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Community Development Journal 39:213-223
© 2004 Oxford University Press and Community Development Journal

The desire for community: Illusion, confusion and paradox

Jeremy Brent

Jeremy Brent is a Senior Youth and Community Work Practitioner in Southmead, Bristol, UK

Address for correspondence: jeremy_brent{at}bristol-city.gov.uk

Community is constantly invoked as an ‘answer’ to problems of power, voice and social peace, yet never arrives. This article is a personal reflection, based on professional experience and empirical research, on this elusive term. So, is community an illusion within the globalized world? Does it fetishize the face-to-face? Is it a challenge to power, or a conservative idea of ecological adaptation? While the imprecision and ambiguity of community leads to a desire for clarity, simple definitions do not work. A more complex analysis is needed to unravel the insubstantial but powerful characteristics of community. Community is a desire, continually replenishing itself as people seek voice and connectedness, in all their imperfections.


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