This week's University of Michigan football game is a home game against the University of Iowa, which has its home in Iowa City, Iowa. This is reason enough to take a look at the town on the prairie which has some parallels with Ann Arbor, including sharing the nickname of being a "People's Republic."

Both Iowa City and Ann Arbor are given this ironic nickname as commentary on their liberal politics, tolerant attitudes towards counterculture and their cultural distance from the rest of the surrounding state. The Iowa City area is sometimes known as the "People's Republic of Johnson County," for its surrounding county; the corresponding "People's Republic of Washtenaw County," is a much more rare construction.

It's a curious name, in that it's a code word both for conservative commentators to engage in cultural criticism as well as for progressives and free-thinkers to find cities where they are likely to find like-minded people. Madison, Wisc. and Berkeley, Calif., also get this nickname.

You'll typically find Democratic voters, used bookstores, food cooperatives, co-housing, urban chickens (or the desire for same), independent cafes and local cinema in these kind of places. Taxes will be high compared to the surrounding townships or counties, and bicycles will be higher on the municipal agenda than freeways.

Stereotypes can be fun when they let you zoom in on similarities between two parts of the world which are not necessarily identical.

The People's Republic of Iowa City

Some selected quotes give you the flavor of how Iowa City is seen through this phrase:

"People usually think that Iowans are overstating things when they speak of the seat of the University of Iowa as "the People's Republic of Iowa City." But every once in an while, something happens that demonstrates just how extreme and distorted things get out there." (Watersblogged!, 2008).

"Only in the People’s Republic of Iowa City would a heckler challenging President Obama over health care reform argue the bill doesn’t go far enough. KQWC-TV in the Quad Cities caught up with heckler Justin Feinstein." (Only in Iowa City, 2010).

"Greetings and Salutations! I, too, hail from heaven, AKA Iowa, living in the region around the People's Republic of Iowa City. (Everyone involved in local government around here calls it that. They have a history of knowing the CORRECT way to do things, which we smaller 'burbs should follow, because they know what to do and we don't. You don't think that's one reason why there's been no commercial growth there in the past few years, do you?" (American Preppers Network, comment by "Muzhik", 2010).

"I don’t know what happened to Iowa City. When I was growing up, it was like Washington or Oregon - the place to run away for Black Power propaganda, gay rights literature, hoodoo, counter-cultural shops, May Day rallies, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Catholic Worker, and it even had a socialist mayor and several socialists on the city council. The rest of Iowa called it “The People’s Republic of Iowa City” (much as local members of the Episcopal church still call it “The Diocese of Iowa City”). Nowadays I get funny looks wearing a bandana or jean jacket…" (The Lonely Goth's Guide to Independent Catholicism, comment by Wulfila, 2010).

"He was still wrestling with them when he pulled into the lot outside the newest store on Blair's Ferry Road. New Pioneer Co-op, a landmark Iowa City grocery specializing in organic foods for the tie-dye set, had recently opened a branch in Cedar Rapids. Its chances of commercial success seemed less than certain outside the 'People's Republic of Johnson County', but Win was curious enough to have a look inside and maybe find something to have in hand when he arrived at Suzanne's apartment." (From the novel Nine Attempts By Eric Baysinger, ISBN 1434327639).

The People's Republic of Ann Arbor

For comparison, some similar quotations about Ann Arbor focusing on this phrase.

"The baby-boomers have aged, and while much of the country likes its tyrants conservative and Christian, places like Ann Arbor prefer their oppressors liberal and politically correct. There are still war protests today, though in truth, if you see a picture of the crowds, you'd wonder if they've heard we're already out of Saigon. No, in Ann Arbor the "wars" are now fought over more mundane issues. No smoking, no fur, green this, organic that, bike lanes, free Tibet, gay rights, pro-choice. You can be for or against anything you like, so long as it's liberal. You can throw animal blood on an old lady wearing a fur, while walking to a PETA rally, (irony is so ironic sometimes)." (Veal Chops in The People's Republic of Ann Arbor, "Crabby Cook", 2008).

"The People’s Republic of Ann Arbor has banned porch couches. When a guy can’t stick a beat-up couch on his porch, whither freedom?" (John Miller, National Review, 2010).

Links

• The People's Republic of Tyranny at TV Tropes describes contemporary use of this term in television.
• The People's Republic of Ann Arbor in Arborwiki, an encyclopedia of local information that anyone can edit.
• People's Republic of *, Everything2.

Edward Vielmetti is the great-grandson of George Frederick Kay, who was the state geologist for Iowa 1911-1934 and the head of the University of Iowa Geology Department beginning in 1904—long before anyone called the town the People's Republic of Iowa City. Contact him at edwardvielmetti@annarbor.com.