Urbanities,
Vol. 4
·
No 2
·
November 2014
© 2014
Urbanities
85
Community can refer to places, networks and identities and there is a reinforcing
relationship between these different representations. Traditionally, research on community as
place has involved studies which occur in particular locations and has historically focused on
specific problems (Gillies and Edwards 2006). Networks, or relational belongings (May
2013), are also an important part of community and can be explored through focusing on
social interaction (Amit and Rapport 2002). Identity is also significant in discussions of
community and there is a relationship between identity and belonging, place and networks
(Anthias 2008).
Examining how people experience and construct belonging to places, networks and
identities through ethnographic and life-story methods allows us to gain knowledge of the
social and material circumstances of their lives. Significantly, it is studying the intersection,
or interplay between these different representations of community which has the capacity to
illuminate social continuity in multiple settings. In summary then, community represents an
ideal and an often imagined rural past. Because of this it is often presented as a panacea to the
problems associated with modernity —
or society —
located in urban settings. However,
exploring how people belong and to what they belong can illuminate the contexts in which
peoples’ lives are lived and processes of social continuity as well as social change.
References
Ahmed, A. (2011). Belonging out of context: the intersection of place, networks and ethnic
identity among retired British migrants living in the Costa Blanca.
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and Migration Studies
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Amit, V. and Rapport, N. (2002).
The Trouble with Community: Anthropological Reflections
on Movement, Identity and Collectivity
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Anderson, B. (1983).
Imagined Communities.
London: Verso.
Anderson, B. (2006).
Imagined Communities:
Reflections on the Origin and Spread of
Nationalism
. Revised Edition. London & New York: Verso.
Anthias, F. (2008). Thinking through the lens of translocational positionality: an
intersectionality frame for understanding identity and belonging.
Translocations
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Crow, G. (2002a).
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Buckingham, PA: Open
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Community.
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Gillies, V. and Edwards, R. (2006). A qualitative analysis of parenting and social capital:
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Qualitative Sociology Review
, 2 (2):
42-60.
May, V. (2013).
Connecting Self to Society: Belonging in a Changing World
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Palgrave Macmillan.
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a
