This paper focuses on the history of Community Organization (CO) as a method of social work practice in the disciplinary and practice arena in India. Historically CO focused on community building, self-help and mobilization of local resources. Over the years there has been a realization that integrated local approaches by themselves are inadequate to deal with wider causes of poverty and inequality. In India, CO as a process encompasses all efforts that seek to redefine power relations which contribute to the experience of discrimination and marginalization. The growth of the voluntary sector, the influence of trade unions and new social movements, compelled a review of the orientation of CO. Within the academia, the curriculum in recent years has undergone a substantial shift, both in content and pedagogy with sharper ideological positioning. Further, a sectoral thrust and the pluralization of debates on caste, ethnicity, tribal and gender identities enriched CO. This is a distinct and innovative trend which is redefining both CO and Social Work.

The paper discusses the conscious and critical engagements of faculty members in one of the premier institutes of India which offers social work programmes. Collaborations with practitioners in responding to the changing social and political context with consistent pro-poor stances provided unique insights which have enabled the reshaping, refining and re-conceptualizing the perspective of CO in India. For instance, unionization as a strategy pushes the boundary of community organizing towards a more political approach. Further, it makes demands of the curriculum, as well as the teacher-student relationship since it brings certain core aspects of students’ class, caste and ethnic identity to the forefront of the education process. The paper highlights some of these dimensions through the experience of sustained educator engagement with a trade union of contractual conservancy workers. While there is a high degree of mutuality between the institute and such collaborating organisations, in the education process, this is now reflected in course work, the conscious recasting of fieldwork, the criteria of selecting sites of practice and agencies, and the policy work undertaken by faculty members.

The new curriculum moves on from a multidisciplinary orientation towards transdisciplinarity drawing from law, medicine and health, engineering, environmental sciences, architecture and so on. CO in India has grown in multiple directions and effective practice draws from diverse disciplines and practice constituencies and also addresses a wide range of concerns. In their practice, community workers are seen crossing disciplinary boundaries with ease, engaging in politics of change and resistance with a focus on social justice, equality and access to entitlements, which assume immense significance and are imperative in the current context of globalization and privatization. The paper contributes to the current debate and discussion on interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity.