WORKSHOP: Community Change in Global Perspective

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This award supports a two-part international workshop on changing notions of community in global perspective. Previous research has demonstrated that strong community ties are linked to civic efficacy, participation, cooperation, and volunteering, and are, therefore, an important measure of social well-being. But recently, researchers have observed dramatic increases in social heterogeneity, weakening ties and potentially underming trust within and between communities. The workshop asks if these developments are inevitable and what the outcomes will be. It addresses these questions using a comparative, community studies approach. Social scientists from the United States, Mexico, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom will use anthropological ethnographic and archival data to examine current shifts in how communities are formed, how they change, and the kinds of ties that are formed within and between them. The work will have impact by 1) increasing understanding of the causes and consequences of community change in the contemporary world; 2) supporting international research collaboration; and 3) promoting education through the inclusion of graduate student participants and by communicating results to the public.The two-part workshop will be convened by Dr. Jeff Maskovsky (City University of New York) and Dr. Sophie Bjork-James (Vanderbilt University). Community studies experts will share data on how communities across the world are changing and whether those changes strengthen or weaken social ties. The first workshop will seek to answer multiple, interrelated questions: From global perspectives, what are the primary influencers of community change? What social factors have the most impact in strengthening or weakening community ties? How does increased diversity affect community ties? And what can ethnography and history contribute to current debates? The workshop will emphasize a comparative perspective and will develop knowledge of community change across regional, national, international, and global contexts. The second workshop will distill findings and prepare for the publication of an edited volume designed to reach four high impact audiences: students in graduate and undergraduate anthropology courses, anthropologists studying community change, scholars in other disciplines working on similar topics, and the English language reading public.