ON COMMUNITY

Living, creating, thinking, and acting in community is increasingly popular today, especially in the artistic and activist worlds. However, adopting a critical approach and questioning "received ideas" and apparent truths invites us to delve deeper into this rhetoric.
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Does joining a community mean sacrificing individual will for collective will? Is it about hiding the “I” behind the “we”? What happens to personal voice and identity? Does it mean fading into the group, minimizing oneself in relation to others, dissolving into the collective, and always seeking compromises? Does this resonate with you?

Exploring community and gender: What is the relationship between community and gender dynamics? How do traditional gender roles and biases play out in communal settings?

Preventing societal dysfunction in communities: How can we ensure that the dysfunctions of contemporary society are not reproduced at the community level? This includes considering values, organizational structures, and ethical standards.

Community as an escape: Is belonging to a community a way to escape individual decision-making, responsibility, solitude, and the challenges of adulthood? How do we balance communal support with personal growth?

Communitarianism and emotional dependency: What is the relationship between communitarianism and emotional dependency? Does reliance on a community hinder emotional independence and personal development?

Leadership and communitarianism: How does being in a community impact the emergence of leaders, particularly women leaders? Could communitarianism inadvertently suppress the development of a new iconography of female leadership?

Reinventing individualism: Instead of solely focusing on communitarianism, shouldn't we also consider reinventing individualism outside the capitalist framework? How can we cultivate a form of individualism that promotes personal freedom and creativity while still valuing community?

These questions urge us to critically examine the true essence and implications of living and creating within a community. By exploring these complexities, we can strive for a balance that honors both collective and individual needs. Let’s engage in this dialogue and uncover the deeper layers of what it means to be part of a community.

What does community mean to you?