ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS. Community organization, community development, India, social work education, curriculum, transdisciplinary
INTRODUCTION
Community organization (CO) as a method of social work practice used to be seen as a means to facilitate communities towards selfdirected change. Although historically C O focused on community building, self help and mobilization of local resources, over the years there has been an increasing realization that integrated local approaches by themselves are inadequate to deal with wider causes of poverty and inequality. In India, C O as a process encompasses all efforts that seek to redefine power relations which contribute to the experience of discrimination and marginalization. Therefore, C O entails efforts not just at the level of communities but with social structures and with democratic institutions of governance. With this broad understanding, it is important to recognize
that although many community workers have often received their disciplinary orientation in social work, they are not mono-disciplined and have expanded their repertoire of knowledge from a variety of disciplines. Furthermore, in India specialists from different disciplines and diverse backgrounds or other domains of activity have also undertaken community organization practice, demonstrating innovation and efficacy of a number of strategies. They include journalists, law graduates, health workers, educational specialists, engineers, environmentalists, architects, planners and so on. Therefore C O in India has grown in multiple directions and effective practice draws from diverse disciplines and practice constituencies and also addresses a wide range of concerns. In their practice, community workers are seen crossing disciplinary boundaries with ease, responding to specific issues and engaging in politics of change and resistance with a focus on social justice, equality and access to entitlements. What then are the contemporary perspectives of C O and C D in the Indian subcontinent? How have they evolved and through what processes? What are their disciplinary orientations?
