Rural Community Gateway

The Rural Gateway recently reported on a seminar that was due to be held in Glasgow which promised to look at alternative methods of community engagement. As many of you read the article, we thought you would be interested to hear what happened on the night. Here, Geoff Fagan, project director of CADISPA, senior lecturer at Strathclyde University and recent Rural Gateway ask an expert participant, reports on Dr Sarkissian's 'Working at the Edge' seminar.

Dr Sarkissian's seminar 'Working at the Edge' which took place recently at the University of Strathclyde - was exceptional. She brought a vivid and alternative view of community development work to the table and opened it out to critical scrutiny. 50 people attended and the session ran for a full three hours.

She used the work of philosophers John Seed and Arne Naess, material from her own four books, and that of Michelle LeBaron (Bridging Cultural conflicts), Mindy Thompson (Root Shock) and, amongst others, Work as a Spiritual Practice by Lewis Richmond.

She helped us understand what work at the edge meant and how change and development for communities was similar in some ways to a loss of place, identity and genuine grieving. This was particularly true in communities where people had lived for a long period, where networks and relationships were strongly established and where the disruption or rupture of those ties that bind people together was, for some, devastating.

Dr Sarkissian stressed the absolute imperative of including those considered to be at the margins (particularly young people) into the heart of the community change process - and gave illustrations of how this might be effectively done.

The lecture was also a message of hope. It gave example after example of where, by paying attention to the emotional needs of local people in addition to their need for information and advocacy, the impact of change could be corralled and mitigated. She talked of picturing community work in terms of resisting, strengthening, creating, renewing and serving and stressed the importance of enabling creative visioning for the future.

Her analysis of the components of Edge-work included attention to the emotional impact of change, the addressing of bewilderment (as cultural differences and technical complexity), the need for creative risk taking and flexibility in approach and keeping good company (celebrating working and being together).

As a deep ecologist, she encouraged the group to 'listen to non-human voices' and to share in writing the narratives of the people - helping them deconstruct and understand more critically what was happening to and around them.

There was, of course, much more.

It was a critical, beautifully illustrated lecture that challenged the audience and kept them engaged in a variety of ways. The evidence was there to see -  in that I had to stop the discussion prematurely at 9pm. It was useful, exciting in parts and emotional in others. Well worth the three hours of leisure time it took.

There are other evening seminars planned over the next year to which you are all invited, wherever you are. The basis for asking these world renowned academics/activists to share their ideas with us - is that they bring freshness, uniqueness and rigour to the debate. They open us out to a discourse that is different and sometimes risky and disturbing. Wendy Sarkissian did that last night and we are grateful to her for taking the time to include us as a stopover in her international lecture tour.

Did you attend the event?

If you attended the event, it would be great to hear what you learnt, by adding a comment to this article. You can also give us your comments on community engagement in general.

Related articles

Seminar could hold key to authentic community engagement (March 2007)
Ask an expert: Geoff Fagan - Part 1 (December 2006)
Ask an expert: Geoff Fagan - Part 2 (December 2006)

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