From Matt Grow:
CALL FOR PAPERS
for the Annual Conference of
The Communal Studies Association
Hosted by
Historic New Harmony & The Center for Communal Studies
University of Southern Indiana
New Harmony, Indiana
Conference Dates: September 30-October 2, 2010
Conference Theme:
?The Architecture of Community?
Architecture, in the fullest sense of the word, will be the theme of this conference, including not only the physical structures used by communitarians, but also the social, religious, and political organization of their communities. Held at the southern Indiana site of two prominent intentional communities, one founded by the German Pietist Harmony Society and the other by the social reformer Robert Owen, the site of the conference will give attendees examples of various types of architecture. Tours of the New Harmony site will be included in the program. Papers, panel discussions, and audio-visual presentations are solicited, both on the theme and on the broader aspects of communal groups, intentional communities, and utopias.
Deadline for Submission of Paper & Session Proposals: May 1, 2010
Send your presentation title, a 150-word maximum abstract, and a brief (100 word) biography and contact information to:
Matthew J. Grow
Director, Center for Communal Studies
University of Southern Indiana
8600 University Blvd.
Evansville, IN 47712
Office: (812) 464-1971
Fax: (812) 465-7152
E-mail: mjgrow@usi.edu
The Communal Studies Association is an interdisciplinary organization for people living in intentional communities, historic site personnel and academics representing topics including history, anthropology, religious studies, sociology, political science, and others. Each year, the CSA?s annual conference is held at the site of an historic intentional community. For more information about the organization, see our website www.communalstudies.org.
Thanks for putting this up, Ben. New Harmony is a great place to visit and has some interesting connections with early Mormonism. The communal experiments of the Harmonists and Robert Owen were internationally-renowned and provided some of the cultural context for the Mormons’ experiments in communalism a decade later. The CSA always has interesting presentations on Mormonism, and some scholars of Mormonism (like Mario DePillis and Larry Foster) are regulars at the conferences.
Comment by Matt Grow — November 10, 2009 @ 9:05 am
Thanks for the informative comment, Matt. I’ve only attended a CSA conference once–when it was in conjunction with JWHA–but I really enjoyed it and have been trying to mold my interests in a way to submit a proposal. Looking over some past conference programs, they are never at a loss for interesting papers.
Also, it might be helpful to link to Matt’s guest post over at T&S where he goes further into detail on the connections between communal and Mormon studies.
Comment by Ben — November 10, 2009 @ 9:29 am
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to make it to this thus far, but I agree, it’s looked great in past years and continues to look like a promising avenue for comparative and interdisciplinary work that includes Mormonism.
Comment by Jared T — November 10, 2009 @ 11:49 pm
Will try to make it. Montreal was so expensive, it set back our conference budget pretty significantly.
Comment by smb — November 11, 2009 @ 9:23 am