idealist, Utopian Wanderer”Peter Hoehnle, Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development CouncilThis study examines the life and career of the Shaker apostate, David Rich Lamson (1806 - 1886) author of theoften referenced account, Two Years' Experience Among the Shakers. Lamson's life, from his early career as aUniversalist minister, his abolition, peace, and temperance advocacy, his involvement with the HopedaleCommunity, his residence at Hancock Shaker Village, and, finally, his later campaign against the Shakers, wasan unsuccessful personal search for utopia. Exploration of previously unexplored sources allows us toreconstruct the history of this unique individual and his reform and utopian interests. Finally, research intosurviving Hancock Shaker documents permits an objective examination of the material contained in Lamson‘santi-Shaker writings, allowing for the verification of particular details included in his account.Peter Hoehnle received his doctorate from Iowa State University in 2003. He serves on the board of theCommunal Studies Association and as the project manager for the Iowa Valley Resource Conservation andDevelopment Council in Amana, Iowa.Session 5-CWomen, Family, and Sexuality(Gymnasium)“Shaker Debates on Celibacy”Stephen C. Taysom, Cleveland State UniversityDespite the rigor with which the Shakers held to the principle of celibacy, there were moments when the practicebecame a point of contestation within Shaker leadership circles. This paper examines one such heretoforeunknown episode which occurred in the 1840s. The Shaker requirement of celibacy, including the dissolution ofconverts‘ marriages, tended to limit the group‘s appeal among men, and obviously precluded the naturalincrease of church membership that would have occurred had Shakers been permitted to have children. Thispaper details a heated debate between Shaker leaders. One side argued for an approach to celibacy whichwould allow those of slightly less spiritual stature to have sexual relations under controlled conditions for thesole purpose of ―raising up seed‖ among the Shakers. Opposing this radical proposal was the majority ofShaker leaders, who saw in it not only an invitation to lust, but also a disturbing willingness to respond to thecrisis of dwindling membership through adaptation rather than revelation.25

Stephen C. Taysom earned a PhD in Religious Studies from Indiana University in 2006. He is currently anAssistant Professor of Religious Studies at Cleveland State University. His first book, Shakers, Mormons, andReligious Worlds: Conflicting Visions, Contested Boundaries will be published by Indiana University Press thisfall. Also due this fall, is a collection edited by Taysom entitled Dimensions of Faith: A Mormon Studies Reader.He lives with his wife and three children, appropriately enough, in Shaker Heights, Ohio.“The Architecture of Family Among the Whitewater Shakers”Lindy Cummings, Miami UniversityIn building their communities throughout the east and Midwest, the Shakers relied upon the language of familyto cement the bonds between the Believers. While becoming a Shaker was constituted upon the premise ofrejecting one‘s biological kin, the Shakers continued to rely upon natural kinship connections for leadership andmembership among the various communities. The role of the family in Shaker villages remains one of thehidden aspects of establishing what Jonathan Andelson calls an ―intentional community.‖ This presentation,which is part of a larger study on the role of biological family among the Whitewater Shakers, traces thetransformation of natural kinship ties into a religious community designed to replace the biological family with aspiritual family. While the Shakers were successful in using the language of family to build their communities,Whitewater believers enhanced rather than diminished the relationship between and reliance upon naturalkinship. The architecture of family opens new avenues of exploration into the process of Shaker communityformation and persistence.Lindy Cummings is a graduate of Indiana University and holds a MA in Gender and Comparative Women‘sHistory from Miami University. Her thesis, ―‘A promising little society‘: Kinship and Community Among theWhitewater Shakers, 1820-1850,‖ examines the role of biological kinship ties in the development of theWhitewater Shaker Community in southwest Ohio.“Women to the Fore: Utopian and Dystopian Novels of the Nineteenth Century Woman‟s RightsMovement”Wendy E. Chmielewski, Swarthmore CollegeFrom the middle of the nineteenth century (and the birth of the woman‘s rights movement) through the first twodecades of the twentieth century, many fictional works were published about anticipated social changes ifwomen were to gain full political rights. These plays and novels reflected the fears and hopes of a new world inwhich women would have a larger role in public affairs. From Lucy Boston or Woman‟s Rights and Spiritualismby Fred Folio (1855) to The Co-Citizens by Cora Harris (1915), some of these works were satires predicting adystopian world if woman‘s rights were enacted; while other novels and plays promised a utopia when womengained the power to ―clean up‖ government and society. Some of these works have been examined byhistorians of the woman‘s rights movement, but have been largely ignored by scholars of utopian thought andintentional communities.Better known utopian fictional works such as Edward Bellamy‘s Looking Backward, while portraying women withgreater social and political roles, only briefly mention or portray the exact nature of what such gender changeswould mean in the larger society. Works on all-female or egalitarian societies such as Charlotte PerkinsGilman‘s Herland, Mary Bradley Lane‘s Mizora, and Alice Ilgenfritz Jones‘ and Ella Merchant‘s Unveiling aParallel; A Romance, have been more fully treated by scholars. However, there is a significant literature oflesser known works still to be considered. This paper will examine the historical and political contextualchanges in nineteenth and early twentieth century gender roles, with the dystopian and utopian societiescreated in the following literary works: Lucy Boston or Woman‟s Rights and Spiritualism by Fred Folio (1855);The Spirit of ‟76; or the Coming Woman, A Prophetic Drama, by Ariana and Daniel Curtis (1868); A Woman ForMayor by Helen M. Winslow (1909); A Suffragette Town Meeting by Lilian Clisby Bridgham (1912); Ruled BySuffragettes, by E. Fruend (1914); and The Co-Citizens, by Corra Harris (1915).Wendy E. Chmielewski is George Cooley Curator of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. She is the coeditorof Jane Addams and the Practice of Democracy (University of Illinois Press, 2009) and Women inSpiritual and Communitarian Societies in the United States (Syracuse University Press, 1993). She is former26

president of the Peace History Society and a former board member of the Communal Studies Association.Chmielewski's current research project is "Her Hat Was In the Ring: U. S. Women Who Ran For Public OfficeBefore 1920."Session 5-DTeaching Utopianism and Communalism(Working Men‟s Institute)“Strategies and Resources for Teaching Utopianism and Communalism”Michael William Doyle, Ball State UniversityIn this presentation Michael will address strategies for resolving dual tensions in structuring an upper-levelcollege course on American communal utopias. These include 1) emphasizing literary representations vs.historical communitarian experiments; 2) balancing coverage of eutopias vs. dystopias; and 3) assigningsecondary vs. primary sources. He will also discuss how to create writing assignments that culminate in firstperson,living history debates using the examples of the role of religion and morality in George Rapp‘s HarmonySociety vs. Robert Owen‘s New Harmony, and sexuality and family in John Humphrey Noyes‘s OneidaCommunity; as well as which imaginary utopias are more ―successful‖ (assessed by means of categoricalcriteria): Bellamy‘s Looking Backward vs. Perkins Gilman‘s Herland, and Skinner‘s Walden Two vs.Callenbach‘s Ecotopia. Finally, Michael will examine the efficacy of pre- and post-course in-class exercises bywhich students design their own utopia.Michael Wm. Doyle is associate professor at Ball State University, where he teaches courses in U.S. history andAmerican Studies. In addition, he serves as director of the department‘s Public History Program. Doyle earnedhis B.A. in history with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Master‘s and Doctoral degreesfrom Cornell University. He is co-editor and contributor to Imagine Nation: The American Counterculture of the1960s and „70s and has produced or served as a consultant to several documentary films and oral historyprojects. He is currently working to establish a Digital History Education Laboratory at Ball State.“Shyamalan‟s The Village as a Paradigm for Teaching Utopian and Fundamentalist Boundaries”Steve Watkins, University of LouisvilleThis paper proposes a useful tool in teaching the social dynamics employed by utopian and fundamentalistsubcultures. One of the central features in both utopian and religious fundamentalist culture, is the maintenanceof boundaries in order to demarcate the ―ideal‖ community from the tainted ―world of corruption.‖ There arenumerous ways in which utopian and fundamentalist communities seek to keep corruption at bay while alsopromoting purity within. This paper documents the helpful role that media can play in helping students to graspthe complexities of how utopian and fundamentalist religious communities function. M. Night Shyamalan‘s TheVillage provides a visual frame-of-reference that aligns scholarly contours of idyllic communities with the harsherrealities faced by any group of people living in close proximity with one another. Also included in my research isan appraisal of the commonalties in ideological and religious utopian communities. The paper concludes withpedagogical suggestions that help students grasp some of the more complicated aspects of scholarly study.Steve Watkins is Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies at Northern Kentucky University (since September,2008). He is in his third year of study as a Ph.D. student at the University of Louisville (Humanities). In summer2010, Steve taught two courses in Athens, Greece through the Kentucky Institute of International Studies. Hehas presented papers at the Kentucky Philological Association, Phi Alpha Theta National Biennial HistoryConference, Northern Kentucky University Military History Lecture, and the American Academy of ReligionSoutheast Conference for the Study of Religion.27

