Traditionally, historians have preferred to rely on “common sense” approaches to
the meaning of community, but such definitions, emphasizing the ideas of a shared
place and a static, self-contained entity, are simply inadequate for historical research
and writing. Three elements are fundamental to understanding the historical
significance of community: community as imagined reality, community as social
interaction, and community as a process. An interdisciplinary approach to this
question takes into consideration the thinking of social scientists and humanists on
the importance of space and networks in social life. The historical study of community,
one that embraces both cultural and spatial perspectives, has much to benefit
from and much to contribute to this ever-growing and evolving body of work. As
they have done with such concepts as “the family” and “the nation”, historians
must make “community” a problem to be studied, discussed, and debated.
