Community Logic and Hybridization: Mechanisms of Continuity and Proliferation in a Transnational Community

Ana Velitchkova, University of Mississippi

In this work, I challenge many contemporary thinkers’ pessimism about the possibility and continuity of community, especially of transnational communities. I outline two mechanisms that ensure the continuity and proliferation of the transnational Esperanto community, one of the oldest and most diversified modern transnational communities. The first mechanism is the institutionalization of a form of the community logic specific to Esperanto. The Esperanto community logic unifies Esperanto activities at the local, national, and transnational levels across space and time and creates the possibility of multiplying the manifestations of the community. The second mechanism is the hybridization of this community logic and its mixing with other institutional logics (bureaucratic, professional, business, etc.). The hybridization of the community logic allows for differentiation and community proliferation but also masks the existence of community. I conclude that as community has been subject to rationalization, modern communities and rational associational life can coexist.

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 Presented in Session 230. Culture Logics and Frames