Concepts of Belonging

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AREA OF STUDY OVERVIEW: What are we doing

  • HSC Online – NSW Stage 6 Syllabus:
  • Make sure you follow the following steps in your responses:
    • Understand the concept – how belonging is represented in the text
    • Critical Analysis – how the composer shapes meaning through techniques
    • Personal understanding – how studying the concept has broadened your view on yourself and the world

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

There needs to be an analysis of human relationships and connections to individuals, groups, society and environment

Consider how perceptions of belonging can be affected by people, places and communities. How do individuals negotiate approval to belong?

Benefits: protection, support, stability, love and acceptance

Negative: how does it affect personal choice, self expression, identity and freedom?

Understand the concept of not belonging: non-acceptance, alienation, isolation, non-conformist, ostracism, and the price of individuality.

What is Belonging?

  • Connections to people or places create a sense of belonging
  • A sense of belonging is created through connections to groups and communities
  • A sense of belonging to the larger world is important
  • Belonging can enrich our identity and relationships, and can lead to acceptance and understanding
  • Individuals can challenge or enrich groups and communities
  • Attitudes towards belonging can change over time
  • Sometimes we choose not to belong
  • Barriers in society and groups can prevent belonging
  • Belonging can have negative repercussions for the individual

Synonyms:

  • Affiliation
  • Connection
  • Alliance
  • Affinity
  • Association
  • Attachment
  • Relationship
  • Rapport
  • Closeness
  • Identify

Paul Reuben’s 5 stage Alienation Journey:

  1. Alienation – personal reflection leading to steps taken to alter the situation
  2. Initiation – feeling of not belonging
  3. Journey – such as leaving home, signifying change
  4. Suffering – physical or psychological suffering, serving to purge or cleanse the past. Leads to personal reflection
  5. Reconciliation – Painful self examination, things are reconciled and a removal of the feeling of not belonging. Happens with a discovery of a new place and situation OR a return to the former place. This initiates a sense of belonging. (new perspective)

RELATED TEXT required for this topic

Post your understanding of belonging: use the belonging quotes to develop your own interpretation of the concept