Presenter(s): Alexandra Jansky
Faculty Mentor(s): Judith Raiskin
Poster 163
Session: Social Sciences & Humanities
In the early 1980s, hundreds of members of an East Indian cult called the “Rajneesh” settled in Eastern Oregon, establishing therein a sprawling community of young, wealthy, and sexually liberated followers of their leader, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The cult members were met with swift opposition from the citizens of Antelope, Oregon, a neighboring retirement community of less than 60. This archival research project, developed from the University of Oregon Special Collections, seeks to uncover how the Antelope citizens defended their way of life against the so- called Rajneesh invasion. Through a sociological analysis of the Antelope citizens’ complaint letters to both federal and local entities, as well as examination of the city’s publicized anti- Rajneesh propaganda, I explore how the Antelope citizens’ rejection of the Rajneesh served as a fundamental departure from common xenophobic patterns of social elitism, racism, or religious discrimination. This work aims to explain how the Antelope citizens constructed and implemented an “in-group” identity based on traditional, rural principles, which they used as a tool to successfully resist the influence and assimilation of the Rajneesh. This case study offers a parallel between the Antelope citizens’ response to outside pressure, and that of otherwise insular and conservative communities challenged by the “other.”