Cults have always thrived in the American landscape, often as attempts improve upon an environment perceived as spiritually or philosophically lacking. Sometimes cults arrive with new immigrants—American history is immigration—and sometimes they arise from a desire to escape from American or Western culture. American women have endured and escaped from both. We’ll explore their experiences, starting with Louisa Mae Alcott’s experiences in her transcendentalist father’s commune, “Fruitlands,” (available online) and working our way through the worlds of Somali Muslim, Orthodox Jewish, Dutch Calvinists, and Mormon women. Students should purchase the following from the university bookstore or online.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey through the Clash of Civilizations (2010)
Deborah Feldman, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots (2012)
Ruth Everhart, Ruined (2016)
Ruth Wariner, The Sound of Gravel (2016) |
