Histories, belongings, communities

Author:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This article uses a range of qualitative sources, stretching from Mass‐Observation to the 1960s research of Brian Jackson and Ray Pahl to examine how far there are shifts in the way people identify with their local communities. The article shows that there is evidence of the rise of aesthetic and ethical orientations to place, whereby individuals provide developed narrative accounts of their choice of residence. I argue that the distinction, much discussed in the 1960s, about the difference between ‘locals’ and ‘incomers’ neglects the fact that they actually both had a functional orientation to locale. The article discusses how the concept of ‘elective belonging’ offers a valuable way of understanding the contemporary politics of local attachment.

This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit: