What is a community?

First of all I believe I ought to mention that I’m not intending to find a suitable definition for the term ‘community’ here (if that is at all possible), as I believe this should be reserved for our group project. Rather I would like to use this space to reflect on the discussion we had in class with regard to the notion of ‘community’ and my own perception of it.

I think after Monday’s lecture and discussion, we can all agree that the concept of ‘community’ is a very complex one. I, for my part, don’t believe it is possible to come up with one universal definition for ‘community’.

Nonetheless, I realized that I seem to have a very clear perception of whether or not I’m a member of certain (what are usually referred to as) communities without any apparent or rational reason.

The concept of ‘community’ seems to be closely connected with the concept of commonality. One’s belonging to a community might thus be determined geographically for example, that is according to one’s shared nationality, birthplace and/ or one’s shared place of residence.

Accordingly, I would have to class myself as being a member of the German community in Reading (if there is such a thing), which I don’t. In fact, I don’t consider myself as belonging to any community in connection with being German (or living in Reading) at all. I believe that nationality is more or less irrelevant in terms of community membership, probably because you can’t really choose your nationality (sure you can change your nationality but you cannot do away with the fact that you were born and bred in a certain country to parents of a certain nationality).

There are undoubtedly many people who’d argue that their nationality engenders a feeling of community membership. A German friend of mine for example, who has been living in London for over ten years, would certainly consider herself as belonging to a German community within London. So what differentiates me from her? Is community membership a matter of personal choice? Or am I just in denial? Do I actually belong to a German community in Reading without being aware of it?

I would argue that community membership above all requires a strong sense of belonging and a firm belief in shared values, both of which I lack in terms of my nationality. Hence community membership clearly seems to involve more than just having something in common with others, be that nationality, sexuality, or ethnicity. Considering this it would be interesting to see how many heterosexuals as opposed to homosexuals identify themselves as being part of a community in relation to their sexuality.

Funnily enough, I wouldn’t deny being part of a particular type of village community relating to the street that I used to live in for most of my life and that I still return to when visiting my family. Membership of this street community usually involves get-togethers, such as an annual street party in the summer, birthday parties, barbecues, dinner parties, or coffee parties. Unlike with my friends, I barely stay in touch with my fellow street community members unless I go back to stay with my parents and one of the get-togethers is taking place at the time. This didn’t stop one of the members from inviting me to her wedding in April next year, which I’m planning to attend.

Is my feeling part of such a community but rarely getting involved enough though? Can I still count myself as a member of such a community even though I am now living miles away from the street that connects these people?

Community membership here also seems to be based upon mutual support, a lot like Rheingold’s notion of a gift economy. You know you can rely on the other members to help you out if necessary without being expected to give something in return.

This is similar to what I believe I experience as part of being a football supporter. Although admittedly mutual understanding would perhaps be a better term to describe the feeling. I therefore consider myself as being part of a football supporting community, both on a club level and on an international level. Strangely enough however I don’t feel as though I belong to any kind of student community despite sharing the same experiences and feelings with many other students. Maybe there is more to it than merely mutual understanding?

I also don’t feel part of any virtual communities even though I have a Facebook and Studivz account. Why? I don’t know. I guess I use these social networking sites as a means of communicating and staying in touch with people I rarely see (mostly because they live abroad and I can’t afford speaking to them on the phone) rather than anything else. Using the telephone as a means of communication doesn’t necessarily mean I belong to a telephone community, or does it?

I will bring this entry to an end now as brooding over the concept of community seems to leave me even more confused in trying to establish what constitutes a community. I hope that researching our group project will help me resolve this confusion.