Utopian community - Bhargav Patel

Which Utopian Community would I prefer to live in?

   Utopian communities were formed in the 19^th century in which they had their own ideals and principles of live, marriage, love and sex. There were four Utopian communities which were mentioned in depth in class. The Utopian communities we talked about in class were the Nashoba, the Shakers, the Mormons and the Oneida. I don’t agree 100 percent with any of the ideals of the Utopian community but if I had to choose, I would like to be a part of the Nashoba community.

   The Nashoba community was founded in December of 1826 by Frances Wright. Fanny as she was known, first thought of creating a community in 1825 in which slaves would work to buy their freedom to go back home while being civilized and educated in the process. Fanny could not find investors for her plan. She eventually bought 2000 acres of woods near the Wolf River in Tennessee with her own money (about $10,000). The land was suggested by Andrew Jackson who took it from the Chickasaw Indians. Fanny named the land Nashoba the Chickasaw word for wolf.¹

   There are a few reasons on why I chose the Nashoba over the other communities. The Nashoba community was started with a noble thought of abolition. Unlike the norm at the time the Nashoba had the idea of individualism and elevated love and desire. As mentioned in class most other communities had very conservative views while the Nashoba had free thinkers and more open to different possibilities.²

   Relating to our overall topic about the history of sexuality the Nashoba were the most liberal when it came to sex and marriage and the relationship between them. The Nashoba thought that love was the pre-requisite for sex. There was no need for marriage to have sex and express love to one another in the Nashoba community. During some of the discussions in class we talked about how sex was viewed as something evil that should only be done to reproduce after marriage etc. But the Nashoba were very liberal and open minded about sex and felt that everyone should be able to have sex without being stigmatized.²

   I agree with most of the ideas and views that the Nashoba follow. They were opposed to organized religion, slavery and did not require marriage.² Though they weren’t the greatest group of people in the world. Slaves were stilled required to pay for their freedom and Fanny herself kept slaves (she was sort of a hypocrite). Slaves had to pay $6,000 for their freedom and 6% interest annually.¹ Slaves could not be trustees or make decisions and had to leave America once freed.

   So the Nashoba like the other communities had their share of pros and cons but in the end the pros outweighed the cons in that time period. I would have loved to be part of a free thinking community in a time where people were very conservative and stigmatized love and sex. But like I said, they weren’t perfect.

References

1.     1.  UL Lafayette , ""The Cause of Human Improvement": Frances Wright and the Nashoba Community." Accessed March 31, 2014. http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~lxm8207/FannyWright.html.

2.     2. Moore, Crystal. "Utopian Communities ." Accessed March 31, 2014.