Groupies

Introduction
How nets work
Groupies
Sustainability… past processes, present concerns, future prospects
Where am I?
Footnotes
The conceptualisations above may indicate a way to move beyond problematic group representations, allowing for "heterogeneous associations" 7 rather than implying homogeneous groups. Spatial interpretations of the garden groups encountered may imply that there exist two sources of members for these: spatially concentrated residential communities or spatially diffuse ‘communities of interest’, although most garden groups contain elements of both. Information flows in different ways in each group, as seen through local fliers within Department of Housing residential blocks or garden handouts given to students enrolling at UNSW. These represent promotion directed at spatially divergent ‘communities’. If replication and flexibility are seen as integral to sustainability, garden groups ultimately need to rely on more than one form of community base. This was seen to varying degree within the garden groups, such that most drew their membership both from local residents and more spatially distant individuals attracted to the group’s philosophy or the garden’s structure. The Waterloo Garden especially was drawing upon gardeners who represented both of these bases, and were waiting for access to land either closer to their homes or in association with a community of interest.

This varying hybridity in garden group basis and structure would imply that these groups are diverse, flexible entities. This has implications for the troubling interpretation of a group such as ‘community gardeners’, or the community gardening ‘movement’, as a homogeneous interest group vying for access as discussed in Chapter 2. As discussed in Chapter 4, ANT and rhizomic interpretations allow spaces and individuals to be more than one thing; hence, conceptualising the spaces and people surrounding community gardens or urban agriculture in this way opens up potential spaces for the engagement of these and other bodies. That is, seeing the multiplicity within bodies creates more spaces for interaction and greater imaginings of what a space or individual can be and do. Hence, ‘communities of interest’ can be seen as comprising many unique, multifaceted individuals who can interact with each other and wider community members in a multitude of ways, rather than a homogeneous mass unified in thought and action. These individuals can be seen as being both community gardeners and wider community members, holding multiple interests, performing multiple roles and occupying and engaging with a multitude of ‘groups’ or ‘networks’. Similarly, conflict over a physical space can be resolved through a search for ways for the space to be this and that, not or. An example can be seen in the inclusion of the Steiner children into Randwick Community Organic Garden, which led to further and fuller interaction and learning.


 
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Appendix I
Appendix II
References

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