Intentional Community : The Intersection of Commitment and Cultural Critique

Abstract

In this paper, the author argues that intentional communities serve as lived cultural critique and explores the ways in which this cultural critique is developed through individual commitments and lived experience, connecting these individual commitments and lived experiences to the Peace House community in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She first provides a definition of intentional community followed by a brief historical context of American intentional communities. Within this discussion, she expounds on and updates existing scholarly literature about intentional communities while providing a different theoretical framework in which to further understand and analyze intentional communities. In today's changing world, technological advances have made people feel more connected to one another, but at the same time many people express feelings of disconnect and nostalgia for the past. Intentional communities must be considered as real alternatives to the social issues faced by many individuals today.