Definitions of Community

The Basic Issue

The term community is a much-used word today. It can range in meaning from a group of individuals with some characteristic in common, to a broader collection of heterogeneous people gathered in some a geographical configuration.

The term "ex-communication" is an old one from the middle ages which was used as a process of social suasion. Being cut off from community by strict shunning by everyone was tantamount to death or madness. If being cut off from the community here was not enough, the other part included being cut off from the larger community of saints and life hereafter... excluded from "communion". The Dakota in North America also used a system of shunning for people who stepped out of line . Their possessions were destroyed and they were driven from the camp for four days. If they survived and returned, their possessions were restored and all was forgotten. Few survived. The rest of the community learned a stiff lesson as well.

The term communication and community come from the same root in English. My interest in this aspect of community was perked by a man I knew who went into a drug reaction in hospital, and became trapped in his own body. He was able to process what he saw and heard but could not make his body move at all. His account of the feelings later made me aware of the importance of communication to community and mental health. A stroke-victim worker, at the time, loaned me a manual from a workshop on communication technology for those trapped in their own bodies. The preface contained the opening address from the symposium. It stated that the participants should not get so enamoured with the gadgetry that they forget that the toughest problem in restoring communication to those who have been cut off is the restoration of bridges to community. What is the point of being able to talk if there is nobody to talk to?

Community Development is very much concerned with restoration and building community together. The issues which surround the definitions of community deal with some of the most fundamental issues of the task-set. The are concerned with "who is on the inside and who is one the out?", and "who gets to decide?".

In today's global village, an even greater issue has arisen, in defining community as "first world only". It is my contention that such a stance is no longer possible. The developmental activities which we undertake in one part of he world now affect all other parts.

I once heard that the inert chemical "argon" is very plentiful in the air we breathe. It is said that when we take a deep breath and let it out, that there are so many atoms of argon that within two years it will be so dispersed evenly around the world in such a way that every person from that time forward will take in at least one of those particles every time s/he breathes. We have all shared the breaths of every person that has ever lived. We are very much a part of a global village...a global "community".

Off-Line Resources

• Crayley,David. "Community and Its Counterfeits: Interviews with John McKnight". Toronto: CBC Ideas Reprint Jan 3,10,17, 1994.
  This is an article I received from Chief Ennis Fiddler of Sandy Lake First Nation who was facilitating the amalgamation of hospitals in Sioux Lookout at the time. It is a transcript of three CBC "Ideas" programs on the degradation which accompanies professionalization of Social Services and the resulting destruction of community fabric.

  John McKnight is a long-time community organizer and university professor who believes that "citizen space" is created in communities when "giving " is restored. Every person has a gift to give (whatever other shortcomings s/he might have) but social services interfere with this process. He believes that Culture puts people in a place, but institutions put people in a system.

  The focus of the three articles is as follows:

  1. the meaning of community, the effect of social services on community and his background - how he came to hold his views.
  2. how He arrived at noting lavishly equipped professionals throwing up their hands in despair. How to restore communities is introduced as is a person doing just that: Jackie Reed from Chicago East Side.
  3. This section is about efforts to restore hospitality and friendliness destroyed by professionals who he claims measure emptiness vs. fullness and exclude people from the community on that basis. We are introduced to Bob Harkness and his work with retarded people using a "community service" philosophy, and Sandra Nahornoff with her "Project Friendship" in which "citizen or associational space" is increased.

     This set of transcripts is an excellent resource, and very thought provoking.

• Freshwater, David. "Delusions of Grandeur: The Search for a Vibrant Rural America". TVA Rural Studies Staff paper, April 2001, (p1-7) Reprinted in Ferrazzi, Gabe. Course Reader, Rural Community Development, Brandon University, 2001.
  This and other papers are available on the TVA rural Studies Web site

  This study looks at the impediments to Rural Development in today's rural scene:

  • Rural Development is not defined and therefore not clear in what is intended
  • the larger economy has changed as an economic context
  • Globalization of the political process has marginalized many communities
  • Many success stories are really splash from urban sprawl.

  It is interesting that he notes that rural areas are parallel to urban neighborhoods in their regional settings. He urges communities to get with it in terms of development in a re-defined context.

• Fuller, Tony. "Rural Institutions in the Arena Society" Chapter 3 of Changing Rural Institutions. Reprinted in Ferrazzi, Gabe. Course Reader, Rural Community Development, Brandon University, 2001.
  This is for me a totally impenetrable article, not because of the content, but rather because of its obscure (personal) image of an "arena". Set as it is as his unifying theme, he destroys his contribution to the definition of society at this stage in development by his obscurity. It is such a major piece in his work that it serves to obscure everything else.

  The author comes from a geography background and somehow his obsession with "space and time" is connected to this image of his. He is trying to gather together under one image the overlapping realities of short distance society, industrial society and open society (to use his terms). One interesting observation is that these eras in social development on the prairies are cumulative rather than discrete, and therefore the current interweaving of the leftovers makes for a confusing scene if one is not familiar with the layers which precede the present reality.

  The piece is not helped by it being a written account of a conference speech which was giv3n to collogues who were aware with his imagery. There are better presentations of his content available elsewhere I believe, maybe even from the author.

• Ferrazzi, Gabe. Dissecting Rural Development . Rural Community Development Introductory Modules,(WebCT class notes). Brandon University, Fall, 2001.Module # 1 .
  Gabe raises some interesting questions about virtual communities and communities in the post modern world.

On-line Resources