On Community

Field Notes #8

by Casey Plett

Community. It’s a word we are used to hearing everywhere from political speeches to fast-food advertisements. But can we really define it?

Using her own experiences, joyful or painful, in communities, as well a strong analysis of political and cultural shifts, Casey Plett shows how overuse of the word has caused it to become disconnected from the reality it signifies.

Here, Plett suggests an alternative, moving towards a definition that acknowledges community as necessary for our existence – a source of comfort, knowledge and love – even while it has the potential to become dogmatic, cliquey or outright harmful.

On Community does crucial work in pushing harder on words and ideas we take for granted. It invites us to be more careful and intentional with our language, to consider how we relate to those we know – and to those we don’t know at all.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Queer, Transgender, LGBT, Canada, Sociology

186 pages, Paperback

Published July 25, 2024

About the author

Casey Plett is the author of On Community, A Dream of a Woman, Little Fish, and A Safe Girl to Love, the co-editor of Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science FIction and Fantasy From Transgender Writers, the Publisher at LittlePuss Press, and the winner of the Amazon First Novel Award, the Firecracker Award for Fiction, and the Lambda Literary Award for Best Transgender Fiction. She is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Ohio University.

Reviews

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well this was a delight. It felt like getting to sit around with Casey Plett at the kitchen table after dinner talking long into the night, except with the luxury of precise citations from Michael Warner's concept of "publics" and Morgan M Page's warning to watch out for when people ask you to hold back your compassion.

Plett shares a lot of her own life too, and the many communities (Mennonite, housemates, trans literary circles, nationalities) she has been and is a part of. The book is smart, vulnerable, and thoughtful; although it doesn't present any type of conclusion or judgement on community being an ultimate force for "good or bad" -- it explicitly doesn't want to -- I left it feeling hopeful about community (and its potential) anyway.

"Community can be fractured and slippery and seemingly ever at risk of dissolution at the same time that it can consistently regroup and resolder itself, mutate in ever-new fashions, form a balm to meet needs in ways it is difficult to predict or imagine."

[Ceanray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genuinely love the author’s use of the word like and the way she makes me feel like we’re both drinking coffee at a small table in a kitchen somewhere, knowing we’re both fumbling, but trying to fumble and make sense of things together

[Kazen · Rating 4 out of 5]

On Community is one of those books that doesn't clarify your thinking, in a good way.

I think we should keep in steady rotation a certain recurring question: What within a community do its members not want to look at? What gets one starry-eyed? What does that starry-eyed-ness prevent one from seeing clearly? What narratives about my communities, no matter how I feel about them that day, are true that I do not want to hear?

Plett introduces us to some of her communities - the Mennonite community of her youth, the trans community of her present, and everything in between. Along the way she grapples with what community is, in the first place, how it can both enrich our lives and be a source of stress, and how engaging with communities almost necessarily awkward but oh, so worth it. Some quotes also sang to me on a completely different level, as an obviously foreign woman in Japan:

I’m too aware, from my life as a transsexual, of what it’s like when someone finds you Interesting—or rather, when you represent Interesting, rather than you, yourself, a strange individual human.

People are fascinated with me not because I'm me, but because solid Japanese spills out of my non-Asian face. How Interesting! they exclaim, and I wonder where I need to go to find a community that will see me for who I am.

So many highlights, so many thoughts, and ripe for a reread in the future - an easy recommend if you're any little bit interested in the topic.

[Amarah H-S]

thank you casey plett for this little book - it is a wonder, and i’m so grateful to have read it !!

i have always been a community person. have always loved the thought of it. and i remember, in second year, my social and political thought prof (shoutout dr martak) pointing out that community and exclusivity are two sides of the same coin — one cannot exist without the other. the thought of this PLAGUED ME for months, because how can something so beautiful and something so ugly be that inextricable?

plett takes up this tension SO beautifully. she’s not afraid to delve into the ugliness of community and its capacity to do serious harm. and yet — such a hopeful piece of writing. so attuned to the ways we depend on each other and the reasons we WANT to. this got me thinking a lot about the communities i’ve been a part of — what has defined them, how they’ve felt, what they’ve meant to me. i think i had my own “what the hell is water” moment reading this, in that i had this creeping, growing sense of gratitude for the communities that have shaped me, especially over the last 4 years.

so thank you casey plett, for making me face the ugliness and also showing me the beauty :,) what a lovely read.

