| Research
Interests: Kutzer is
researching a dissertation on the so-called hippie
invasion of northern New Mexico in the late 1960s and
early 70s. The Taos area alone boasted more than thirty
rural communes by 1970. He is interested in not
only the political, spiritual, and ideological
dimensions of the hippie commune movement, but also
whether or not the influx of hundreds, if not thousands,
of mostly middle-class white newcomers with the capital
to buy property exacerbated brewing class and racial
tensions over land in the region. It seems pretty clear
that hippies idealized a romanticized version of Indian
and Hispano communalism. The question is to what extent
their presence was welcomed or rejected by locals.
Last updated 10/11. |