“Teaching Utopias and Intentional Communities: Reflections on 30+ Years”Robert Rosenthal, Hanover CollegeAs an overview of the presenter‘s month-long course, "Utopias & Intentional Communities" as it has evolvedduring the past 34 years, he gives a visual walk-through of the course's field experiences accompanied by about14 "observations" on teaching this kind of course. Though his own focus is on philosophical issues, hisobservations should have much broader relevance to the pedagogy of teaching ICs. If time allows, he willconclude with longitudinal observations on the ICs they have especially studied--St. Meinrad, an Indiana Amishsettlement, Padanaram, Oakwood/Rainbow Farm (Emissaries of Divine Light), The Farm & Ecovillage TrainingCenter, New Vrindaban.Bob Rosenthal is Professor/Chair of philosophy at Hanover College (IN), teaching in philosophy of art,environmental philosophy, philosophy of religion, concepts of love, and intentional communities. His specialknowledge in the latter includes monasticism, Anabaptists (esp. Amish & Hutterites), ecovillages, The Farm,Padanaram, and New Vrindaban (Hare Krishna movement).Session 5-EAmerican Hutterites and German Evangelicals(Beal House)“Hutterite Architecture”Ruth B. Lambach, Oakton Community CollegeThis paper will attempt to show how powerfully ingrained Hutterite architecture and socialization remain in thevery fiber of the Hutterite person. Hutterite building style and work style, plain and practical, reflect thefundamental ideals of the Christian life in the colony. Ruth Baer Lambach, born Mennonite, joined the Hutteriteswith her family as a 6 year old child and left the Hutterite Colony life when she was between 13 and 14 and theBruderhof (aka The Society of Brothers and Christian Community International) joined with the Hutterites atForest River Colony in North Dakota. Ruth will give examples from her life in the modern world to demonstratehow powerfully and effectively Hutterites educate their children for communal life.For the past thirty years, Ruth, raised in a medieval European culture, has remained at the cutting edge of thegeopolitical landscape of the 20th and 21st by working with immigrants and refugees, legal or illegal from allover the world. She is retired from her work as Manager of ESL teachers in the Chicago City Colleges andworks part-time still teaching immigrants English. She has been attending the CSA conferences since 1989 andis currently a board member as well as the Book Review Editor for Communal Societies“An Imaginary Israel in Contemporary Germany: The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary‟s Kanaan”George Faithful, Saint Louis UniversityBuilt in Germany in the aftermath of World War II, Kanaan is the retreat center of the Evangelical Sisterhood ofMary. They opened their Promised Land to outsiders in order to facilitate their collective witness. For thefounders of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, Kanaan was a miracle and a refuge. For their spiritualdaughters, it served as a reminder of Christ and of heaven. Yet former members of the group have seen theplace as a prison, and guests might perceive it as anything from a source of spiritual sustenance to anevangelistic gimmick. Kanaan‘s architecture and artistic representations of the Holy Land are provocative;whether they are persuasive is a matter for individuals to discern, as this reception analysis will demonstrateBorn in Anchorage, Alaska, George Faithful is a Ph.D. candidate in historical theology at Saint Louis University.His dissertation will addresses the ways that Mother Basilea Schlink and the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary28

appropriated themes, concepts, and terminology prevalent in the Third Reich, even as they presented a versionof Christianity in opposition to that promulgated by the Nazis. His future research will assess the theologicalimplications and overtones of the Cold War. His wife, Enelia, is a native of Colombia and works as a graphicand web designer. They live with their dog, Emma, in St. Louis, Missouri.Session 5-FCarried by the Current(Harmonie Haus Theater)Film screening, “Carried by the Current”Nicola PearsonIn the late 1800s, in a small town in Texas, a group of women called the Sanctified Sisters had had enough oflife with their abusive husbands. The women, all from wealthy white families, professed ―sanctification‖ as a wayto stop sleeping with their husbands and to stop taking their money. They sold eggs, butter and cheese,chopped firewood and did laundry to raise money for their common fund. Eventually, the women moved intogether, creating what may have been the first safe house for battered women in this country. This play,Carried by the Current, by Nicola Pearson, is a dramatization of their story.Nicola Pearson has written seven full-length plays, most of which have received productions in WashingtonState and some of which have won prizes in national playwriting competitions, including third place in the 