Dynamic Belonging

World Jewry today is concentrated in the US and Israel, and while distinctive Judaic approaches and practices have evolved in each society, parallels also exist. This volume offers studies of substantive and creative aspects of Jewish belonging. While research in Israel on Judaism has stressed orthodox or "extreme" versions of religiosity, linked to institutional life and politics, moderate and less systematized expressions of Jewish belonging are overlooked. This volume explores the fluid and dynamic nature of identity building among Jews and the many issues that cut across different Jewish groupings. An important contribution to scholarship on contemporary Jewry, it reveals the often unrecognized dynamism in new forms of Jewish identification and affiliation in Israel and in the Diaspora.

This timely and rigorous edited collection discusses complex processes related to student experience and belonging in contemporary higher education worldwide. It brings together a variety of recent research that explores contemporary undergraduate student experience in and of higher education. Drawing on the case studies from the UK, the USA, Israel and China and a variety of university settings, the chapters problematise the complex processes of developing a sense of belonging in contemporary universities that are increasingly diverse in terms of student population but also heavily marketised. Further, they draw attention to the effects of marketisation on the changing interpersonal relationships in student experience. Above all, the themes covered in this issue promote an understanding of student experience and belonging as a dynamic, relational and non-linear process, intersecting with pre-existing social inequalities as well as market dynamics that forcefully continue to reshape the sector and university practices. This book provides a timely and academically rigorous account of contemporary student experience and belonging in the global context of higher education. Contemporary Dynamics of Student Experience and Belonging in Higher Education will be a key resource for scholars, practitioners and researchers of higher education, education policy and leadership, educational studies and research, and anyone interested in understanding and supporting students. It was originally published as a special issue of Critical Studies in Education.

This book explores the impacts on personal and professional, local and global forms of belonging in educational spaces amidst rapid changes shaped by globalization. Encouraging readers to consider the idea of belonging as an educational goal as much as a guiding educational strategy, this text forms a unique contribution to the field. Drawing on empirical and theoretical analyses, chapters illustrate how educational experience informs a sense of belonging, which is increasingly juxtaposed against a variety of global dynamics including neoliberalism, transnationalism, and global policy and practice discourses. Addressing phenomena such as refugee education, large-scale international assessments, and study abroad, the volume’s focus on ten countries including Japan, Sierra Leone, and the US demonstrates the complexities of globalization and illuminates possibilities for supporting new constructions of belonging in rapidly globalizing educational spaces. This text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in international and comparative education, multicultural education, and educational policy more broadly. Those interested in the sociology of education and cultural studies within education will also benefit from this volume.

This book explores the role that boundary making plays in creating a societal understanding of current migration dynamics and, by extension, in legitimising migration regimes. By comparing most recent developments in Europe and China, it reveals insights on convergent social and political practices of boundary making under divergent conditions.

Is refugee belonging more successful in a big city where resettlement agencies and refugees themselves have access to more resources and opportunities or in a small village community that operates on face-to-face relationships? In contexts that offer more hands-on assistance or in those that are more laissez-faire? How do refugees negotiate the often intersecting and complex global relationships that accompany belonging? And what can we learn about the process of how refugees restructure and reposition themselves in the course of upheaval by examining belonging at different scales? In response to a general call for more comparison in migration studies, Belonging offers a cross-national analysis that tackles these questions. Through a case study of two little-known Hmong communities that originated from the same Lao-Hmong refugee group but resettled in communities with markedly different approaches to welcoming them -- Texas, in the United States, and Gammertingen, a small town in Germany -- this book argues that a more thorough understanding of this process requires unpacking the social dynamics of fitting in as they are simultaneously represented across different scales -- local, regional, national and global.Its arguments challenge us to rethink social cohesion as influenced by the intersection of multiple factors in different contexts that go beyond the immigrant/host dichotomy and proposes a framework that re-conceptualizes belonging as a multifaceted phenomenon that overlaps, intersects, and often conflicts with other social arenas where perceived togetherness is also desired. "Dr. Nibbs has made several contributions to the anthropological and refugee studies literature on important questions of refugee settlement, by exploring relevant and inter-related issues that influence refugees' "belonging" in relation to their new larger society, their own local ethnic group, and their diasporic ethnic group members, which readers will find insightful." -- Kathleen A. Culhane-Pera, Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees

This book takes a global perspective to address the concept of belonging in youth studies, interrogating its emergence as a reoccurring theme in the literature and elucidating its benefits and shortcomings. While belonging offers new alignments across previously divergent approaches to youth studies, its pervasiveness in the field has led to criticism that it means both everything and nothing and thus requires deeper analysis to be of enduring value. The authors do this work to provide an accessible, scholarly account of how youth studies uses belonging by focusing on transitions, participation, citizenship and mobility to address its theoretical and historical underpinnings and its prevalence in youth policy and research.

"A tactical primer for any business embarking on the critical work of actively building community."—Seth Godin, Author, This is Marketing "This book perfectly marries the psychology of communities, with the hard-earned secrets of someone who's done the real work over many years. David Spinks is the master of this craft."—Nir Eyal, bestselling author of Hooked and Indistractable The rise of the internet has brought with it an inexorable, almost shockingly persistent drive toward community. From the first social networks to the GameStop trading revolution, engaged communities have shown the ability to transform industries. Businesses need to harness that power. As business community expert David Spinks shows in The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community your Competitive Advantage, the successful brands of tomorrow will be those that create authentic connection, giving customers a sense of real belonging and unlocking unprecedented scale as a result. In his career of over 10 years in the business of building community, Spinks has learned what a winning community strategy looks like. From the fundamental concepts—including how community drives measurable business value and what the appropriate metrics are—to high-level community design and practical engagement techniques, The Business of Belonging is an epic journey into the world of community building. This book is for decision makers who want to better understand the value and opportunity of community, and for community professionals who want to level up their strategy. Featuring a foreword by Startup Grind and Bevy cofounder Derek Andersen, it will give you a step-by-step model for strategically planning, creating, facilitating, and measuring communities that drive business growth. Attracting and retaining community members who are also loyal customers, brand evangelists, and leaders—that’s the goal for today’s connected businesses, and this book is the map to getting there.

In Compassionate Leadership for School Belonging, Kathryn Riley draws on 40 years of international research and professional practice to show how schools can be places of safety and fulfilment, even in the most difficult of circumstances. When belonging is a school’s guiding principle, more young people at all levels experience a sense of connectedness and friendship, perform better academically, and come to believe in themselves; their teachers feel more professionally fulfilled, their families more accepted. The originality of this highly readable book lies in its scope. It offers international analysis from the OECD alongside insights from the author’s extensive research in schools, powerfully supported by observational vignettes and drawings from the children, young people and teachers who have been her co-researchers. The book reveals patterns of dislocation, disaffection and exclusion, and highlights the points of intervention in policy and practice needed across school systems to create the conditions for school belonging. The methodologies, concepts and research tools offered can be used by practitioners and researchers in their own contexts, and to guide school leaders towards creating their own places of belonging. This is an urgent book of hope, offering knowledge so that schools can open up possibilities to all children and young people in an increasingly uncertain world.