Community Matters is unique in its use of a contextualized, interactionist approach to analyze the nature and extent of community. Its theoretical discussion of community as process is expanded through the inclusion of arguments raised in political science and philosophy, and is balanced by descriptive analyses of a diverse selection of communities. This book helps bridge the divide between works of academic argument concerning civil society and community life and books explicitly focused on presenting practical information on what is and is not effective in community work. Community Matters shifts attention away from a conceptualization of community as a fixed evolutionary stage identified with specific types of settings, and instead provides numerous illustrations of the dynamic quality of social ties and community life. This book convinces readers that they can and should study community and community matters. A Burnham Publishers book

Providing a new perspective on the undeniable relationship between education reform and democratic revitalization, Nicholas V. Longo uncovers and examines practical models in which communities play an essential role in teaching the art of democracy.

Winner of the EDRA 2015 Book Award! Community Matters: Service Learning in Engaged Design and Planning explores issues that resonate with a diverse group of design and planning educators drawn to the challenge of supporting greater community building and empowerment while combining learning with practice. The book explores such questions as: How do we foster mutuality and reciprocity in community-academy partnerships? What conflicts, challenges, limits and obstacles do we face in our service-learning studios and projects? What evidence do we have of our impacts on students and communities and how are we responding? How are we being attentive to the contemporary environmental and societal issues? What is our role as both designers and agents of societal change? How are we innovating to enable greater capacities for individuals, future practitioners and communities? This book provides compelling evidence that educators should be adopting engaged pedagogies, research methods and theories through which they can bring together education, practice and scholarship at the boundary of community and academy.

Drawing on a wide range of historical sources presenting both emic and etic views, this book offers an insight into aspects of social life among the Uyghur in pre-socialist Xinjiang and substantiates the concept of tradition which modern Uyghurs draw upon to construct their ethnic identity.

Civic matters affect all members of a community and are thus of potential concern to all. In Community Matters: Challenges to Civic Engagement in the 21st Century, six distinguished scholars address three perennial challenges of civic life: the making of a citizen, how citizens are to agree (and disagree), and how to define the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The thought-provoking essays in this volume discuss integral civic concerns such as: how can we improve civic education? How do we address controversy within our communities? What are the responsibilities of a citizen? Should the national draft be re-instated in the U.S? These essays will encourage students, academics, and interested citizens outside the academy to go farther and dig deeper into these vital issues.

Working towards equity of access to higher education remains a fundamental issue of social justice. Despite substantial efforts to redress historical exclusions via a wealth of government and institutional policies, longstanding enrolment patterns persist and new forms of inequality have emerged in a deeply stratified system. Community Matters: The Complex Links Between Community and Young People’s Aspirations for Higher Education offers a new lens on equity of access. The policy focus, nationally and globally, on widening participation for under-represented target groups too readily treats such groups as if they have a singular voice, a singular history, and a singular set of concerns. Drawing on the perspectives of Australian school students, their parents/carers, teachers, and a vast array of residents from seven diverse communities, this book uses the lens of ‘community’ to reframe inequitable access. It does so by recognising the complex social and cultural forces at play locally that shape how young people form and articulate their post-school futures. In light of unprecedented challenges facing the higher education sector, this book interrogates dominant understandings of ‘widening participation’ and ‘aspiration,’ and offers timely insights about the broader economic, social, and cultural backdrop of aspiration formation. It is a valuable resource for academics and students interested in the sociology of higher education and for practitioners working at the forefront of equity policy and practice.

Set against the background of momentous economic changes over the last decade, Retrenchment and Regeneration in Rural Newfoundland examines the economic, political, and social circumstances that have led to the current crisis in rural Newfoundland. In this timely collection, ten social scientists explore how outporters are coping with uncertainty, the choices that they are now confronting, and the consequences of these choices in terms of their capacity to sustain livelihoods into the next generation and beyond. Offering both general overviews and specific case studies drawn from recent research, Retrenchment and Regeneration in Rural Newfoundland provides insight into the moral and political economy of Newfoundland, the background to the collapse of the fish stocks, and the effects of the crisis on outporter's occupational choices and migration decisions. Rich in detail and thought-provoking ideas, this collection is the first to examine the interconnected problems and opportunities in rural Newfoundland in light of global economic and social changes.

Narratives of Community in the Black British Short Story offers the first systematic study of black British short story writing, tracing its development from the 1950s to the present with a particular focus on contemporary short stories by Hanif Kureishi, Jackie Kay, Suhayl Saadi, Zadie Smith, and Hari Kunzru. By combining a postcolonial framework of analysis with Jean-Luc Nancy’s deconstructive philosophy of community, the book charts key tendencies in black British short fiction and explores how black British writers use the short story form to combat deeply entrenched notions of community and experiment with non-essentialist alternatives across differences of ethnicity, culture, religion, and nationality.

The voluntary sector was central to the COVID-19 response: fulfilling basic needs, highlighting new and existing inequalities and coordinating action where the state had been slow to respond. This book curates rigorous academic, policy and practice-based research into the response and adaptation of the UK voluntary sector during the pandemic. Contributions explore the ways the sector responded to new challenges and the longer-term consequences for the sector’s workforce, volunteers and beneficiaries. Written for researchers and practitioners, this book considers what the voluntary sector can learn from the pandemic to maximise its contribution in the event of future crises.