USI Center for Communal Studies Lecture Series presents Dr. Tristra Newyear September 23

The University of Southern Indiana Center for Communal Studies is excited to offer a presentation by Dr. Tristra Newyear, Chief Strategy Officer at Rock Paper Scissors in Bloomington, Indiana, titled Radical Women in Early Indiana. The presentation will take place at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 23 in Kleymeyer Hall (LA 0101), located in the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center. This event is open to the public at no charge and will also be offered online via Zoom. 

Newyear earned her PhD in central Eurasian studies from Indiana University and is a creative artist devoted to the history of New Harmony and community creativity. She is the author of several novels, including Starfall, which NUVO Indianapolis called “visionary” for its reimagining of New Harmony’s history. She also wrote and produced a limited-run podcast on early 19th-century firebrand Frances Wright and has been featured on NPR affiliates including WNIN and WVXU Cincinnati. 

Her upcoming lecture will spotlight Indiana’s role as a center of radical progressive thought in the early 19th century, particularly through the voices of women. Frances Wright, a writer, speaker and activist, visited New Harmony out of curiosity and left inspired, beginning a career that earned both praise and controversy. Her advocacy against slavery and for women’s rights helped lay the groundwork for transformations in American society that continue today. 

“Dr. Newyear brings to life Frances Wright’s feminist perspectives on the development of utopian communities in 19th century America, and her unique relationship with Robert Owen and the town of New Harmony,” says Dr. Silvia Rode, Director of the Center for Communal Studies. 

Registration is required for Zoom. 

For more information about this event, contact Rode at sarode@usi.edu.