Epilogue : writing from somewhere

Abstract

In their contribution to this book (Chapter 9), Helene Pristed Nielsen and N oralis Rodriguez-Coss argue that all views and perspectives are views from somewhere. If 'everything takes place' (Hubbard et al., 2002), then we are really blind to context when we fail to acknowledge its relevance and significance. Surprisingly enough, the post-modem and post-materialist tum in the social sciences tried to make short shrift of anything material. Place, along with class, status, political parties and trade unions, was old hat: these paradigms, we were told, have long dominated, and stunted, alternative conceptualisations of society and community. It was high time to rectify this ontological state of affairs. It was not only unfashionable, but also academically suspect, to refer to people in place (or out of place, in the case of diasporas, nomads, and migrants); and even worse to suggest that the place had something to say about people. But globalisation and seamless connectivities have come upon us accompanied by borders and boundaries. Some walls have come dramatically crashing down (think Berlin in 1989) but others have sprung up with gusto (think Israel and Palestinian settlements separated by walls and checkpoints in the West Bank) and show no signs of going away. Protectionism is back with a vengeance. The culture wars of the 1960s have been replaced by the identity politics of the 21st century. Democratic institutions the world over have been taken over and brought rudely into the service of pseudo-ethnicity, territoriality, and national greatness. Long live the fatherland.