Placing identity : strategic considerations for rebounding peripheries

Abstract

One consequence of rampant globalization has been the resurgence, and in some cases invention, of local identity and difference in the face of the threat of glib and anodyne sameness. For small communities in islands and remote rural regions, a failure to undergo such a (re)positioning may initiate a vicious cycle of heavy depopulation, youth out-migration, growing and chronic unemployment, and an overall feeling of malaise and helplessness. This cycle of loss, gloom, and defeat is also a consequence of neo-liberal policies that have championed market forces and undermined the role and legitimacy of the state in economic development, generally, and in supporting “uncompetitive” and “non-viable” projects, specifically. Economies of scale, and the virtues of urban clusters and agglomerations, have shifted interests and investments away from far-flung and non-strategic locales, leaving their local residents with the stark option to either pack up and leave for greener pastures or stay but scramble for effective survival strategies. While circumstances and resources change with time and context, many such communities find themselves in a struggle to break out of the downward spiral induced by the “double whammy” of globalization and neo-liberalism, and hopefully succeed in replacing it by a virtuous mix of select visitations, in-migration, economic activities that generate employment and high local value added, and a general pride in place.