International Communal Studies Association Conference at Amana

By Tim Miller

Prof. Tim Miller, Outgoing ICSA President, reports on the ICSA Amana Conference:

The International Communal Studies Association held its eighth triennial international conference in June 2004 at the Amana Colonies, Iowa, USA. A fine program, coordinated by Elizabeth De Wolfe, smooth-running local arrangements handled by Lanny Haldy and his staff and volunteers at the Amana Heritage Society, and website and technical support from Gina Walker, Peter Forster and others provided the approximately seventy-five persons attending with an abundance of information and conviviality.

The conference was preceded by a two-day tour that visited five present and historic communal sites: Maharishi Vedic City in Fairfield, Iowa; Nauvoo, Illinois; Bethel, Missouri, Sandhill Farm, Missouri and Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Missouri. A highlight of the tour was a visit to Lillian Snyder's home and her Icarian history collections in Nauvoo, complete with an extensive spread of snacks from Sheila Owens.

This conference marked the retirement of Yaacov Oved, the cofounder of the ICSA who has been its executive director from the beginning. Yaacov gave a plenary lecture outlining the history of communal networks and international dimensions in the study of intentional communities and as a token of its appreciation the association presented him with a copy of the new Encyclopaedia of Community, kindly provided by the Berkshire Publishing Group and Sage Publications. The Encyclopaedia will be placed in the library of the kibbutz research center at Yad Tabenkin, Israel.

The Communal Studies Association took the opportunity of Yaacov's U.S. visit to present him with its Donald E. Pitzer Distinguished Service Award for 2004, to honor him for his work to further the study of communalism.

Dennis Hardy of England was elected the new president of ICSA and will oversee arrangements for the next conference in 2007.