Event Title
Music as Communication, Identity, and Unification in One Global Community: An Ethnographic Case Study of the AIESEC On an Offline Community
Start Date
31-5-2011 4:00 PM
End Date
31-5-2011 4:30 PM
Description
In recent history, community has evolved from a geographically based concept to a broader branch of social networks working both inter and independently. The advent of the internet has further blurred physical lines, allowing community to be defined by common passions and interests rather than signposts at the edge of town. One example of this is the student group Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (AIESEC). AIESEC International is a global student run organization found in 107 different countries and territories, and has a membership of 38,000 and counting. The purpose of this ethnographic case study is to understand how the AIESEC community utilizes music to facilitate communication, provide an international identity, and unify its members both on and offline. Established in 1948, AIESEC’s purpose is to promote peace and the fulfilment of their membership’s potential (retrieved from http://www.aiesec.org/ February 2010). AIESEC’s strives to foster leadership among its members through their core values of activating leadership, living diversity, demonstrating integrity, acting sustainably, enjoying participation and striving for excellence (retrieved from http://www.aiesec.org/ February 2010). This is evidence of what Wenger calls a “community of practice” (CoP), as AIESEC operates as a learning organization (Wenger, McDermontt, & Snyder, 2002) overlapping on and offline boundaries. Their use of music fosters communication, meaning and identity in the on and offline community. This research raises a number of questions: How does music unify a group of individuals in a global on and offline community? What role does the internet play in fostering group identity, meaning and practice in the AIESEC community? What factors makes this global student organization unique? First, this research has implications for the study of organizational learning communities in addition to the need to study interactions holistically in regards to online and offline communications. Second, the success of AIESEC as an international organization may shed light on future studies that examine how the internet can help maintain cohesiveness, identity and communication among groups of people that share the same career and/or interests, but are separated by geographical distances.
Music as Communication, Identity, and Unification in One Global Community: An Ethnographic Case Study of the AIESEC On an Offline Community
In recent history, community has evolved from a geographically based concept to a broader branch of social networks working both inter and independently. The advent of the internet has further blurred physical lines, allowing community to be defined by common passions and interests rather than signposts at the edge of town. One example of this is the student group Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (AIESEC). AIESEC International is a global student run organization found in 107 different countries and territories, and has a membership of 38,000 and counting. The purpose of this ethnographic case study is to understand how the AIESEC community utilizes music to facilitate communication, provide an international identity, and unify its members both on and offline. Established in 1948, AIESEC’s purpose is to promote peace and the fulfilment of their membership’s potential (retrieved from http://www.aiesec.org/ February 2010). AIESEC’s strives to foster leadership among its members through their core values of activating leadership, living diversity, demonstrating integrity, acting sustainably, enjoying participation and striving for excellence (retrieved from http://www.aiesec.org/ February 2010). This is evidence of what Wenger calls a “community of practice” (CoP), as AIESEC operates as a learning organization (Wenger, McDermontt, & Snyder, 2002) overlapping on and offline boundaries. Their use of music fosters communication, meaning and identity in the on and offline community. This research raises a number of questions: How does music unify a group of individuals in a global on and offline community? What role does the internet play in fostering group identity, meaning and practice in the AIESEC community? What factors makes this global student organization unique? First, this research has implications for the study of organizational learning communities in addition to the need to study interactions holistically in regards to online and offline communications. Second, the success of AIESEC as an international organization may shed light on future studies that examine how the internet can help maintain cohesiveness, identity and communication among groups of people that share the same career and/or interests, but are separated by geographical distances.