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Identities, Youth and Belonging pp 141–157Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Exploring the Potential for Community Where Diverse Individuals Belong

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Part of the book series: Studies in Childhood and Youth ((SCY))

Abstract

This chapter explores the meaning of community in contemporary times. Specifically, the focus is on how some Canadian youth think about belonging in middle school and whether their idea of community includes the acceptance of individual difference. Student’s perspectives on community relationships were drawn from essays and poster submissions received from multiple school sites across Southern Ontario, a region with one of the most diverse populations in Canada. Themes pulled from the youth’s work described five attributes of a positive community: Support for Others, Respect and Care, Dialogue, Healthy Conflict, and Safety. The students’ ideas also indicated an overarching ontology ‘Being-in-Relation’ where community and individuality are dependent. These themes are explored against a backdrop of community theory and the relational ontology of Martin Buber. This chapter offers a perspective quite different from historical constructions of community where belonging has often required assimilation, and provides significant implications for theory, practice, and research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The organization where I was employed engaged in various initiatives to promote building character and community in school classes. One yearly project was a “Community in the Classroom” essay and poster contest for students. I accessed the essays and posters after student names had been removed as suggested for ethics clearance. For this reason, neither student names nor pseudonyms were used to identify quotes in the research. Some of the teachers who submitted their classes’ work were also included in the larger study, but their perspectives are beyond the intent of this chapter.

  2. 2.

    I was also not able to re-present the posters in the same way that I was able to share excerpts from the student essays.

  3. 3.

    It would have been helpful to be able to further discuss findings with the students involved in the study; however this was not possible due to the nature of the data coming from contest entries.

  4. 4.

    To read more about my personal interest and beliefs about community see Cassidy (2013).

  5. 5.

    This research took place in Southern Ontario, Canada, where the population is very diverse, so these findings may not necessarily translate to other geographical locations. This study looked at community relationships within a school setting, so findings may also not translate to other community contexts.

  6. 6.

    My use of essays and posters in this research was therefore both an asset and a limitation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

    Kate J. Cassidy

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  1. Kate J. Cassidy
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Scholar, Manchester, UK

    Sadia Habib

  2. Swansea University, Swansea, UK

    Michael R. M. Ward

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Cassidy, K.J. (2019). Exploring the Potential for Community Where Diverse Individuals Belong. In: Habib, S., Ward, M.R.M. (eds) Identities, Youth and Belonging. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96113-2_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96113-2_9

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96112-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96113-2

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