Nine A Community Economies perspective for ethical community development
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Ann Hill
Abstract
In our teaching of community development we have noticed that some students want to be able to define and name ‘the community’. They talk about ‘the community’ as an entity or thing that is somehow knowable. Similarly, many students also express a desire to ‘do the right thing’ when it comes to working with communities. Most want to act ethically, and some even want a kind of ethical rule-book that they can use to help guide their actions in different situations. These kinds of desires are completely understandable. They reflect teaching materials on community development that emphasise the importance of understanding the demographics, histories and aspirations of communities one might work with. The desire to know how to act ethically and manage uncertainty also makes complete sense when navigating the often complex negotiations and uneven power relations within and between communities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), funders, state agencies and the private sector.
While these desires to know and act are understandable, they are also sometimes at odds with anti-essentialist or post-structural understandings which suggest that any notion of ‘the community’ is a fiction or myth (see for instance Nancy, 1991; Bond, 2011; Diprose, 2016). Similar to this idea that a notion of ‘the community’ is a fiction or myth, post-structural thinking has also queried what it means to be a human subject. So rather than human subjects being understood as individual, stable, autonomous and rational, post-structural understandings frame human subjectivity as always in a process of becoming (see, for instance, Cameron and Gibson, 2005a).
Abstract
In our teaching of community development we have noticed that some students want to be able to define and name ‘the community’. They talk about ‘the community’ as an entity or thing that is somehow knowable. Similarly, many students also express a desire to ‘do the right thing’ when it comes to working with communities. Most want to act ethically, and some even want a kind of ethical rule-book that they can use to help guide their actions in different situations. These kinds of desires are completely understandable. They reflect teaching materials on community development that emphasise the importance of understanding the demographics, histories and aspirations of communities one might work with. The desire to know how to act ethically and manage uncertainty also makes complete sense when navigating the often complex negotiations and uneven power relations within and between communities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), funders, state agencies and the private sector.
While these desires to know and act are understandable, they are also sometimes at odds with anti-essentialist or post-structural understandings which suggest that any notion of ‘the community’ is a fiction or myth (see for instance Nancy, 1991; Bond, 2011; Diprose, 2016). Similar to this idea that a notion of ‘the community’ is a fiction or myth, post-structural thinking has also queried what it means to be a human subject. So rather than human subjects being understood as individual, stable, autonomous and rational, post-structural understandings frame human subjectivity as always in a process of becoming (see, for instance, Cameron and Gibson, 2005a).
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Rethinking Community Development ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Notes on contributors xiii
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The ethico-political context
- Ethics, equity and community development: mapping the terrain 3
- Community development in an unequal world: challenging neo-liberal values 37
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Everyday ethics in community development practice
- Negotiating roles and boundaries: ethical challenges in community work 59
- Negotiating consent in neighbourhood-based community development work 83
- Whose ethics counts? Ethical issues in community development and action research with communities facing stigmatisation 103
- Koorliny birniny, ni, quoppa katatjin respect and ethics in working with Indigenous Australian communities 123
- Corporate social responsibility and community development in a mining region in India: issues of power, control and co-option 143
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Envisioning an ethical space for community development
- Relational ethics and transformative community organising in the neo-liberal US context 167
- A Community Economies perspective for ethical community development 189
- Concluding reflections: philosophical perspectives on community and community development 209
- Index 221
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Rethinking Community Development ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Notes on contributors xiii
-
The ethico-political context
- Ethics, equity and community development: mapping the terrain 3
- Community development in an unequal world: challenging neo-liberal values 37
-
Everyday ethics in community development practice
- Negotiating roles and boundaries: ethical challenges in community work 59
- Negotiating consent in neighbourhood-based community development work 83
- Whose ethics counts? Ethical issues in community development and action research with communities facing stigmatisation 103
- Koorliny birniny, ni, quoppa katatjin respect and ethics in working with Indigenous Australian communities 123
- Corporate social responsibility and community development in a mining region in India: issues of power, control and co-option 143
-
Envisioning an ethical space for community development
- Relational ethics and transformative community organising in the neo-liberal US context 167
- A Community Economies perspective for ethical community development 189
- Concluding reflections: philosophical perspectives on community and community development 209
- Index 221
