Communities of Practice

While history is inscribed with the names of famous leaders, it is not primarily through the actions of individuals that we have survived to this time, but rather through the actions of communities. We are social animals, and only through cooperation and communication have we been able to survive the wars, famines, pogroms, plagues, and natural disasters that beset us. Community is our basic strategy of survival and evolution. Community means the strength of unity to do the work that needs to be done. It means arms to hold us when we falter, a circle of healing, a circle of friends, someplace we can most be ourselves. - Roberts & Amidon

Building communities has always been a big part of my life. Despite my work in this area, some clarity and articulation of the importance of communities was missing for me - until I stumbled upon a concept that crystallized my understanding and my future work in the area of community building. This concept is Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is a social philosophy that originates in South Africa and is premised on the belief that all things and people are interconnected and bound together. For South Africans, it defines the meaning of being human. Ubuntu means honouring the dignity of each person, valuing the good of the community above self-interest, and striving to help the people in the spirit of service while developing mutually affirming and enhancing relationships with everything around us, people and planet alike. Ubuntu can be summed up as “I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am.”

One possible way to integrate this philosophy into the predominantly individualistic Western worldview is through Communities of Practice. A Community of Practice is a group of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis. Historically, communities of practice are not a new idea. As Etienne Wenger states, “they were our first knowledge-based social structures, back when we lived in caves and gathered around the fire to discuss strategies for cornering prey.” However, in our modern times of escalating pace of learning, coupled with the exponential increase in information and knowledge, these social networks provide ways to collaboratively accomplish what no one individual can possibly do on their own. Communities of Practice was a core part of my thesis (excerpt here) and I continue to explore ways of implementing them in the environments I work and live in.