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Performing rurality. but who?

Dymitrow, Mirek LU and Brauer, Rene (2017) In Bulletin of Geography, Socio-economic Series 38(38). p.27-45
Abstract

Reflective inquiries to better understand 'the rural' have tried to embed rural research within the notion of performativity. Performativity assumes that the capacity of language is not simply to communicate but also to consummate action, whereupon citational uses of concepts produce a series of material effects. Of late, this philosophical shif has also implicated geographers as active agents in producing, reproducing and performing rurality. Tis paper provides a critical evaluation of what this new insistence really means for the production of geographical knowledge. Using framework analysis as a method, the paper scrutinizes several reportedly inffuential papers on the topic of rural performativity. Our fndings reveal that, while... (More)

Reflective inquiries to better understand 'the rural' have tried to embed rural research within the notion of performativity. Performativity assumes that the capacity of language is not simply to communicate but also to consummate action, whereupon citational uses of concepts produce a series of material effects. Of late, this philosophical shif has also implicated geographers as active agents in producing, reproducing and performing rurality. Tis paper provides a critical evaluation of what this new insistence really means for the production of geographical knowledge. Using framework analysis as a method, the paper scrutinizes several reportedly inffuential papers on the topic of rural performativity. Our fndings reveal that, while indeed reffexive on issues of academic integrity, methodology and ethics, performances of rurality are continuedly placed 'out there' amongst 'rural people', i.e. in a priori defned and ofen stereotypically understood contexts, either by way of 'spatial delimitation' or 'activity delimitation'. Effectively, such testimonies provide a truncated state of fdelity, where performance-oriented reffexivity is seconded by contradictory empirics of uneven value and with few commonalities. We conclude that by turning towards performativity as an allegedly more helpful way of obtaining rural coherence, we at the same time overlook our own role in keeping 'rural theory' alive.

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author
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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Geographers, Knowledge production, Performativity, reflexivity, Rurality
in
Bulletin of Geography, Socio-economic Series
volume
38
issue
38
pages
19 pages
publisher
Nicolaus Copenicus University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85051832516
ISSN
1732-4254
DOI
10.1515/bog-2017-0032
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
e554f3ea-3e8c-4427-b8b2-4043e0087e79
date added to LUP
2020-04-02 21:56:39
date last changed
2022-04-18 21:34:48
@article{e554f3ea-3e8c-4427-b8b2-4043e0087e79,
  abstract     = {{<p>Reflective inquiries to better understand 'the rural' have tried to embed rural research within the notion of performativity. Performativity assumes that the capacity of language is not simply to communicate but also to consummate action, whereupon citational uses of concepts produce a series of material effects. Of late, this philosophical shif has also implicated geographers as active agents in producing, reproducing and performing rurality. Tis paper provides a critical evaluation of what this new insistence really means for the production of geographical knowledge. Using framework analysis as a method, the paper scrutinizes several reportedly inffuential papers on the topic of rural performativity. Our fndings reveal that, while indeed reffexive on issues of academic integrity, methodology and ethics, performances of rurality are continuedly placed 'out there' amongst 'rural people', i.e. in a priori defned and ofen stereotypically understood contexts, either by way of 'spatial delimitation' or 'activity delimitation'. Effectively, such testimonies provide a truncated state of fdelity, where performance-oriented reffexivity is seconded by contradictory empirics of uneven value and with few commonalities. We conclude that by turning towards performativity as an allegedly more helpful way of obtaining rural coherence, we at the same time overlook our own role in keeping 'rural theory' alive.</p>}},
  author       = {{Dymitrow, Mirek and Brauer, Rene}},
  issn         = {{1732-4254}},
  keywords     = {{Geographers; Knowledge production; Performativity; reflexivity; Rurality}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{38}},
  pages        = {{27--45}},
  publisher    = {{Nicolaus Copenicus University Press}},
  series       = {{Bulletin of Geography, Socio-economic Series}},
  title        = {{Performing rurality. but who?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/bog-2017-0032}},
  doi          = {{10.1515/bog-2017-0032}},
  volume       = {{38}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}