Group Presentation 2: Real Life Experiments with Utopia

Assignment Description:

Over the years, a number of idealistic thinkers have tried to put their utopian visions into action, creating hundreds, if not thousands, of utopian communities. These communities have been based on ideals and values that come from religious, social, economic, philosophical, and even artistic principles—and, in many cases, a mix thereof. For this assignment, your group will choose a real-life Utopian experiment that interests you. This may be a utopian community of the past or it may be a utopian community that still functions today (many of these today call themselves intentional communities). You will research your chosen topic to understand who founded the community, what their vision, principles, and values were, how the community was founded, how it functioned, what challenges it faced and how these were overcome (or not!), how it evolved over time (for better or for worse), and where it is today. Additionally, you and your group will reflect on this utopian experiment in order to determine what insights it gives us into human nature and decide what lessons your modern society can learn from it. You may also want to reflect on how its experience can inform utopian thinkers of today and of the future who strive to found their own communities. Your group will create slides to enhance your presentation; this should include the sources you consulted in your research (min. 3). Time limit per group: 10-12 minutes.

What to include:

• Clear explanation of the founder(s)’s vision and implementation and functioning of the community
• Challenges it faced and how the community responded
• What insights it provides into human nature, what lessons your society of today can learn from this experiment, and what lessons founders of future utopian communities can learn
• Citations for a minimum of 3 sources, presented in MLA format (final slide of your PPT)

To help you prepare:

• Skim the suggested readings (below) and decide which community interests you and your group the most to choose as your presentation topic; sign up on our Google Sheet.
• Research the information you need as relates to your chosen topic using credible sources.
• Paraphrase the key information that you will include in your presentation, making sure to keep track of the sources you use and prepare citations in MLA format.
• Meet with your group to outline the presentation structure
• Prepare your PowerPoint presentation slides with your group and practice presenting together.

Tips for success:

• Use your own words!
• Remember who your audience is – try to engage them by being enthusiastic and interacting with them
• Be creative! Consider including images, diagrams, interesting examples, music, or even a very short video (max. 1 min)
• Remember that your slides are to enhance your message and make the presentation more interesting and easy to follow… not to read from!!! Remember the 5X5 rule
• Coordinate the presentation with your pair and practice together.
• Practice your part several times – and make sure you do not exceed the time limit (all presentations will be stopped after 12 minutes!)

Grading:

You will be graded based on the oral presentation grading rubric below.

Suggested Readings*:

In Pictures: 8 Modern Utopias (Forbes)

9 Utopias That Really Exist (HuffPost)

Utopia: 9 of the most miserable attempts to create idealized societies (The Independent)

Is this Portuguese Eco-Village a 21^st Century Utopia? (TED Ideas)

Cult or Commune? How Utopian Communities Turn Dangerous (Rolling Stone)

Auroville, India / Trouble in Utopia: India’s Auroville was envisioned as an international community free of government, money, religion, and strife. It hasn’t exactly worked out quite as planned (Slate)

List of American Utopian Communities (Wikipedia) / American is a Utopian Experiment—and Always Has Been (Pacific Standard) / Early American Utopias and Communalism

* These readings are not all reputable, scholarly sources of information but are provided to give you ideas and inspiration. Consider them a jumping off point rather than the main sources you will use for your research