2007Fremont Centre Theater New Play Contest in Pasadena, CA, and first place in the 2005 Jane ChambersPlaywriting Award. Nicola is currently working on a series of related one-acts called The Soul Plays, the first ofwhich, The Genius Room, was performed at the 2007 Sydney ―Short and Sweet‖ in Sydney, Australia. Nicolalives in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains with her husband and children.Session 6-AGlobal Communities(Atheneum/Visitors Center)“The Radhasoami Faith and Intentional Community in South India”Charles W. Nuckolls, Brigham Young UniversityFounded in the 1850's, the Radhasoami movement is a prophetically guided Indian faith that combines elementsof Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism. The worldwide membership numbers over one million. Since the early 20thcentury, several Radhasoami intentional communities have been developed, with the largest (numbersingseveral thousand residents) near the city of Agra. Communities strive to be economically self-sustaining, andthere is an emphasis on equality, service, and group meditation. This paper focuses on a community created inthe 1980's in Visakhapatnam (South India), the second largest Radhasoami group in India, and examines themethods used to create and maintain cohesiveness. Of particular interest is the way the community "positions"itself with respect to the Hindu caste society that surrounds it, and how it constructs an ideal of equality in themidst of caste-based hierarchy.Charles W. Nuckolls (Ph.D. University of Chicago) is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology,Brigham Young University. He is the Winner of the Stirling Award for Contributions to PsychologicalAnthropology. His research projects have included: spirit possession and divination in South India;contemporary Japanese nationalism; diagnosis and decision-making in American psychiatry; assisted humanreproduction in New Zealand; and the study of ecovillages and cohousing communities in India, New Zealand,29

and the United States. Nuckolls is the author of The Cultural Dialectics of Knowledge and Desire (University ofWisconsin Press) and Culture: A Problem that Cannot be Solved (University of Wisconsin Press), among others.“The Kommuna Impulse: Collective Mechanisms in Early Soviet Russia, 1917-1932”Andy Willimott, University of East AngliaThis paper assesses Soviet Russia‘s interaction with the „kommuna impulse‟ – the desire to employ thecommune and communal living as a means of advancing socialist visions. Focusing on the social ambitions of‗leftist‘ theoreticians, architectural designs for collective living, and the spontaneous bytovye kommuny(domestic communes) established by young activists across Russia after 1917, this paper shows how the ideaof the kommuna - the ‗cell of the future‘ - was tied to the socio-cultural revolution of early Soviet Russia. It willalso be argued that these ventures cannot be understood merely as examples of isolated utopias. In each case,everyday domestic life was turned into a socialist battleground. Thus, we can shed new light not only on alacuna in the study of communal experimentation but on the true dynamism of early Soviet Russia.Andy Willimott is a Ph.D candidate in history at the University of East Anglia. He has previously presented atthe World Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies and at the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. He is the author of ―The Kommuna Impulse: CollectiveMechanisms and the Communitarian activist in Early Soviet Russia,‖ forthcoming in Revolutionary Russia.“Twelve Tribes Communities: Becoming a Confederation”Ed Wiseman and Jean Swantko Wiseman, Twelve Tribes CommunitiesHaving begun in 1972, there are now approximately fifty Twelve Tribes‘ Communities in nine countries. We arelearning to live as the Book of Acts, chapters 2 and 4, in Scripture directs. Nearly forty years old, our firstgeneration is ―taking the baton‖ to carry on the faith of their parents. This is not without struggle and difficultieson every front. In the midst of the battle we are becoming a confederation of twelve self-governing tribes with anemerging culture that reflects this structure. A confederation best describes our ―architecture‖. We build with―the builders‖ – those ‗born in her‘ and those who come at any age. We would like to present an introduction toone of our communities, Stoneybrook Farm, in northern Virginia as a prototype. It is an organic farmcommunity, currently poised to open a Farm Store to the public and looking toward a small café in the samevillage. The Wisemans will present and discuss what makes our communities ―tick‖ and how we look forwardtoward the future.Ed Wiseman has practiced constitutional, family, and criminal defense law for thirty years, focusing inthe area of freedom of religion and association. He is the author of several papers on anti-cultism asapplied to the history of the Twelve Tribes of Israel Messianic Communities located in ten countries. Hispublications are found in the Social Justice Research Journal (2000); in ―Regulating Religion: CaseStudies from Around the Globe” edited by James Richardson. (2004); and in a forthcoming chapter,Patterns of Targeting Nontraditional Religions: Parallels in the State Raids on the Twelve Tribes and theFLDS in ―Saints under Siege: The Texas State Raid on the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints” ed.James Richardson and Stuart Wright (2010).Session 6-BEscape: Accounts of FLDS Disaffiliation(Thrall‟s Opera House)30

