Communities Articles

The Spring 2018 edition of Communities, focused on “Class, Race, and Privilege,” is now available for free download from ic.org/communities. The issue looks unflinchingly at a major “elephant in the room”—the relative lack of racial and class diversity in most ICs, at least in North America—while suggesting ways of recognizing, understanding, and addressing it. Authors share stories of obstacles they’ve encountered (from both sides of the privilege equation) and positive steps they and their groups have taken to move toward greater inclusivity and equity. They also reflect honestly on the deep-rootedness of unconscious racism, of social and cultural barriers, of problems of power, privilege, classism, “white fragility,” and more.

Our Winter 2017 issue, Urban Communities, takes readers on a journey from the US East Coast through middle America to the West Coast, then to Canada and overseas. The communities featured span an equally broad range—from communes to cohousing, from outward-focused to more inward-focused, from retrofit to custom-built, from ecovillages, intentional neighborhood projects, and service-oriented groups to broader efforts to expand and strengthen the urban commons. As our stories make clear, and despite popular preconceptions, in many ways no setting is better suited to intentional community than an urban one—and, even short of full intentional community, city-dwellers have many, ever-evolving options for creating more connection, mutual support, and sharing in their lives.

CSA and FIC partner to spread awareness of communal groups past and present and the vital lessons they offer, in areas ranging from conflict resolution, sustainability, and equality to the dangers of authoritarianism.