The Oved–Pitzer Community Scholars Award supports early-career scholars in the development of research in communal studies. It does so primarily by subsidizing participation in ICSA conferences and by fostering engagement in ICSA forums and scholarly networks.

The award is named in honor of ICSA’s founders, Yacoov Oved and Don Pitzer - both pioneers in the global study of community. Professor Oved is best known for his groundbreaking research on the kibbutzim of Israel, as well as for bringing their experience into dialogue with scholarship on intentional communities in the United States and around the world. Professor Pitzer is widely recognized for developing and promoting the concept of “developmental communalism,” a framework for analyzing how intentional communities evolve over time, and for placing American communal experiments in conversation with their global counterparts.

Oved and Pitzer envisioned an organization that would unite scholars of communal life across national and disciplinary boundaries. Years later, Don Pitzer recalled the moment that vision first took shape:

“In 1983, Yaacov and I were strolling along the beach of the Mediterranean at his community of Palmachim. We came upon a large rock just wading distance into the water. As we climbed up and sat upon it, I sensed that we were making history as we tried to unite scholarly communal efforts around the world.”

From that conversation emerged the International Communal Studies Association. For more than forty years, ICSA has hosted international conferences, published regular newsletters, and advanced the global study of community. The Oved–Pitzer Community Scholars Award continues this legacy by supporting early-career scholars as they enter the field, build networks, and contribute to the ongoing conversation.

As ICSA celebrates its founders and more than four decades of bringing together scholars and practitioners of community, this award seeks to invest in the next generation of communal studies scholars. On the occasion of ICSA’s 30th anniversary, Don Pitzer offered words that capture the enduring spirit behind this award:  

“If someday you search for Yaacov and me, look out to that beach in the great beyond.  We will still be keeping the faith, walking arm-in-arm, seeking how humanity might adopt the most noble, humanitarian, and ecologically sustainable ideals and practices of Earth’s kibbutzim and communal societies.”