Against the Romance of Community

Against the Romance of Community puts forward an incisive critique of "community," as a sense of belonging that is created and sustained through practices of consumption and production. Often used unreflexively to conjure a leftist politics of consensus or stable and shared identity, Joseph argues that community immediately raises questions of belonging and power. On what grounds is community created, invoked, and sustained? This line of inquiry notonly questions how meaning and the meaning of community is made, but also what is enabled through the meaning of community. Joseph resists an easy solution, seeking instead to open up the question about community formation and the ways that community can be invoked for violent impulses.