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“A promising little society”: Kinship and Community Among the White Water Shakers 1824-1850

Cummings, Lindy

Abstract Details

2010, Master of Arts, Miami University, History.
This study examines the relationship between biological kin and Shaker community at the White Water Shaker village, tracing the transformation of natural kinship ties into a religious community designed to replace the biological family with a spiritual family. The role of the family in Shaker faith remains one of the hidden aspects of establishing what Jonathan Andelson calls an “intentional community.” While becoming a Shaker was constituted upon the premise of rejecting one’s biological kin, the Shakers continued to rely upon natural kinship connections for leadership and membership among the various communities. The end result was the fragmentation of kin and the emphasis on building new, fictive kin networks based on the Shaker model from the older eastern communities that used the language and structure of biological family to bind its members to one another. The role of the family opens new avenues of exploration into the process of Shaker community formation and persistence.
Dr. Mary Frederickson, PhD (Advisor)
Dr. Carla Gardina Pestana, PhD (Committee Member)
Dr. Andrew R. L. Cayton, PhD (Committee Member)
82 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Cummings, L. (2010). “A promising little society”: Kinship and Community Among the White Water Shakers 1824-1850 [Master's thesis, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1281018017

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Cummings, Lindy. “A promising little society”: Kinship and Community Among the White Water Shakers 1824-1850. 2010. Miami University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1281018017.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Cummings, Lindy. "“A promising little society”: Kinship and Community Among the White Water Shakers 1824-1850." Master's thesis, Miami University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1281018017

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)