Soul, Community and Social Change

Politics & Social Sciences

Westoby, Peter

Social Sciences

Routledge

Understanding Phenomenological Reflective Practice in the Social and Ecological Fields

Business & Money

Job Hunting & Careers

Theory and Practice of Dialogical Community Development

<p>This book proposes that community development has been increasingly influenced and co-opted by a modernist, soulless, rational philosophy - reducing it to a shallow technique for ‘solving community problems’. In contrast, this dialogical approach re-maps the ground of community development practice within a frame of ideas such as dialogue, hospitality and depth. For the first time community development practitioners are provided with an accessible understanding of dialogue and its relevance to their practice, exploring the contributions of internationally significant thinkers such as P. Freire, M. Buber, D. Bohm and H.G Gadamer, J. Derrida, G. Esteva and R. Sennett. What makes the book distinctive is that: first, it identifies a dialogical tradition of community development and considers how such a tradition shapes practice within contemporary contexts and concerns – economic, social, political, cultural and ecological. Second, the book contrasts such an approach with technical and instrumental approaches to development that fail to take complex systems seriously. Third, the approach links theory to practice through a combination of storytelling and theory-reflection – ensuring that readers are drawn into a practice-theory that they feel increasingly confident has been 'tried and tested' in the world over the past 25 years. </p>

Theory and Practice of Dialogical Community Development: International Perspectives

Dowling, Gerard

Reference

Community development has been increasingly influenced and co-opted by a modernist, soulless, rational philosophy, which has reduced it to a shallow technique for 'solving community problems' and threatens the very legitimacy of community development as an instrument of society's renewal and fulfilment. Dialogical Community Development is a courageous, ground-breaking attempt to re-draw the parameters and re-map the ground of community development practice. By re-imagining community as dialogue and hospitality, the authors create an alternative vision of community development practice: a deep, soulful exercise that demands a re-examination of personal values, and a respect for and solidarity with the groups within the community. In a series of conversations on transformative community processes, challenges for practitioners, and practical care for the multiple dimensions of community life, the authors set out the details of this vision. Highly recommended for students, scholars, policy makers, activists, and anyone who is interested in bringing more life and collaborative movement into their ways of engaging with community.

Dialogical Community Development

Self-Help

Success

Millipede Books

"Without soul there will be little chance of sustained social change." Current expressions of community work have often been dry, technical, mechanistic processes. If people are to recover their deep longings and aspirations within community, then community change processes need to work in a soul dimension, with the delights, hopes, myths and visions of those involved. Seasoned community work thinker and practitioner, Peter Westoby, explores the role of soul within community work, as a methodology that can contribute to social change. He connects his framework of ideas and concepts, with a set of practices that can unlock this awareness and celebration of the soul element.

Creating Us: community work with soul

Soul, Community and Social Change: Theorising a Soul Perspective on Community Practice

Theorising the Practice of Community Development: A South African Perspective

Based on 25 years of community development practice, six of which have been lived in South Africa, Peter Westoby’s ground-breaking monograph moves away from dominant normative accounts of community development to provide an appreciative and critical analysis of concrete examples of community development theory and practice. By examining community development stories as experienced on the ground, Westoby is able to show how the poor are organising themselves using various forms of community development as well as demonstrating how the state and non-state actors are attempting to organise, engage or accompany the poor through community development. The book also breaks new ground in theorising the practice of community development, drawing inductively from the stories analysed. The diversity of South African contexts and the proliferation of different kinds of community practice, make this a hugely difficult task. Despite this, Westoby argues it is one worth undertaking given the seriousness of the challenges facing the poor and progressive social change agents within South Africa. In this undertaking, Westoby draws upon a unique analytical framework to help illuminate current community development policy and programme challenges, along with practice dilemmas and wisdom.

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Books by Westoby, Peter