Weaving Tapestries (eBook)

SECTION 1

Developing Community

What it means, and why it matters

– 1.1 –

Community—the world of me and us

The word ‘community’ is understood in many different ways. Which is awkward! How can we work together to develop something, if we don’t agree on what that ‘something’ is?

In some places, the shape of ‘community’ is fairly obvious, because it’s defined by location. People living in the town of Brookton, or the community of Balgo, clearly have something in common with each other: they live in the same place. But what about someone who is living in the sprawling suburbs of Perth, or other major cities? Many of them spend more time with work colleagues, friends from other suburbs and online than they spend with neighbours or other locals. So what is ‘community’ to them? How do they make sense of ‘community’ in their lives?

Box 1.1a

Community will have profoundly different shapes for different people. We cannot and should not impose, from the outside, an idea of community. We cannot tell someone who their community is. That can be alienating and disempowering. I might, for example, live in Baldivis, but my sense of community comes mainly from the netball club, based in Cannington, that I’ve been a member of for years. If you try to engage me in Baldivis-based community activities, you might just cause me stress, and steal the energy that I’ve been putting into the Cannington Netball Club.

So, we need a workable concept of community that fits in urban and even online settings, just as much as it fits in village settings. And because Western culture is largely individualistic (where the interests of individuals are often given precedence over those of the group) this concept will work best if it begins with the individual and individual wellbeing, but does not end there. Community is not necessarily a good thing in itself. People can suffer terribly at the hands of other community members. Rather, it is valuable to the extent that it enhances the lives of people.

How ‘community’ fits in our world.

We all have needs and aspirations in our lives (see Box 1.1a). Some of us can get these needs and aspirations met easily. Some cannot. Most of us, for example, find it easy to find food. We go to the shop and buy it. Yet many in the world are starving for a lack of it. The same, for myriad reasons, can be said of other needs like love, or mobility, or financial security. So as a guiding aspiration, in all that we do, we should be aiming to ensure that all people have the capacity to get their needs and aspirations met.

In aiming for that aspiration, we can consider four broad realms of support, as shown in Fig 1.1a.

Self

Of course, there are all sorts of things I can do for myself. So if you’re hoping to work with me or support me, I hope you’ll do it in a way that draws out the fullness of who I can be and what I can do. Because doing for myself is part of what gives my life dignity. The more confident I feel in my own capacity to support myself and those I love, the richer my life will be.

But none of us can do it alone. Humans evolved, successfully, to cooperate in groups. So we need other realms of support if we are going to have the capacity to get our needs and aspirations met.

Family

Family is, for each of us, those that we feel related to by blood (e.g. a biological sibling, child, parent, cousin) or contract (e.g. marriage, co-parenting, adoptive relation, kinship group). Importantly, in family there is a binding dynamic of obligation at work. There is often love as well, of course, but obligation is strong. ‘We’re family!’ is a powerful motivator in seeking and offering help. Where family bonds are damaged, dangerous or broken, the impacts on us can be severe.

Community

Community is, for each of us, those people that we feel ourselves to be in relationship with. It will include our self and our family, but it will also include others—people who we know personally: friends (including geographically distant friends), neighbours, colleagues, fellow club members, and so on. Importantly, the binding dynamic in community, at least in a Western context, is reciprocity—a level of balance in the give and take between us. This is different to the obligation of family. The saying “you can choose your friends (community) but you can’t choose your family” is both true and important. There is a strong element of choice in community. If I feel that, in community life, I am giving far more than I am receiving, I may back away; give less. This fact—this element of choice—is profoundly important. We cannot develop community if people do not have reason to choose connection.

Society

Society is the world of strangers. Living amongst strangers, we have, over millennia, developed institutions—at local, state, national and international levels—designed, at their best, to protect and support individuals. Where family or community support breaks down, societal support might be needed. If a family cannot keep a child safe, society may step in through child protection agencies. If a community cannot prevent domestic violence amongst its members, society may step in through police. Looking outwards, if a nation begins to implode, the United Nations may step in.

Many of us might wish these societal agencies were more just, more equitable, more effective, but few would argue that they are unnecessary. Our hospitals, our police services, our road and bridge builders are essential elements of the modern world. When we turn on a tap or switch on a light, when our child goes to school, when we walk down a footpath or enjoy the beauty of a public park or art gallery, we are beneficiaries of society.

Society, then, is essential and valuable. But it is profoundly different to community. Where community is about relationship, connection and personal reciprocity, society is about regulation. It is regulated by duty statements, funding guidelines, program guidelines, laws, and so on. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, it’s important. Regulations are, or at least should be, important in ensuring order.5 When we drive on the left or eat food at a restaurant, or drink water, or walk through a park, we are kept safe by regulations.

All four realms are important. The healthier and more supportive they are, the more people will thrive. But the way we work and interact within each realm can differ markedly. This book explores how we can best work towards healthier community.6

Community—Me and Us

To put all this into different and simpler language, we might think of the world of me (self), the world of us (family and community) and the world of them (society)—see Fig 1.1b.

Community, then, is our world of ‘me and us’. It can provide people with some essential conditions for human wellbeing. It can provide a sense of belonging. It can give us, as people, a sense of power and authority over our own lives, a feeling that we have some personal agency in our own wellbeing.

So, if we are aiming to ensure that all people have the capacity to get their own needs and aspirations met, we should, collectively, do all that we can to ensure that individuals and their families, and their communities, and their society are strong and supportive. Each of us as individuals, and all of us as a society, are healthier when community is healthy.

Simply put, community work, in its various forms, is that part of our personal and collective work that aims to strengthen people in relationship, or communities. It focuses on making these people, and their relationships, as effective as possible in meeting their own needs and aspirations.