The Routledge Handbook of Community Development Research

by Lynda Shevellar (Editor), Peter Westoby (Editor)

This handbook sets a new research agenda in community development. The contributors redefine existing areas within the context of interdisciplinary research, highlight emerging areas for community development related research, and provide researchers and post-graduate students with ideas and encouragement for future research activity. To do this, the editors have deliberately chosen to frame this book not through a traditional sociological lens of class, race and gender, but through a "Wicked Problems" framework.

Drawing upon the work of 37 international authors, in diverse settings such as West Papua, Peru, the USA and Australia; and with methodologies equally as diverse, from case studies and interviews to the use of music and story-telling, this handbook focuses upon five Wicked Problems: forced displacement; family, gender and child related violence; indigenous marginalisation; climate change and food security; and human survival in the context of disaster and recovery work.

By drawing together leading scholars from community development, social work and social policy, this handbook provides an up to the minute snapshot of current scholarship as well as signposting several fruitful avenues for future research. This book is both an invaluable resource for both scholars and practitioners and an indispensable teaching tool for use in the classroom and in the field

Review
'A very timely contribution: to be warmly welcomed by all those concerned with community development and community development research.' - Marjorie Mayo, Emeritus Professor of Community Development, Goldsmiths, University of London

‘This collection covers rich material, across a wide scope of community development practice. In showing the relevance of community development for some of the ‘wicked problems’ facing the contemporary world (both the Global South and the Global North), the contributors have shown clearly the absolute importance of community development perspectives in charting future directions for humanity and for the broader global environment. The book also brings community development practice and research together – something many practitioners have struggled with – showing how each informs, and is dependent on, the other. The contributors demonstrate approaches to community development that, while grounded in lived experience at community level, nevertheless represent the antithesis of right-wing populism.’ - Professor Jim Ife, Western Sydney University

About the Author
Lynda Shevellar is influenced by 25 years of experience and study in community development, the disability sector, education, and psychology. She has worked in government and the community sector and is currently a lecturer in Community Development, within the School of Social Science at The University of Queensland, Australia. Lynda's current research focuses upon supporting people with disabilities and mental health challenges to develop a deeper sense of community belonging.

Peter Westoby is an Associate Professor in Social Science and Community Development at Queensland University of Technology, Australia; a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Development Support, University of Free State, South Africa; and a Director with Community Praxis Cooperative. Peter has over 30 years of experience in practice in places such as South Africa, Uganda, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Australia. He teaches and researches on community development theory and practice, dialogue studies and forced migration studies. Peter is passionate about reading, good coffee, hanging out at his local AVID reader bookshop, bushwalking and travelling.