Academic Communitarian | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: allenbutcher (allenbutcherjuno.com) | |
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 11:28:11 -0700 (MST) |
Anyone familiar with this fellow and his work? My quick search of the web did not turn up anything but there seem to be lots of Michael Cummings's Fred > "The general public has the impression they all died out in the > 1960s," says Michael Cummings, a University of Colorado, Denver, > political scientist who has studied communes for 17 years. In fact, > Cummings estimates, there are now tens of thousands of "intentional > communities"--groups of people who reject conventional neighborhoods > and live with others who share their values or interests. I know 'em. He writes fairly regularly for Communities magazine, and attends conferences of the Communal Societies Association, Society for Utopian Studies, International Communal Societies Association and other academic communitarian organizations. Look up these organizations on the www.ic.org Web site, I think they're there, otherwise I'm sure they are in the Communities Directories, and they may have their own Web sites. Michael Cummings does not live in a community. He is an example of your classic "academic communitarian." Not that that is a slam, it is good to have such 'non-biased' supporters. I don't know how he does it, but he manages to get his name and quotes in a lot of pieces about community like this. Must be those academic networks. I haven't found him to be helpful in creating a cohousing community in Denver, nor in supporting a regional association of communities. He has a reputation of not answering his mail or returning phone calls to people other than to those with whom he wants to communicate. For example, he invited me to Denver to enroll in his masters program in political science, but when I switched to a computer information program, he was no longer available. He accepted information on communities and cohousing I sent to him, but never responded or reciprocated. I have heard similar criticisms from others, so I have reason to believe that it is not just me. To be charitable, I'll say that he must be very busy. He is really a great guy, and he and evidently his wife, are very much into community, they just seem to have a comfortable life keeping that academic distance from his subjects of study. Still, if you want an informed and sympathetic academician to quote for your article, or book or whatever, Dr. Cummings is likely to be available. Allen
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