New Books in Sociology Michelle Christine Smith, "Utopian Genderscapes: Rhetorics of Women's Work in the Early Industrial Age" (Southern Illinois UP, 2021)
Nov 9, 2025
Michelle C. Smith, an author and scholar of rhetoric and gender studies, explores women's labor in 19th-century intentional communities. She highlights the unique dynamics at Brook Farm, Harmony Society, and Oneida Community, discussing how these spaces addressed the value of women's work amidst industrialization. Smith challenges conventional notions of 'failure' in utopian communities and reveals their lasting impact on labor practices, childcare, and birth control. She also previews her upcoming research on the myths surrounding Rosie the Riveter, aiming to reshape historical narratives.
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Summer At A Co‑housing Community
- Michelle C. Smith describes living briefly in a co-housing community called Blueberry Hill during college and how it shaped her interest in intentional communities.
- She observed shared meals, communal maintenance, and parking designed to create safe shared space, which made her curious about alternatives to nuclear-family living.
How She Picked The Three Communities
- Smith chose the Harmony Society first because its archives were nearby and rich, and Gertrude Rapp's silk work drew her in.
- She then added Brook Farm for its transcendental promise and later swapped in Oneida for richer archives and gender experimentation.
Gender In Space Is About Labor
- Smith realized debates about gender in space are fundamentally debates about labor and who does what work.
- She reframed her project to focus on rhetorics of women's work to better capture how gender is produced in these communities.
