Village

This chapter focuses on one location where people have spent their lives —the village—paying particular attention to the ways of life that have emerged there. What we have been calling “the village ethos,” “gemeinschaft” or “folk ethos” is the way of life of the fishing village, the mountain hollow, the island community, as well as the kind of rural hamlet in which Kasia and Piotr Walkowiak grew up. It dominates the life of peasants everywhere. The chapter considers a number of themes that are common in village life everywhere, including an overarching sense of unity, niche, heritage, surveillance and tolerance, craft, leveling, and spirituality. It also calls on voices from parts of the world where a sense of community once remained strong to help illustrate the nature of the village ethos.