[Kate Humes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this long essay, but it did not sit right with me. Plett’s tone rings of self-righteousness; her ideas and her beliefs are right. Rather than conveying her disagreement or counterpoint with articulate argument, theory, or evidence, Plett relies on overt sarcasm (overusing words such as “like,” “yeah,” and “oh, right”). Plett is clearly well-read, but she introduces her interlocutors at random points and she does not seem to know when/where they are most useful.

Finally, I did not feel there was a coherent thesis or central claim. Right when she makes an interesting or unique observation, she moves on without investigation. This leads to shallow observances about “community.” Her editor’s comment was more provocative than the 156 pages that preceded it.

There is so much good writing about community—much of which Plett references—that I feel this essay does not contribute significantly to the conversation.

[Mark Bondy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a day a couple weeks ago where my entire Goodreads feed was people adding this book which I thought was just a nice thing to see. I was especially glad to see that people were reading Casey Plett, who I am a huge fan of. I don't know how I would feel about this book in a vacuum, but reading it as a kind of companion piece to Little Fish made me appreciate both books more.

Gonna go give my copy of this to a friend and see what she's been reading lately I think.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you need a recommendation then I highly recommend ON COMMUNITY by Casey Plett! As soon as I heard about this book I knew I had to read it because I love all of her other books. I loved this book too! She dives into what community means to her among the multitude of meanings. This book explores community as the place where we grew up, to the trans community and to a marketing point of view. Drawing from her personal experiences it’s interesting how one can join and leave different communities throughout life. It’s interesting since community has so many different meanings which shows how important it is. Reading this made me reflect on which communities I’m a part of and how they’re defined. I definitely thought of the book/reading/bookstagram communities and thank you so much for this community! This is one of my fave nonfiction books of 2023!

Thank you to Biblioasis Books for my ARC!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really lovely long essay on community from Casey Plett. She writes about the many communities she’s been a part of over her life, what they meant to her, and what they do and do not say about the importance and role of community. This includes trans communities, book/writer communities, Mennonite communities, housemates, neighbourhoods, and online communities. I loved how personal and specific she was throughout. I went in wary of reading overly rosy descriptions of queer community and came out not finding that at all but also feeling much more hopeful about the concept of community than I thought.

[Andrea McDowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was lovely. A short, beautiful exploration of the benefits and harms of community in all its forms and sizes.

Community is built as much by who is excluded as who is let in. A community that allows in anyone is not a community; it's the human race. A community that allows in no one is a person, and not a community at all. Plett investigates this and other conundrums from a variety of perspectives informed by her experiences as a trans mennonite woman from prairie Canada who has also lived in urban Canada, Oregon, and NYC. She comes to no hard and fast conclusions, except the unavoidable one that we have no alternatives to community, as damaging as it sometimes is; so build community we must even as we work to make it better.

I wish I could believe that making it better was firmly within our species' capacity. The book brought to mine the concept of schismogenesis that I learned from The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (the one really great takeaway from that for me), which is that communities in proximity will define themselves in opposition to other nearby communities, thus increasing their differences over time. You could see this as a fine template for political polarization pretty much everywhere, but the Davids also described a lot of older civilizations the same way: two neighbouring cultures, one with an ethic of thrift and hard work and the other based on excess enabled by slave-holding, would diverge, each making itself more itself by being less like its neighbour. Even speciation (not from The Dawn of Everything) has features of this, with part of what drove the evolution of, say, zebra stripes or giraffe necks, is that the members with the most stripey spits or longest necks were perceived as being more zebra-y or giraffe-y, thus more attractive, and so the traits were reinforced.

I mean, if this isn't the tidiest explanation for infighting in radical or progressive movements, I'm not sure what is.

Anyway: community: can't live with it, can't live without it. That's the general thesis, and you might think it doesn't need a 170 page essay to explore, but the exploration was the pleasure of it.

[nkp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think and read about community a lot, and this essay introduced a lot of “insider info” that wasn’t addressed in other texts, namely the messiness of building/ maintaining community, the ways it can go wrong, and the work it takes to participate in community. I didn’t agree with everything but got an interesting perspective. The focus on maintaining and improving community was very important for me.

[Nikki Breitner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this! I love community building and I have never thought to sit and break down what the term “community” even means! This little profound book opens me to the intricate ways people crave likeness and connect to others.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sat on my nightstand through two autorenewals, forcing me to guilt-read it in two days. I’m only sorry I didn’t read it sooner.

