In this session we would like to explore the geographical underpinnings of discontent. We start from the premise that people make sense of the world through place and want to investigate under which circumstances changes in everyday living environments may engender feelings of loss, marginalization, powerlessness, anxiety and resentment against ‘other’ social groups and/or governing institutions. Different literatures have studied such emotional ramifications of spatial change, albeit at different spatial scales. For example, concepts of discontent and resentment hold a central place in research on populism and the growing support for parties promising to defend the ‘common man’. These have been interpreted as both a political backlash against the erosive effects of global markets on local economies and as a cultural backlash against new migrant groups and urban elites espousing progressive values (e.g. Cramer 2016, Hochschild 2016, Inglehart & Norris 2016). Feelings of marginalization and loss of place also feature strongly in the literature on gentrification as experienced through the eyes of long-term residents at the receiving end of neighbourhood change (Paton 2014, Pinkster 2016). Consequently, discontent has often been located within specific places and sections of the population, in particular, the white working class living in either large urban centers or national peripheries. Their experience of becoming out of place is sometimes framed through the lens of nostalgia for past lives and past worlds (Duyvendak 2011, Savage 2010). Nevertheless, feelings of loss and resentment have also be observed amongst social groups not usually considered ‘losers of globalization’ (see e.g. Phillipson 2007, Pinkster & Boterman 2017).
We are particularly interested in papers that build upon and extend existing knowledge on the ramifications of socio-spatial change by considering who experiences discontent, how discontent manifests itself, and in what way it is shaped by concrete, everyday experiences of marginalization and feelings of becoming ‘out of place’. Papers in this session might explore how and why expressions of discontent – for example, but not limited to populist voting – are geographically unevenly distributed across the nation, the city and suburbs; how everyday experiences of social and spatial change may fuel such geographies of discontent; and how residents react or respond to such feelings in alternative and diverging ways. We especially welcome papers that:
> Explore multiple angles of identity and the intersectional nature of meaning-making through place
> Examine how experiences of discontent are structured by place-specific histories and imaginaries
> Look at manifestations of discontent across different levels of scale
> Consider experiences of discontent, loss of place, and powerlessness among different social groups, in particular non-white and/or non-working class
Submission procedure:
Potential session participants should send an abstract of maximum 250 words to Myrte Hoekstra ([log in to unmask]) and Fenne Pinkster ([log in to unmask]) by Monday October 16th. Notification of acceptance will be sent by Friday October 20st. Please note that participants are also expected to register and submit their abstracts through the AAG website themselves before Wednesday October 25th.
References:
• Cramer, K.J. (2016) The politics of resentment: Rural consciousness in Wisconsin and the rise of Scott Walker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Duyvendak, J.W. (2011) The politics of home: Belonging and nostalgia in Europe and the United States. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
• Hochschild, A.R. (2016) Strangers in their own land: Anger and mourning on the American Right. New York: The New Press.
• Inglehart, R.F. and Norris, P. (2016) Trump, Brexit and the rise of populism: Economic have-nots and cultural backlash. Harvard Kennedy School Working Paper Series.
• Paton, K. (2014) Gentrification: a working class perspective. Farnham: Ashgate.
• Phillipson, C. (2007) The elected and the excluded: Sociological perspectives on the experience of place and community in old age. Ageing and Society 27, pp. 321-342.
• Pinkster, F.M. and Boterman, W.R. (2017) When the spell is broken: Gentrification, urban tourism and privileged discontent in the Amsterdam canal district. Cultural Geographies 24(3), pp. 457-472.
• Pinkster, F.M. (2016) Narratives of neighbourhood change and loss of belonging in an urban garden village. Social and Cultural Geography 17(7), pp. 871-891.
• Savage, M. (2010) The politics of elective belonging. Housing, Theory and Society 27(2), pp. 115-135.
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