Cultural identities and practices of community

How can people from different cultures collaborate effectively? How can we imagine joint futures when we come from radically different background? Is cultural diversity an asset or a hindrance to effective collaboration? Is celebrating cultural diversity enough? This essay explores these questions by discussing the problems of convergence and diversity in communities as they relate to possible futures. It examines some examples of successful collaborative ventures, raises numerous problems and questions, and suggests that cultures always reinvent traditions. We can learn to practice community if we learn to practice difference.