[Sarah Fogel · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25? 4.5? good one! lot of good in here - i read it over too long of a time period and so i think i missed the forest in favor of some of the trees, but regardless, good stuff

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed Casey's reflections on community and the call to challenge any complacency one may fall into when they find their people. "Communities will always benefit from asking themselves, "what do we not want to look at? What makes us uncomfortable to think about? What do we quietly find ourselves wishing away?" "

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

|| ON COMMUNITY ||
#gifted @biblioasis_books
•
"I'm trying to lay out as Baseline fact that no Community can be completely mapped or pinned down, but no Community can escape an element of imagination and mystery not in the mythological sense."
•
"There is a potential for dark action in any group no matter how good of intention or heart. The possibility is always there."
•
"The lasting Community needs forces within it doing work to make it last, and a lasting Community has to have some room for serendipity. Maybe even a bit of chaos."
✍🏻
Most recently a @lambdaliterary finalist for Transgender Non-Fiction, I thought this was a wonderful exploration of what community can be on many levels. It was deeply personal, and intimately written. Everything I have read by Plett has been something I have thoroughly enjoyed. Community is such an interesting subject to explore, as it varies depending on the person and the place that they are referencing. It's a big part of society, bonding together, shaping people, feelings of belonging, a commonly used theme in literature, television, film, it's so widespread so I love how Plett delved into the bigger implications and layers of what community is. Thought-provoking to say the least. It really prompted me to reflect on what community means to me personally.
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[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written essay about the concept of community.

Some quotes that stood out to me:

“I think we should keep in steady rotation a certain recurring question: What within a community do its members not want to look at?”

“Humans need community, but there’s no good assuming it’s always a conduit for goodness.”

“Every seismic social shift originates in someone's kitchen or living room with the decision to cease doing something that only recently had felt perfectly normal, or to accept the necessity of an action that had seemed impossible, unthinkable.” - Tracy K. Smith

“It’s an idea I appreciate, that community is not a thing but a motion. Sometimes it’s natural and boring, and sometimes it takes effort and work, but: it only assumes shape via activity.”

[jiji · Rating 4 out of 5]

With everything going on in the world, I've found myself drawn to the idea of community.

This small book bills itself as an essay, but it felt more like a collection of semi-edited, intelligent, thoughtful journal entries. I found it quite refreshing and comforting. It explores the good parts (belonging, comfort, focus, meaning) of community and the not-so-good parts (can be exclusionary, group think, in-group fighting) that come with being part of a group of people that purposely spends time together on a somewhat consistent basis. I enjoyed the reflections on the small Canadian Mennonite community Casey original comes from, along with her descriptions of the different communities she's joined and left in her early adulthood, and how these communities shaped her, however imperfect they were. This book made me feel a little bit hopeful, at least for a little while.

[Jacob Sebastian · Rating 4 out of 5]

i went into this booking holding community as a silver bullet to solve all personal and societal woes, so was expecting to read a treatise along the same lines. but instead i found a more critical look at the existential questions of community and how community can breed insularism. the take away is definitely that community is still a powerful force for good and social change but Plett does a good job of asking the uncomfortable questions about community. i’ll def be returning to this one.

[Mentai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refreshingly enjoyable discussion on community bringing several strands together. Plett stopped short of analysis, opting instead for juxtaposition of a variety of chapter formats and lists. The result was an informal conceptual approach. This was leavened by Plett's personal background and insights.

[honora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this… she raises questions without providing concrete answers in a really refreshing way. Because what concrete answers can you really give about something as expansive as community? I appreciate an essay that knows its limits and embraces them.

[Tara Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5!

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this for book club and liked it

[Nadya Langelotz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone read!! Love her ends of chapters, lingering thoughts, meanderings that aren’t quite answers but answers enough. Lovely! Made me think and feel - the best kind of non fiction ✨

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved how thought-provoking yet hopeful this was!! I liked how many little stories and experiences were spun into interesting observations. Like an extra long substack read.

[tommy · Rating 3 out of 5]

some of this felt super redundant, but there were a few essays that really put into words some things i’ve been thinking, struggling with, working on, etc,,,,,

water? what the hell is water?

[Wardah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good! And travel sized.

[☆brooklyn☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meandering and broad. Dumped a pile of open ended ideas and questions at my door, asking me to sort through, which I did and I will but inevitably some of it gets lost.

[Hayden Epp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so interesting and great to read! I feel like I would recommend this to most people in my life.

[Madeleine · Rating 5 out of 5]

gorgeous with a bibliography alive with conversation to reference

[Meli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent food for thought about communities of all kinds. Enjoyed the author’s investigation of queer communities in particular, and intraminority exclusion. Would love to see some of the notes expanded into larger essays down the road!