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Article
Revisiting Rajneeshpuram: Oregon's Largest Utopian Community as Western History
Oregon Historical Quarterly
  • Carl Abbott, Portland State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2015
Subjects
  • Utopias -- Oregon,
  • Urban policy -- Oregon,
  • Rajneeshpuram (Or.) -- History,
  • Religion and state -- Oregon -- Rajneeshpuram -- History,
  • Osho (1931-1990)
Abstract

Between 1981 and 1985, the intentional community of Rajneeshpuram near Antelope, Oregon, hosted up to 15,000 followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a spiritual leader from Pune, India. In this essay, Carl Abbott examines the rise and fall of Rajneeshpuram within the context of western history, which “centers on the processes of migration, settlement, displacement, and rearrangement.” Drawing parallels to earlier religious closed communities, such nineteenth century Mormon settlements, Abbott describes how Rajneeshees fit into the “overarching storylines of frontier utopias and the…narrative of settler colonialism.” Unlike Mormon communities, however, Abbott concludes that Rajneeshpuram ultimately failed because its leaders were not willing to compromise community goals when faced with larger state regulatory systems.

Description

This is the publisher's final PDF. Copyright © 2015, Oregon Historical Society. Reproduced by permission.

The article can be found online at: http://www.ohs.org/research-and-library/oregon-historical-quarterly/

Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/16579
Citation Information
Carl Abbott. “Revisiting Rajneeshpuram: Oregon's Largest Utopian Community as Western History”. Oregon Historical Quarterly 116.4 (2015): 414–447.