Camphill and the Ever-Changing Face of Intentional Community
The Camphill movement is one of the largest and most dynamic networks of intentional communities in the world today. Founded in 1939 by followers of the spiritual teacher Rudolf Steiner, Camphill includes more than one hundred communities on five continents, each offering a rich economic and cultural life to people with and without intellectual disabilities.
Camphill is also a vivid illustration of John Humphrey Noyes's observation that successful communities must "combine and alternate thinking with experiment and practice, and constantly submit all theories . . . to the consuming ordeal of practical verification."
In this presentation, Dan McKanan will explore the ongoing experimentation and constant change that have enabled Camphill to thrive for nearly a century.
About the Speaker
Dan McKanan is the Emerson Senior Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School, where he has taught since 2008.
He is the author of Camphill and the Future: Spirituality and Disability in an Evolving Communal Movement and five other books on religious socialism, pacifism, environmentalism, abolitionism, and the Catholic Worker and Fourierist communal movements.
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The Communities In Conversation Series - Sponsored by the Central New York Library Resources Council
August 20, 2026 - Communal History IS American History, Thomas A. Guiler, Oneida Community Mansion House
October 27, 2026 - "Perverted Spiritualistic Forces": John Humphrey Noyes versus William Hepworth Dixon in the Victorian Press, Christian Goodwillie – Hamilton College
November 24, 2026 - Sex, Communalism, and Utopia: How a 70s Commune Took Oneida into the Future, Cheryl Coulthard – Vice President, Communal Studies Association
January 26, 2027 - New Light Family Values: Sex & Salvation in Revolutionary New England, Douglas L. Winiarski – University of Richmond
April 1, 2027 - Unexpected Colonial American Composers: The Sisters of the Ephrata Cloister, Christopher Herbert – William Paterson University
April 15, 2027 - Camphill and the Ever-Changing Face of Intentional Community, Dan McKanan – Harvard Divinity School
April 27, 2027 - From Oneida to Ithaca: Enduring Themes in Intentional Communities, Jen Myers – Thrive EcoVillage Education Center / Center for Transformative Action
-All registrants will receive a Zoom link within 48 hours of registration.
-All proceeds support the preservation of the Oneida Community Mansion House and its educational programs.
