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Sustainability and Utopianism: an Ethnography of Cultural Critique In SUSTAINABILITY AND UTOPIANISM: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF CULTURAL CRITIQUE IN CONTEMPORARY INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES by JOSHUA PETER LOCKYER (Under the Direction of Peter Brosius) ABSTRACT Intentional community building is a phenomenon of socio-cultural resistance with a deep, cross-cultural history. It has been most prevalent in the nations of the Global North where people have sought ways to respond to changes wrought by the development of industrial capitalist political economies. In intentional communities, they have responded by joining together to live according to values different from those of the predominant society, to create small-scale cooperative or communal political economic institutions and alternative production and consumption rationalities. Interdisciplinary scholars have typically described intentional communities as utopian in nature, but they have disagreed with regards to the transformative potential of such utopian undertakings, their ability to successfully achieve the goals they set for themselves and their utility as sites for social science research. This research builds on recent theorizations of intentional communities to suggest that they are of increasing relevance to contemporary social and environmental problems and of increasing utility to social scientists wishing to engage with potential solutions to those problems. Most prominently, it empirically tests a recent conceptualization of intentional communities as explicit forms of cultural critique similar to the cultural critiques implicit in much of anthropological knowledge production. Through participant observation in two intentional communities in western North Carolina, analysis of ethnographic interviews conducted there and analysis of the communities’ political economic institutions, it reveals how contemporary intentional communities are manifestations of cultural critique. These cultural critiques consist of two components: epistemological critiques of dominant ideologies and institutions and cross-cultural juxtapositions through which alternative ideologies and institutions are created. Through the articulation of the concept of developmental utopianism, this research asserts that the processes of cultural critique and utopian striving inherent to intentional communities are ongoing processes that cannot be evaluated solely within the boundaries of individual intentional communities. It also suggests that through the ethnography of cultural critique in places such as contemporary, sustainability-oriented intentional communities, anthropologists might be able to navigate some of the epistemological and methodological challenges that have confronted the discipline in the wake of the science wars and in our quest to address social and environmental problems. INDEX WORDS: Anthropology, Arthur Morgan, Communalism, Communitarianism, Community, Consensus Decision-Making, Cultural Critique, Ecovillage, Intentional Community, Land Stewardship, Land Trust, North Carolina, Permaculture, Renewable Energy, Social Movements, Sustainability, United States of America, Utopian Community, Utopianism SUSTAINABILITY AND UTOPIANISM: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF CULTURAL CRITIQUE IN CONTEMPORARY INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES by JOSHUA PETER LOCKYER B.A., The University of Arizona, 1998 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2007 © 2007 Joshua Peter Lockyer All Rights Reserved SUSTAINABILITY AND UTOPIANISM: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF CULTURAL CRITIQUE IN CONTEMPORARY INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES by JOSHUA PETER LOCKYER Major Professor: Peter Brosius Committee: Virginia Nazarea Hilda Kurtz Ray MacNair Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2007 DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the members of Celo Community who originally inspired this research and graciously welcomed me into their lives, and to the members of Earthaven Ecovillage who have shown me what it means to be truly dedicated to the pursuit of a more just and sustainable world. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to begin by thanking my parents who have supported me throughout my life’s endeavors. To my father and best friend, Robert Lockyer, I thank you for empowering me to think openly and critically and for continued intellectual camaraderie. To my mother and biggest fan, Della Dixon, I thank you for providing me with more love, emotional support, and motherly wisdom than a son could ever hope for. Both of you opened my mind to other worlds and helped me to achieve my fullest potential. My father’s partner, Connie Lauth has also provided support both directly and by being there for my father during his time of need. I want to express my appreciation for my dissertation adviser, Peter Brosius, who introduced me more fully to the transformative and emancipatory potential of anthropology through his teaching and through his own research, writing and activism. I could not have completed this work without his generosity and advice even as he faced increasing personal and professional commitments. I wish to express my gratitude to the other members of my committee, Virginia Nazarea, Hilda Kurtz and Ray MacNair who have demonstrated perseverance, patience and an unceasing willingness to support me on this long road to completing my doctoral degree. Ben Blount has also continued to provide support and encouragement. The Department of Anthropology and the Graduate School at the University of Georgia have provided essential support throughout my graduate career in the form of university-wide and departmental research and teaching assistantships. I am particularly grateful for the v Dissertation Completion Award. It provided me with an invaluable opportunity to make this work the best it could be. The office staff in the Anthropology Department – Charlotte Blume, Margie Floyd, Arnold Brunson, LaBau Bryan, Lisa Norris and Jill Morris – have graciously provided continued assistance, often at a moment’s notice. My research would not have been possible without the generous support of the Communal Studies Association in the form of their inaugural Research Fellowship. I thank all of the members of the Communal Studies Association for welcoming me so warmly into a new community of which I now feel a part. During my research, Paulina Etzold and Bruce Wachter continually opened their warm and beautiful home to me as a place of respite. I cannot thank them enough for the emotional, intellectual and material support that they have provided. Finally, I must thank the members of Celo Community and Earthaven Ecovillage who so generously opened their lives to my probing and endless hours of inane inquiries despite the good and multiple reasons they may have had to shy away from someone in my position. In particular, I would like to thank Ron and Donna for inviting me into their home, putting a roof over my head and sharing with me their insights about Celo Community. The month I spent in Ruth’s straw bale house was also a blessing. At Earthaven Ecovillage, Ivy and Farmer opened unique and intimate windows on the passions and desires that compelled them to the great work they have undertaken and supported me in my own personal and intellectual quandaries and endeavors. To all of you I will be forever grateful. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................xiv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES AND THE UTOPIAN CHALLENGE OF SUSTAINABILITY ................................................................1 Symptoms of a Crisis.............................................................................................2 Brundtland and Beyond: The Sustainability Rhetoric.............................................3 The Utopian Challenge of Sustainability................................................................6 The Problem and Promise of Utopia ......................................................................9 Gandhi as Analog: Utopian Experiments in Culture.............................................11 Intentional Communities and the Utopian Challenge of Sustainability .................15 Introduction to the Research Question .................................................................17 Sustainability, Utopianism, Intentional Community and Cultural Critique: Overview of the Dissertation..........................................................................19 2 OVERVIEW OF SUSTAINABILITY-ORIENTED INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES.................................................................................................24 Intentional Communities: More Than Hippie Communes ....................................25 Sustainability in Contemporary Intentional Community Building: Cohousing and Ecovillages ....................................................................................................32 vii Anthropology, Communities and Sustainability...................................................41 Intentional Communities and the Sustainability Challenge...................................46 An Introduction to Celo Community and Earthaven Ecovillage ...........................54 3 THEORIZING INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES: RECOGNIZING THE RELEVANCE OF UTOPIANISM ......................................................................63
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