Sense Of Belonging Research

Finding a sense of belonging to a place can influence an individual’s sense of acceptance within the community and culture or opposingly can enhance their sense of isolation and alienation from society.This is reflected through Raimond Gaita’s memoir Romulus My Father and Manfred Jurgensen’s poem Bonegilla 1916 through extensive literary devices.We learn individuals perceptions of place and their ability to adjust to new places governs their ability to belong and feel at home with new cultures.

A fundamental part of human existence and interaction is the notion of belonging or identifying with a group. Groups form and exist for various reasons and purposes, comprising of individuals similar or diverse in nature, that often work together toward a common goal (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014). In 1902, the American sociologist by the name of C. H. Cooley, made distinction between primary and secondary groups. Cooley (1902) classified primary group to have intimate and comparatively permanent associations as one might find in a cohort of close friends, or a family. The groups or associations in which individuals related to each other through formal and often legalistic rules, were classified as secondary groups (Nolen, 2010).

“We belong … like fish in water. We’re in our environment.” This quote from the New York Times shows the perception of belonging as the idea about connecting to a place, person, group or a community. 'Feliks Skrzynecki' by Peter Skrzynecki, 'I'm nobody! Who are you?' by Emily Dickinson and 'The Rabbits' by John Marsden & Shaun Tan show the concept of belonging as being contrasted towards the New York Times quote, showing the alienation and non-existent connection towards it. These texts have furthered my understanding on the perceptions of belonging by recognising the different concepts of connection to people, places and things.

It is a well-known fact that belonging to a group can make an individual feel not only accepted, but more powerful that if they were on their own. Whether it is a community, youth group or even religion, belonging is an everyday occurrence of like that many of us do not even realise. Belonging to a group is more influential than belonging to an individual. We can see this in the texts The Crucible by Arthur Miller, 1984 by George Orwell and the listening task. Belonging to a group can give you a feeling of acceptance, but also can help you not to be targeted or marginalised. Also, people who appear to belong to groups, when looked at closer, in truth do not belong. Belonging to a group can also give you more power as a

‘An individual’s interaction with others and the world around them can enrich or limit their experience of belonging.” Discuss this view with detailed reference ( 2010 HSC Question)

Belonging means different things to different people. The most common definition is feeling a sense of connectedness to a person, place or thing. Understanding nourishes belonging while a lack of understanding can prevent people from belonging. This is shown through Peter Skrzynecki’s poem ‘Migrant hostel’ which is about the challenges faced by travelers on their journey, and the hardships they have to overcome by exchanging their old world for the unfamiliar and unwelcoming new world in which they don’t understand anything. Skrzynecki’s poem ‘Feliks Skryznecki’ explores a relationship between father and son, and their contrasting experiences of belonging to a new place. The related text, ‘The Red Tree,’ by Shaun Tan also shows that a lack

In my current youth, my childhood held a far different aspect. To be honest, I loved my elementary school and learning in general. However, I always felt secluded. If I were to walk, talk, or even shout I’d never be accounted. When it came to class projects or homework, my peers never consulted my regards. “Hey, do you know how to do this problem?” I’d ask my partner. Nothing. “Do you know how to spell library?” I’d ask

Write down the website. Give a brief description of the relevance of this site to your study

Explore how this is evident in you prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.

Our perception of our identity is constantly changing, the groups we belong to, the people we talk to and the way we connect with others help to form our identity. There is one thing we all have in common despite our individual identities, is the need to belong. There’s no obligation to belong to only one group, you can belong to many. An individual can belong to many groups, which will then create multiple identities; hence our understanding of identity is never constant. Belonging to a loving family, group of caring friends that help us to develop our own sense of self. However, belonging can have a negative side. For example our families might have an expectation of us to do something that might alter our ambitions and interfere with

The majority of belonging research at the college level has focused on the campus community and promoting belongingness among minority students (Strayhorn 2010; Strayhorn & Saddler 2009; Walton & Cohen 2011). From an academic and social view, belonging can be defined as a feeling of college belonging, college identity, connectedness, and intellectual competence. These are moments that do not always occur in the classroom. It can happen anywhere a student makes contact with other students and faculty to become involved in opportunities for engagement and learn success strategies (Hughes, Karp, & O’Gara, 2009). A sense of belonging also involves one’s personal belief that one is an accepted member of an academic community whose presence

Belonging consists of a struggle with opposing pressures. A desire to belong also consists of emotional conflicts and struggles between being acknowledged while also remaining as an individual and retaining personal ideals which may ultimately result in a connection. This is explored in Emily Dickinson’s selected poetry I died for beauty, but was scarce and I had been hungry all the years , as well as Scott Westerfeld’s novel Uglies. These texts all depict a struggle between being recognised and accepted in society and the desire to remain true to one’s self, exploring the paradoxical nature of belonging which, on one hand, provides fulfilment, but also removes a sense of personal identity.

In a society where individuals can freely do things, that still abide to laws, things can get out of place. Of course there will be a small cluster of those who decide that the law may not always be right. From that cluster, there is a majority who disobey laws in a harsh manner, and the minority who do it peacefully. The question is, how does it impact our society? The truth is, disobeying anything can give people negative connotations. If you peacefully resist, the punishment might not be as hard then if you resist with frustration. However, there are cases where they broke the law, but they did it 'for the people'. An example of this Robin Hood, is a guy named Edward Snowden. He showed us information that the government themselves, were

The feeling of belonging is not a necessity that everybody needs but is a common feeling that most people believe to be important in their lives if they want to be happy. People believe the feeling to belong helps them to be happy because if they feel like they belong somewhere they will feel safer and more confident when in that place. The place people feel like they belong in does not have to be a physical place like a house or a town/city but can also be a social place or in some ways an emotional place. An example of these would be a group of close friends or a person's home although a home is also a physical place it varies depending on the person because of the emotional feelings attached to that place are different so it could be considered an emotional place for someone to

The struggle to belong and find one’s place is significant in the lives of some people.