This panel will provide a scholarly examination of several popular accounts of FLDS disaffiliation, includingthose of Dorothy Allred Solomon, Elissa Wall and Carolyn Jessop. Panelists will discuss themes of power,secrecy, victimization, and religious freedom as they play out within FLDS communal life and the broaderculture. Presenters will keep their papers short in order to allow time for the Discussant, Matthew Grow, tocomment on the three papers.“Power, Secrecy, and the Derailing of Family Life in Dorothy Allred Solomon‟s Predators, Preys, andOther Kinfolk”Susan Love Brown, Florida Atlantic UniversitySusan Love Brown is professor of Anthropology at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. She is a politicaland psychological anthropologist with an interest in intentional communities. She is the editor of IntentionalCommunity: An Anthropological Perspective and a member of the Board of Directors of the Communal StudiesAssociation.“The Burden of Audience and Elissa Wall‟s Stolen Innocence”Etta M. Madden, Missouri State UniversityEtta Madden is a professor of English at Missouri State University where she teaches courses in Americanliterature and cultural studies. Her research interests include autobiography, food studies, literacy theory,religion and literature, and science and literature. Her works include Bodies of Life: Shaker Literature andLiteracies, and Eating in Eden: Food in American Utopias. She is a member of the CSA Board.“Agency and Attributions in Carolyn Jessop‟s Escape and Triumph”Deborah Altus, Washburn UniversityDeborah Altus is a professor at Washburn University. She has been involved in communal studies for overtwenty years, although her main area of scholarship is Gerontology. Whenever her work allows (although notoften enough for her taste!), she combines the two endeavors by studying shared housing for older people.Recently, she studied the Greenhouse model of long-term care, a model that the innovator refers to as an―intentional community.‖ Deborah is a board member of the International Communal Studies Association, amember of the Editorial Review Board of the Fellowship for Intentional Community, and a past CSA president.Session 6-CPreservation of Historic Communal Sites(Working Men‟s Institute)“Rebuilding Oneida: Ideology, Architecture, and Community Planning in the Oneida CommunityLimited, 1880-1935”Thomas A. Guiler, Syracuse University, CSA Starting Scholar Award Winner, 2010On January 1, 1881 the Oneida Community, founded in the ferment of social reform earlier in the century,dissolved into the Oneida Community Limited (OCL), a joint stock corporation. This initiated a period ofprofound economic and social change in the former utopian living experiment. With a new leader and ideology,the OCL embraced its communitarian heritage and at the same time strove for success in the business world.Combining themes ordinarily studied separately--social reform, business, city planning, and architecture--this31

paper examines how the community‘s new direction was manifested in the physical and structural remaking ofOneida, New York. The new orientation brought about a reconfiguration of the community‘s Mansion House intoapartments and offices, abandoning farmlands to accommodate private housing tracts, and radically enlargingits industrial complex. Yet the company, which produced tableware, hunting traps, and silk, also retained itscommunal feel by erecting clubhouses, schools, and golf courses to help its employees embrace thecommunity. While Oneida‘s later turn toward business has often been remarked upon as one of the mainreasons it lasted so much longer than many other utopian communities, the significance of the particular way itchanged, as reflected in its approach to space, has not been fully explored. By drawing on extensive archivalsources, we can glean more about the significance of the later period in Oneida‘s history and explore the waysin which Oneida might have influenced and been influenced by social and commercial developments in the late19th century, not just the earlier period of reform.Thomas A. Guiler is currently a doctoral student in history at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.Originally from Rochester, New York, he graduated with a B.A. in history and philosophy from the University ofScranton. His research interests include modern American cultural history, the history of architecture, andurbanization. He is the co-author of an article with Lee. M. Penyak entitled, ―Braceros and Bureaucracy:Mexican Guest Workers on the Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad During the 1940s,‖ which appearedin the Autumn 2009 issue of Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies.“The Oneida Community‟s Buildings and Built Environment”Anthony Wonderley, Oneida Community Mansion HouseThis survey of architecture, grounds, and settlement pattern relates photographs and plans to aspects of belief,planning, sequence, and use. The overview focuses on the fully developed situation of the Community in the1870s.Curator of the Oneida Community Mansion House, Tony Wonderley (Ph.D., Cornell) is the author of two books(Oneida Iroquois Folklore, Myth, and History; At the Font of the Marvelous) published by Syracuse UniversityPress. In earlier lives and a misspent youth, he published scholarly articles on Mesoamerican archaeology,Iroquois archaeology, New York history, and Native American folklore.“The Ephrata Cloister: Its Distinctive Architecture”Jobie E. Riley, The Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown CollegeThe buildings of the Ephrata community, often referred to as "colonial skyscrapers," comprised separate livingquarters for celibate men and women, halls for worship, and various buildings for music, arts, andindustry. Founded by Georg Conrad Beissel in 1732, the society at one point numbered 300 persons, includingcelibate men and women, plus householders, adherents living on farms on the outskirts of the Cloister. Thecommunity became famous for its austere lifestyle, choral music, Fraktur-Schriften, religious zeal, mysticism,and commercial enterprises. It was one of three major printing establishments in the colonies.Following the demise of the Cloister, the premises were taken over by the Pennsylvania Historical and MuseumCommission in the mid-1900s. Since then, many buildings have been restored and opened as one of the state'smajor tourist attractions. A series of archaeological digs have determined the location of many formerstructures. This presentation will include electronic projection of various pictures of the interiors and exteriors ofbuildings, both extant and lost. Photographs and diagrams from various archaeological explorations will also bedisplayed. The narration will sketch out the beliefs and goals of Herr Beissel's community and describe how hisideals were embodied in the style of cloister architecture.Jobie E. Riley is a Professor of Communications, Retired from Elizabeth College. He is the author of EphrataCloister: A Bibliography,1945-2000 (Prepared for the Young Center for the Study of Anabaptist and PietistGroups, Elizabethtown College, under the direction of Dr. Donald F. Durnbaugh).32

Session 6-DShaker and Harmonist Technology(Gymnasium)“‟We live at a great distance from the Church‟: Cartographic Strategies of the Shakers”Carol Medlicott, Northern Kentucky UniversityThe Shaker movement was long distinctive among American utopian sects, in that it attempted to encompass alarge number of communities arrayed across a thousand miles of geographic distance. This expansivegeographic structure stimulated many notable practices among the Shakers, among which was map-making.This paper reflects Carol‘s research into the Shaker maps produced in response to the Shakers‘ trans-Appalachian expansion after 1805. In it, Carol illuminates some of the early cartographic strategies of theShakers by looking at some of the early Shaker maps in the context of American cartographic practices morebroadly. This will shed light on the nature and extent of geographical knowledge in Shaker circles during theperiod of the Early Republic and how Shakers used cartography to maintain ―gospel order‖ across geographicaldistance.Carol Medlicott is Assistant Professor of Geography in the Department of History and Geography at NorthernKentucky University. She received her Ph.D in Geography from the University of California at Los Angeles in2003. Her research considers a range of topics in historical and cultural geography, including nationhood,memory, sacred spaces, and musical geographies. Her work has been published in Gender, Place, andCulture, National Identities, ACSQ, Timeline, and Terrae Incognitae. Since 2005 she has been studying severalaspects of the Shaker ―west,‖ including the period of missionary expansion and Western Shaker music.“The Medical Shop: Medical Practice in the Harvard Church Family 1834-1843”Merry B. Post, Independent Museum ConsultantThe Church Family medical shop in Harvard, Massachusetts was a small, frame building that served inpatientsand outpatients, community members, visitors, and hired workers. One of the Shaker physicians who lived andworked in this shop, Susan K. Myrick, kept a journal from 1834 to 1843 documenting medical care that reflectedShaker values of cooperation, charity, spirituality, and respect for the elderly. Shaker physicians supervised aflexible system of nursing that drew cooperation from the four Harvard Shaker families. Cooperation allowedrapid, coordinated responses to epidemics. Shaker treatment methods paralleled medical trends in the outsideworld, including leeching, cupping, steaming, and the administration of emetics, blisters, and laxatives.Thomsonism and Grahamism were two health reform movements that influenced treatment. Shaker physiciansoften sought help from the world‘s physicians for fractures, dislocations, persistent fevers, and serious injuries.With song, prayer, and tender nursing, the community supported healing for the sick and for the frail elderly.Merry Post Biography received a Masters in Museum Studies from Harvard University, for which she wrote athesis ―Wood Matters: Connecting a Museum‘s Collections with Its Landscape.