June 17, 2003 Grade: B+
The Oneida Community
I) What I Learned:
From my reading of Extraordinary Groups: An Examination of Unconventional Lifestyles by William Zellner, I examined the subculture: "a culture within a culture, where beliefs and values have more influence on members’ behavior than does the larger society" (p. 53) of the Oneida community. The founder of the Oneidans was John Noyes who became fevered in spreading the Word of God after attending a revival held in September of in Putney. Although he was unsuccessful at first in gathering followers, many people soon joined his community when news of his successes spread.
Noyes’ ideas were based on true ‘economic communism’ where all members of the community resided under the same roof. Group facilities such a communal dining room, library, and recreation area were placed in the ‘Mansion House’. "Integral closure utilized as the primary solidifying force." (p. 59) Due to such close quarters with one’s neighbors, Oneidans were very close to one another. Equal work loads and resources were shared as well as sexual partners and children. To further eliminate anti-grouping stimuli, substances such as smoking apparatuses, tea, coffee, and alcoholic beverages were forbidden.
In 1850, in order to keep a level of balance, all children were given dolls which resulted in a lack of work from the children. The result was a bonfire where girls had joined hands and were each persuaded to toss their dolls in. From that point on, no more dolls were allowed in the nursery. No prayer services, wedding ceremonies, or formal funeral arrangements existed for this subculture because of the lack of churches and the concept of marriage in today’s sense. A "complex marriage" system was established by the statement: "The human heart is capable of loving any number of times and any number of persons. This is the law of nature. There is no occasion to find fault with it." (p. 77) If a male desired a female, he simply asked her or utilized a go-between for communication. At first, this seems like a prelude to an over population conflict but amative-preparative sex which distinct whether a male ejaculates formulates an interesting method of birth control. A male is only able to ejaculate when either the female is past menopause or when a child is desired.
II) What I Did:
In order to depict what I learned from Zellner, I portray a 19 year old female who is in the middle of her chores which consists of cleaning and mending. While she cleans, she compares and contrasts her community and the community of outsiders of whom she has learned a bit from her elders. She wonders aloud of how things could be different but defends her society as being a selflessness and very nearly perfect community. She is interrupted however before she can complete her contemplations as she is suddenly in a rush to complete her chores before someone catches her procrastinating.
Annotated Bibliography of Resources on the Oneida Community
Textbook:
Zellner, William. "Extraordinary Groups : An Examination of Unconventional Lifestyles" Worth Publishers Seventh Edition: 53 : 97.
Discusses many various cultures, including the Oneida Community. Describes the different social and economical structure of the community and it’s positive and negative aspects. Many good quotes I could put into my paper. Explains about the beginning of the subculture and what characteristics made it so popular to some and so unacceptable to others.