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Revisiting Rajneeshpuram: Oregon's Largest Utopian Community As Western History, Carl Abbott Jan 2015

Revisiting Rajneeshpuram: Oregon's Largest Utopian Community As Western History, Carl Abbott

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

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 …


Utopia And Bureaucracy: The Fall Of Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, Carl Abbott Feb 1990

Utopia And Bureaucracy: The Fall Of Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, Carl Abbott

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

During 1981-1985, the followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh built a large utopian community in eastern Oregon's solitude and named it Rajneeshpuram. While Rajneeshpuram appeared to be physically isolated and removed from government intervention, it was actually embedded in a dense system of laws and bureaucratic regulations, quite within reach of local, state, and national bureaucracies. It was this ability of the local and state regulators to limit the development that was one of the major factors for the sudden collapse of Rajneeshpuram in the fall of 1985. Other contributing factors were the growing disaffection and factionalism within the commune leadership …


History And Background Of The Debate Over Rajneeshpuram, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.) May 1984

History And Background Of The Debate Over Rajneeshpuram, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.


Population Projections For The City Of Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, 1982 - 2002, Population Research Center, Portland State University Aug 1982

Population Projections For The City Of Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, 1982 - 2002, Population Research Center, Portland State University

Publications, Reports and Presentations

The projections found within this report are an attempt to model population growth in a manner consistent with the expected economic development of the City of Rajneeshpuram. Because of the rather unique features of this community, a rather detailed explanation of the particular techniques used in this study follows. In addition, the report contains the rationale for the various assumptions that went into these projections.