Vernacular utopia.

This article engages with utopian studies as an interdisciplinary field, scrutinizing the contested, yet prevailing bifurcated conceptualization of 'utopia' as either an ideal or praxis. Drawing upon Leonard N. Primiano's notion of 'vernacular religion' as a comprehensive approach for overcoming epistemologically problematic models in theorizing religion, I propose the concept of vernacular utopia as a methodological tool for the comparative study of utopian worldmaking beyond conceptual binaries, such as blueprint versus practice, or religious versus secular. My case example is New Harmony, one of the most famous 19th-century emigrant settlements in the US, where pietists and early socialists encountered and implemented their respective blueprints at the same geographical locale. Focusing on the historiographical roots of Primiano's concept, my objective is to substantiate the vernacular perspective within historical methodology by illustrating how the approach fosters alternative perspectives on source materials and integrates new sources into the historical study of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]