AbstractWhile the community economies scholarship offers a well-developed framework for building alternatives to capitalism and for recognising and revaluing existing community practices, the role of deconstruction in and for community economies has been less widely discussed. On the one hand, community economies contribute to the deconstruction of existing capitalocentric institutions and practices. For example, by removing work from the wage labour economy, they contribute to the undermining of capitalist practices. On the other hand, deconstruction contributes to the formation of community economies: the dismantling of the prevailing norms is often a prelude to, or condition for, the formation of intentional community economies. For example, hierarchical organisational structures need to be deliberately unmade to allow a more equitable reassemblage of community collectives. However, more empirical evidence and theoretical reflection are needed to better understand the role of deconstruction in and for community economies: How do we magnify the deconstructive potential of community economies? How do we build community economies through deconstructive practices? Answering these questions can help clarify, for example, how prominent deconstruction needs to be as an intentional aim to contribute to the formation of community economies, or whether particular spatial configurations are more amenable to producing deconstruction work.
