Think about community

Aha,
Here we go! This is my new post, the first blog that I have written in English. Actually I have another blog that I dedicated only for poems, but it is in Bahasa, the indonesian language.
The first thing that comes up what to write is the idea about 'community'. This word surely is not a new word for us, who is day-to-day living and learning and working in community development. A word that we-just-know-it but often not easy to define.

We know that the meaning is always changing. From traditional perspective in to more flexible, the post-modernism perspective. The term of community is not bound only in fix description such as geographical location, structure and social capital but it is more "complex, unstable, contextual, uncertain and is always conceptually and practically contested and contestable" (Burkett 2001: 4)". From Burkett's point of view about community, "it is a verb rather than a noun, a continually process for action and change rather than a fix description".

I agree that rather than looking what is the essence of the community, I should look about how the community exist in a creative manner. They exist in a varied way and can create change in the society. For example, many people using facebook page for promoting social change and making their own community network. There is no geographical boundaries nor definete structure but they become so committed in particular issue that they share same passion.

This is my starting point in trying to bring my community in existence. I am creating a community that longing for peace, especially in Indonesia, while I still stay here in Brisbane. A community of dialogues between people from different spirituality that share same land and life in Indonesia. Little bit uncertain and always contesting on how to build it, but so excited to start it among friends here.

So,what do you think of community? How it might different with your view?

Reference:
Burkett, I. (2001). Traversing the swampy terrain of postmodern communities: towards theoritical revisioning of community development. European Journal of Social Work 4 (3). 1-12