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

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