Community through self: perception, expression and relationships An inquiry into perceptions of self and the world in search of community, with unavoidable methodological reflections

Abstract: This paper explored perception, expression and individuals’ relationships with worldly aspects as a means towards community understanding. Interviews and surveys from participants of Canton, SD, USA provided the majority of the data for engagement. This paper focused on self to community mainly through the following worldly aspects: nature, food, yard, home, and garden. Relationships were explored through participant expressions in multiple formats: drawing, interviews, ratings, and word prompts. The author employed a sample of mixed methods in both data collection and framework, though human ecology supplied a major platform for a focus on humans and their environment. This paper explored a route towards understanding humans in their complexity through a dialogue with the data from individual to worldly aspect to community. The complexity of selves, worldly aspects, relations between, community, as well as choosing and using suitable methods and frameworks demonstrated the need to engage a flexible collection of individual understandings of participants’ relationships in order to approach a deep understanding of community.