Intentional communities in Romania. Story of their beginnings

• Author: Andreea Claudia Mardache
• Position: Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 97-104

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 9 (58) No. 2 - 2016

INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES IN

ROMANIA. STORY OF THEIR

BEGINNINGS

Andreea Claudia MARDACHE1

Abstract: Intentional communities have been present throughout the world,

for many years. In Romania, such communities have emerged for only a few

years and nowadays they are in the forming stage. I studied five such

intentional communities, by means of a qualitative research, with a view to

identifying the story of each of them.

Key words: community, intentional community.

1. Introduction

“Of late years, in the Romanian space, several initiatives to form intentional

communities have come into being. Although, in Romania, these initiatives are

relatively recent, and in small numbers, elsewhere in the world, such community

initiatives are very old (decades), and very numerous. In this regard, only the website

“Fellowship for Intentional Community” (www.ic.org) recorded so far 2455

communities, either newly emerging, or already constituted, all over the world. Out of

them, 1676 communities are in the United States of America, the rest being

distributed across other 73 countries” (Mardache, 2015, p. 15).

Leafe Christian (2003) considers that the emergence of such communities is an

extensive cultural phenomenon, in which large groups of people come to feel that

they live in a society increasingly fragmented, superficial, expensive and dangerous,

as well as that they long for a warmer, healthier, better lifestyle, also a more

accessible, cooperative one, in which people should feel much more connected to

each other.

I was interested in researching these community projects, as I dare say th ey will

escalate, in Romania, in the coming years, as it has already been happening, for many

years, in other countries, too. Furthermore, “this social phenomenon is closely

connected to the current problems facing mankind: economic, social, environmental

problems, and so forth, offering the alternative of a lifestyle that might mitigate, in

the short run, and perhaps even solve, in the long run, a part of these problems facing

people everywhere” (Mardache, 2015, p. 17).

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, andreea.mardache@unitbv.ro