Searching for community
Representation, power and action on an urban estate
- Author/Editor(s):
- Jeremy Brent
- Format:
- Paperback , 312 pages , 234 x 156 mm
- ISBN
- 9781847423238
- Published:
- 13 May 2009
£14.99 - List price: £19.99 You save: £5.00
North America customers can order this book here
Jeremy Brent added more than 25 years of work on a single housing estate to his incisive understanding of contemporary social theory to produce the best book on the contested and slippery reality of 'community' to be seen in years. An absolute must.
Paul Hoggett, Professor of Politics, University of the West of England
About This Book
At a time when politicians place increasing importance on the role of 'community' in overcoming social problems, 'Searching for community' asks the vital question 'what is community, anyway?'. Is it an answer to social problems or an illusion to be dismissed? This insightful book is written from the perspective of the late Jeremy Brent's thirty year involvement as a youth worker in Southmead, a housing estate in Bristol and a place where discourses of community run strong. "Searching for community" presents a variety of perspectives to challenge the ways in which areas of poverty and disrepute are represented. It examines ways to understand and engage with the troublesome concept of 'community', vividly describing the collective actions of young people and adults to show the way community is enacted as a combination of dreams, actions and materiality.Providing a unique mix of practical knowledge and a sophisticated analysis of popular, professional and theoretical ideas of community, "Searching for community" makes uneasy reading for those looking for simplistic solutions to issues including youth crime, social marginalisation and community empowerment. This accessible book is a must-read for students and practitioners in the fields of community development, sociology and youth work who wish to get beyond the rhetoric and engage with the complexities of discourses of community.
Author Biography
Jeremy Brent was Senior Youth Worker at Southmead Youth Centre in Bristol for 28 years. He supported his intellectually reflective practice through studies at the University of Birmingham and the University of the West of England. He published several articles in community and youth work journals. Jeremy was an active member of the Community and Youth Workers Union. He died in 2006.Contents
Foreword - Doug Nicholls
Notes on the author - Trevor and Colin Brent
Introduction - Richard Johnson
Four settings: contexts and questions - Jeremy Brent
Researching Southmead: problems of representation and participation - Jeremy Brent
The intelligent outsider? Official and media representations of Southmead - Jeremy Brent
Knowledge from within: community art and local representations - Jeremy Brent
The outsider within: crossing worlds - Jeremy Brent
Young people and community: trouble and tribes - Jeremy Brent
Four examples of community action in Southmead - Jeremy Brent
What is community anyway? - Jeremy Brent
Engaging with community - Jeremy Brent
Article: Communicating what youth work achieves: the smile and the arch - Jeremy Brent
Epilogue - Patrick Dorney, Pauline Teddy, Mike Pierce, Colin Brent
Afterword - Why Jeremy Brent's work is more relevant than ever - Marjorie Mayo.
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