Abstract:
Although not well known, Oregon’s intentional communities date back over one hundred
and fifty years. Oregon communalism reached its peak in the 1970s when there was a
huge growth in lesbian intentional communities in Southern Oregon. These communities
developed out of the back-to-the-land movement and the women’s movement. However,
besides thinking about communalism and women’s liberation, the women were also
harkening back to a long-held component of American cultural mythology: the pastoral
ideal. Pastoral idealism, or the idea that a simple, egalitarian, and spiritually pure life is
possible in the countryside, has been a driving force in American writing and cultural
movements. Although the members of intentional communities attempted to isolate
themselves from patriarchal American culture, their writings demonstrate continued
engagement with pastoral idealism. In doing so, these women inextricably linked
themselves to American culture and must be seen as part of America’s history of
idealism, communalism and activism.