‖ She curated a related exhibit of60 objects (2008-2009) at Fruitlands Museum, where she was a Shaker interpreter (1996 to 2008). As researchassistant to the History Department Chair, Suffolk University (2008-2009), Merry found and described primarysources about organized poor relief in Boston (1620-1825) for a website serving students. She researched andwrote a reference document on textile tools and machinery for the American Textile History Museum. Merry has25+ years‘ editing experience on scholarly, college, and medical texts.“Harmonist Redware Pottery Manufacture in New Harmony”Michael Strezewski, University of Southern IndianaNew Harmony has been continuously occupied since the Harmonists founded the town in 1814, andarchaeologically, it has proven quite difficult to isolate artifacts that specifically date to the Harmonist presence33

(1814-1824). One exception is the distinctive Harmonist redware ceramics, which were utilitarian vessels madefor use in the household and also sold to non-Harmonist settlers in the area. Archaeological excavations andarchival studies over the past two years have provided a great deal of information on the nature of theHarmonist pottery operation, which was under the direction of the master potter, Christoph Weber. Ultimatelythe goal of these investigations is to gain a greater understanding of the methods used in Harmonist potterymanufacture and the types of vessels made by Weber which, in turn, can aid in understanding more aboutHarmonist foodways.Michael Strezewski is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Southern Indiana. He receivedhis Ph.D. from Indiana University in 2003. His research focuses on Mississippian period peoples of the Midwest(A.D. 1000-1450), the fur trade period in Indiana (A.D. 1700 – 1820), and the Harmonist occupation of NewHarmony.Session 6-EHarmonist Communities(Beal House)“‟Our Mother and Your Father‟: The Unions and Conflicts between the Frontier Shakers and theHarmonists”Joshua Orem, Indiana University-Purdue University IndianapolisAlthough a definite relationship existed between George Rapp‘s Harmony Society and the various frontierShaker settlements in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana, acknowledgement of these interactions remains largelyunresearched. Through an examination of letters exchanged between each group their intentions andinteractions become evident. While theological similarities led to close social and economic relations betweenthe Harmony Society and the Shakers, religious differences ultimately prevented any close union between thegroups. The Shakers persistently sought to reconcile their theological differences with the Harmony Society.The Harmonists were not opposed to friendly interactions with the Shakers; however, they avoided any sort ofspiritual union.Joshua Orem is graduate student in the museum studies program at IUPUI and obtained his Bachelor ofScience in history at the University of Southern Indiana. Throughout his studies he has been actively involvedwith Historic New Harmony which has included leading historic walking tours, participating in archeologicalexcavations, and conducting research.“Community Building: Ideal and Constructed Space in Rappite and Owenite New Harmony”Lindsey Hansen, Indiana University-BloomingtonThis paper examines the constructed space of New Harmony as it relates to the ideological writings of GeorgeRapp and Robert Owen. Contemporary Space/Place theory and Cultural Geography form the framework of theanalysis, which attempts to establish how the opposing natures of the highly religious Rappite Separatists andthe socialist Owenite communitarians can be reconciled within New Harmony‘s built environment. Additionally, itaddresses questions regarding the nature of utopian communities in general, and explores the formation ofcommunal space by attempting to determine whether there is something inherent in communism (whetherreligious or social) that necessitates a particular arrangement or construction of space.Lindsey Hansen is a doctoral student in the Department of the History of Art at Indiana University Bloomington.She studies the architectural history of the High Middle Ages (ca. 1050-1400), focusing on the construction ofindividual and group identity in the sculptural programmes of both secular and religious structures. She is also34

interested in the ethics of reconstruction, and examines the ways in which restoration may alter the symbolicand cultural content of works of art.