Select your community/group that will be the focus of your study and will serve as the framework for your integration of the concepts explored during this term. Review all project guidance, that includes three subparts, before selecting your proposed group. stating what hero(s), ritual(s), and symbol(s) make this a good group for you to study (remember this must be a group that differs from you
The Community Culture Project consists of three parts:
A. Description of the Community of Interest: a short summary of the community you want to study.
What is the purpose of the studying this group, what has puzzled you that you hope will now become clearer?
What are the overall demographics of your proposed group? (i.e., education, gender, age and other quantitative characteristics)
What is the structure (i.e. how often do they meet to make decisions, how and when do they meet, is there one leader or rotation of leadership of the group) and context (i.e. is this a work group, a volunteer group, a mixed group of professional and nonprofessionals, is it the issue or their skill set that brings them together) of the group?
What are the goals and objectives of the group (what is their vision for and mission of their work)?
How is the group resourced (i.e. the resources are from a sustainable source, they are grant funded, they rely on sales and commissions)?
B. Cultural Composition of the Group: Using the material discussed in class, and presented in your text create an outline of your group. For each of these questions, provide an example based on your observation, an example based on an article in social or print media about your group or a similar group, an example from a story shared with you from a key informant.
Is your group more masculine or feminine in addressing points of conflict?
What is the power distribution of your group between leadership and group members and how does that impact addressing points of conflict?
Does your group demonstrate weak or strong uncertainty avoidance when conflict arises?
Is your group more collective or individualistic when developing solutions to the points of conflict?
Does your group have a more long term or short term orientation when developing resolutions to conflict?
C. Cultural Summation
What is the most commonly held symbol among members of the group that demonstrate a sense of tribe and cohesion which keeps them able to grow from, and not be stymied by, points of conflict, and how did you make that determination?
What is the most important ritual shared by group members that keeps them focused on both their vision and their mission, and not suffer vision or mission creep which may occur in order to avoid conflict, and how did you make that determination?
What is the most important guiding hero for the members of the group you studied that keeps them moving forward together and not disband because of normal, natural conflict, and how did you make that determination?