Construction of a community-based form of organizing

Abstract

In this article we examine the different kinds of institutional work that underpin the construction of a new form of organizing. Drawing on an in-depth, qualitative study of a community-based form of organizing for palliative care in Kerala, India, we identify five kinds of institutional work – robust interpretations, local experimentation, indigenous appropriation, contextualized framing and democratic deliberations – that interact dialectically in the construction of a new form. We extend research on forms of organizing by illustrating how a new form aggregates through the local, situated, actions of multiple actors. By uncovering how multivocal interests co-exist during early stages of form construction, we contribute to conversations on distributed agency and inhabited institutions.