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The Politics, Participants, and Praxis of the Lesbian Land Movement Jensine (Sine) Anahita Iowa State University

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The Politics, Participants, and Praxis of the Lesbian Land Movement Jensine (Sine) Anahita Iowa State University Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2003 Landdyke landscapes: the politics, participants, and praxis of the lesbian land movement Jensine (Sine) Anahita Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Sociology of Culture Commons Recommended Citation Anahita, Jensine (Sine), "Landdyke landscapes: the politics, participants, and praxis of the lesbian land movement " (2003). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 562. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/562 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Landdyke landscapes: The politics, participants, and praxis of the lesbian land movement by Jensine (Sine) Anahita A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Sociology Program of Study Committee Betty Dobratz (Major Professor) Dianne Bystrom Jill Bystydzienski Clare Hinrichs David Schweingruber Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2003 UMI Number: 3085887 UMI UMI Microform 3085887 Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ii Graduate College Iowa State University This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation of Jensine (Sine) Anahita has met the dissertation requirements of Iowa State University Signature was redacted for privacy. Committee Member Signature was redacted for privacy. Committee Member Signature was redacted for privacy. Committee Member Signature was redacted for privacy. Committee Member Signature was redacted for privacy. Ma/or Professor Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Major Program Ill DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the landdyke social movement community, to the 32 who participated in the study, and to Kayt Sunwood. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viii ABSTRACT ix CHAPTER ONE. FROM SANCTIFIED SISTERS TO LANDDYKE COMMUNITIES: GENERAL INTRODUCTION . 1 Abstract 1 Introduction 1 The contemporary landdyke movement 2 Historical perspectives: Feminism, social anxieties, and communalism 3 Feminism 4 Social anxiety and upheaval 5 Communalism 7 The Sanctificationists 8 History of the Sanctificationists 9 Sanctificationists' beliefs and practices 13 Contributions of the Sanctificationists 14 The Landdykes 17 The 1970s women's land movement 17 The 1980s lesbian land movement 18 The 1990s landdyke movement 21 The 2000s landdyke movement 24 Social movement perspectives: The landdyke movement and the Sanctificationists. 25 Methodology and sample 28 Mechanisms of the study 28 Approach to analyzing the data 30 IRB regulations 30 Form of the dissertation 31 Map of the dissertation 32 Bibliography 33 CHAPTER TWO. NESTLED INTO NICHES: THE SOCIAL ECOLOGY OF LANDDYKE MOVEMENT COMMUNITIES 37 Abstract 37 Introduction 37 Organizational niche theory 38 Niche theory, social movements, and social movement communities 40 Lesbian niches in historical perspective 41 Methodology and sample 47 Characteristics of the sample 48 V Nestled into niches: Discussion of the findings 49 Relationships with land 50 Relationships with others 55 Personal transformation processes 58 Living their politics 62 Multiple freedoms 66 Conclusion 69 Bibliography 71 CHAPTER THREE. LANDDYKE TOOLKITS: MOVEMENT OBJECTIVES AND EMBODIED ACTIVIST STRATEGIES 76 Abstract 76 Introduction 76 U.S. Landdyke movement community 77 Theoretical framework: Movement strategies, external factors, and internal factors 79 External factors that affect social movement strategies 80 Internal factors that affect social movement strategies 80 Social movement organizations and social movement communities 82 Methodology and sample 83 Characteristics of the sample 84 Embodied social movement strategies: Discussion of the findings 86 Movement objectives and strategies 87 Providing access to land for women 88 Functioning as a prefigurative community 91 Acting as an archive for skills 94 External and internal factors 96 Conclusion 98 Bibliography 100 CHAPTER FOUR. RIVERS OF IDEAS, PARTICIPANTS, AND PRAXIS: MANAGING CONFLUENCE IN A SOCIAL MOVEMENT COMMUNITY 104 Abstract 104 Introduction 105 The women's land movement 105 Analytical framework 108 Social movement confluence 112 Methodology and sample 113 Characteristics of the sample 113 Social movement confluence: Discussion of the findings 114 Manifestations of social movement confluence 115 B enefits of confluence 121 Challenges of confluence 125 Managing confluence 131 Conclusion 143 Bibliography 145 VI CHAPTER FIVE. REFLECTIONS ON LANDDYKE LANDSCAPES: GENERAL CONCLUSION 149 Weaving the chapters together 149 Contributions of the study 153 Limitations of the study 155 My plans for future analysis of the data 157 Suggestions for future research 158 Conclusion 161 Bibliography 162 APPENDIX A. LANDDYKES PROJECT INTERVIEW PROTOCOL 164 Vil LIST OF TABLES Geographic dispersal of respondents viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My most heartfelt gratitude goes to the members of my dissertation committee for their work: Betty Dobratz, Dianne Bystrom, Jill Bystydzienski, Clare Hinrichs, and David Schweingruber. In particular, Betty Dobratz encouraged me as a researcher long before she became the chair of my dissertation committee, and David Schweingruber offered friendship and mentoring far beyond his role as a committee member. Thanks to Bill Woodman, never a committee member, but always an advisor, mentor, and friend. I also thank Mike Bell for his work as my advisor and for his encouragement that sustained me throughout much of my graduate work. I also owe a great debt to the Iowa State University Department of Sociology and to the ISU Graduate College for providing me with the resources and funding I needed in order to conduct this work. Several graduate student colleagues, faculty, and staff members provided emotional, practical, analytical, and theoretical support when I needed it the most. For this and for the community they helped to build, I thank all members of the Iowa State University Sociology Department. Special thanks are due to Rita Marinko and other staff members at Parks Library for their help in locating articles and other resources. Thanks to my dear friends, BeJae Fleming and Jackie Blount for helping to make Iowa home these last years. Thanks also to my beloved friends in North Carolina and to my family—my mother and sister, and my departed father. And finally, I thank my partner, Kayt Sunwood, for... well, everything. ix ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the contemporary U.S. women's land movement, known also as the lesbian land movement, and most recently, the landdyke movement. Data for the study is provided by a set of qualitative interviews with 32 movement participants. Of special interest are the politics of the movement and the set of practices participants utilize to embody their politics. The format of the dissertation is four articles for submission to peer- reviewed journals, and introductory and concluding chapters. The first chapter introduces the three chapters that follow, and situates the landdyke movement sociologically and historically. The chapter compares the contemporary landdyke movement with a peculiar 19th century separatist women's community, the Sanctificationists. The second chapter is an ethnography of the movement, and utilizes the concept of ecological niches as its analytical framework to argue that the movement provides niches for lesbians that are unavailable to them elsewhere. The third chapter examines the strategies participants utilize to embody movement politics, using the metaphor of tools. This chapter contends that members of the movement literally embody movement strategies. The fourth chapter analyzes the early origins of the lesbian land movement and the processes by which participants, ideas, and practices flow into and out of the movement. Using images of fluidity, especially confluence, this chapter describes how the movement both benefits and faces challenges due to confluence, and how its practitioners manage confluence. The fifth chapter is a general conclusion for the dissertation. It draws the four articles embedded in the dissertation together, and proposes some of the contributions of the study and its limitations. Using these limitations, suggestions are made for future research. 1 CHAPTER ONE FROM SANCTIFIED SISTERS TO LANDDYKE COMMUNITIES: GENERAL INTRODUCTION1 An article to be submitted in modified form to a sociological journal. by Sine Anahita Abstract This article analyzes the first autonomous intentional women's community in the U.S. that was founded in the late 19th century explicitly to empower women. Known as the Sanctificationists, the community was linked to both the feminist and communal movements of its day. Connections are made between the late 19th century Sanctificationists and the late 20th century landdyke movement. Social movement perspectives are utilized to examine both movements, and to situate each historically and in sociological literature.
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