Episode 5: Ceasar McDowell - On the Evolving Nature of Community

In this final segment of our three part interview, Dr. Ceasar McDowell introduces some early experiences that have inspired his work in community development.  He also discusses the evolution of how we organize ourselves as human beings in community.  He comments that while in the past we were born into specific communities or chose communities that were local and familiar, now "all of that has changed."  He adds that "we often find ourselves in places where we can’t then build an integrated community, so we look at how do we then take care of that other part of ourselves, which we can say is spiritual, relational, whatever it may be...For some people, they start to do it around work, or they do it around their habits, or they do it around church...All of that still keeps us separate, because now you’re holding this multiplicity of the places where you’re finding your identity and yourself and your connection, and it ends up being fragmented in some ways."  Dr. McDowell continues by exploring this new space that we find ourselves in, one of transition and change.  

Dr. McDowell is President of Interaction Institute for Social Change, and Professor of the Practice of Community Development at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also serves as Director of the global civic engagement organization, Engage The Power.