“The Harmonists and Wage Labor: A Quantitative Analysis”Joe White, University of PittsburghIt is common knowledge that the Harmony Society employed non-members and paid them wages for their laborfrom at least as early as the l870s. But this fact has gone virtually unexplored for any number of plausiblereasons, starting with its awkward departure from the original practices of the Harmonists, which were mostemphatically not based on wage labor. However, the Harmonists' use of paid labor is well worth studying. Howmany people did the Harmony Society employ? Who were they? How were they recruited? Were wages andworking conditions essentially similar to or different from jobs elsewhere in the western Pennsylvania labormarket? What did employees make of the Harmonists? Where did they go after they finished working at OldEconomy? With the aid of the Harmony Society papers and other primary sources, serious headway can bemade toward answering these questions. This much can be confidentially asserted at the outset: the use ofwage labor added decades to the life of the Harmony Society.Joe White has presented a number of papers at CSA conferences, starting with the last time the CSA met atNew Harmony.Closing Plenary SessionIntentional Communities in the Twenty-First Century(Atheneum/Visitors Center)“Civilization 2.0: Tipping Elements and the Built Environment”Albert Bates, The FarmIf we were to assume that, all of a sudden, humanity, especially the portion living in the most heavilyindustrialized world, were to wake up to the existential threat posed by peak oil, climate change, and globaleconomic collapse, what changes in our living arrangements might offer some slim prospect of survival? In thispaper we examine strategies for the built environment that maximize the emission reductions and sink potentialsand optimize the adoption incentives for a range of structural adaptations. Beginning with paleoclimateevidence of reciprocity between global climate and anthropogenic land use changes, we examine the potentialsensitivity of climate to human lifestyle choices. Tipping elements that are already or will likely come into playfor architect and master planner decision-making before 2050 include: CO2e concentration in the atmosphere;ocean acidification; stratospheric ozone; biogeochemical nitrogen and phosphorus; global freshwater use; landsystem change (

Recipes for Changing Times (2006) offered a alternative path to the future for home-owners, fleet managers andcity planners. His current book, The Biochar Solution: Carbon Farming to Save the Planet (New Society, 2010)describes the next agricultural revolution.“A Communitarian Conundrum: Why a World that Wants and Needs Community Doesn‟t Get It”Timothy Miller, University of KansasPeople the world over long for community. Social alienation is widespread, especially in the developed world,and many idealize communal living as something that will put meaning and fulfillment into one‘s life. However,the numbers of persons actually living in intentional communities is tiny–a very small fraction of 1% of thepopulation. Many who have considered the disconnect between a widespread desire for community and thedifficulty of starting actual communities and getting them to function well have focused on what might be calledinternal issues–things such as interpersonal relations, decision-making processes, leadership, and financialstrength. However, issues that could be called external may be more important than the internal ones.American society, in particular, has structures and attitudes that discourage communal ventures. This paper willexamine the roles of such things as zoning laws, modern technology, and political ideologies in hindering thedevelopment of healthy, attractive intentional communities.Timothy Miller is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas. He has published three booksand many articles on the history of intentional communities. His work in progress is a comprehensive referencework providing brief overviews of and bibliographical references to American intentional communities over thelast four centuries. In his spare time he enjoys looking at trees.“Urgent Lessons from the Ideological Architecture of Communities”Donald Pitzer, University of Southern IndianaFrom their ideological architecture, intentional communities create voluntary experiments that offer invaluablelessons, both positive and negative, to the general society. The architectural model of intentional communitieshas often been based on a foundation of authoritarianism. The framework, the walls, range from millennialismto humanitarianism and pacifism. A potentially crowning achievement topping off the communal structure isenvironmentalism. Lessons from each of these elements of communal architecture are examined and illustratedwith graphic images from historic and current communities worldwide. Solutions to urgent issues of our timesemerge – innovative forms of democratic governance, humanitarian outreach, conflict resolution, alternativeenergy and sustainable living. Ecovillages and The Farm, Habitat for Humanity and Koinonia are featured alongwith monastic orders and ashrams, Harmonists, Shakers, Hutterites, Owenites, Mormons, Oneida, andJonestown.Donald Pitzer is professor emeritus of history and director emeritus of the Center for Communal Studies at theUniversity of Southern Indiana. He is a founder and first president of the Communal Studies Association andInternational Communal Studies Association. He has taught, lectured, published and visited communitiesworldwide. He edited the book America‟s Communal Utopias with his theory of developmental communalism asits focus. His articles have appeared in Communal Societies from 1984 to 2009. His ―Signal Communities inWitness of Peace,‖ appeared in Restoration Studies (2009). He is writing a history of New Harmony for IndianaUniversity Press.36