Description
The ‘local’ is often associated with a positive image, adding that warm and familiar feeling to ordinary phenomena and items. Local communities, locally produced products and local traditions carry sentiments of belonging, often capitalized on in branding strategies, policies, or even political propaganda. From an anthropological point of view, it is thus essential to critically rethink what constitutes locality.In contrast to more positive concepts, this paper takes a closer look at dissonance, annoyances and fights that distort the image of people living their lives happily together. Therefore, ‘the local’ is drafted as the everyday socio-spatial sphere, where one cannot avoid dealing with the unwanted. This does not mean that it consists only of undesirable aspects, but that local phenomena affect each and every person within a certain sphere, even though they might want to ignore or defer them.
The aim is to draft a theory of ‘the anthropocentric local’, by using inductive reasoning in combination with the methodological background of experimental geography and destructive testing. This discursive and sensory approach to the local is exemplified by analyzing the limits of everyday perception and communication in two urban neighborhoods in Tokyo, namely Kitazawa and Matsubara in Setagaya ward. In a second step, a theoretical framework deriving from these observations will be developed, delving into the processual character of locality, its genesis as well as its disintegration. Finally, the characteristics and differences of urban versions of ‘the local’ in contrast to rural localities introduced in other papers is put up for discussion.
| Period | 19 Oct 2018 |
|---|---|
| Event title | What is the ‘local’? Rethinking the politics of subnational spaces in Japan |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Tokyo, JapanShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |