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Each year thousands of people head into the desert in the USA for a festival known as Burning Man, which in itself has become an expression of community: drawing together people of all walks of life into a creative experience which lasts for a number of days.
As part of the preparations for Burning Man 2005, the organiser feel a need to offer an interesting reflection on community:
Burning Man is an Experiment in Temporary Community.Because many people only know a world shaped by institutions, service workers and commercial transactions, they may not even recognize the signs of a community. Here are a few indications:
Capacity
Communities are built on the recognition of the unique abilities of every member. Commerce and the public service sector define us on the basis of deficiency and need.
Collective Effort
Community is cooperative - uniting us as varied members of one body. When, by contrast, we consume a service, we're made passive. 50 million people may view a television program or consume a beverage in complete isolation from one another.
Informality
In the community, transactions of value take place without money, advertising, or hype. Care emerges in place of structured service.
Stories
In universities, people know through studies. In businesses and bureaucracies, people know by reports. In communities, people know by stories.
Celebration
Community activities incorporate celebration, parties and other social events. The line between work and play is blurred and the human nature of everyday life becomes part of the way you work. You will know that you are in a community if you often hear laughter and singing.
Is it that community no longer comes naturally to us, or are the organisers seeking to define the parameters of their particular community gathering? Or have we defined community in institutional and rigid ways which mitigate against the very experience we are trying to create?
Community is a buzz word, perhaps indicative of its paucity of expression. Churches incorporate the word quite readily into their name, government organisations offer grants and create measuring sticks for its effectiveness. Can community be created intentionally, or does it just happen, or both? And is temporary community a different beast from continuing community?
Read the original article here.
Posted by gary at July 13, 2005 01:16 PM
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