The Construction of Placeness in Traditional Handicraft Heritage Sites: A Case Study of Suzhou Embroidery

Traditional handicrafts are rooted in the idea of the place, and their revival can trigger a construction of place in terms of physical buildings and cultural ambience. This study focuses on traditional Suzhou embroidery and analyses the effect of its revival on the construction of placeness and sustainable development within its specific social context. The results showed that (1) reviving traditional handicrafts triggers changes to local public spaces, the reshaping of local architecture, and the development of a cultural landscape; (2) The revival of the handicraft in terms of local activities is reflected in increased efficiency and creativity and in the stable inheritance of skills. The traditional farming lifestyle of Zhenhu has been transformed, leading to better quality of life and social networks; (3) The revival of Suzhou embroidery has updated the place through renovating its image. The local residents’ awareness of the benefits of their handicrafts has also increased, and their increased dependence on place will strengthen their belongingness and attachment to it. These local changes exert positive impact on the realization of sustainable goals by boosting decent work and economic growth, ensuring environmental sustainability, building sustainable cities and communities, and enhancing community stability and cultural diversity. Thus, the revival of handicrafts can guide a place to refocus on local economic growth and cultural development towards sustainable development, bringing about an organic inheritance of its history and the reinforcement of placeness.

Journalism’s visual construction of place in environmental coverage

This study builds on our understanding of how visual journalism is used with environmental reporting to create a sense of place and understanding. Although most American photojournalism tends to favor close-up photos with people, environmental coverage leans opposite: sweeping landscape photos devoid of people. However, our content analysis of wire and non-wire environmental photos on U.S. newspaper front pages shows support that person-focused feature imagery is being used more, though mostly at an informational level.

Village Morphology and the Construction of Place Identity in the Aihui Area along the Heilongjiang River, China

Place identity is the emotional connection between people and a place. It is significant for local development and people’s satisfaction and happiness in where they reside. The physical environment is one of the most important factors affecting people’s emotions toward a place. In order to clarify the theoretical analytical framework of the process from village space morphology to place identity, this study takes the area of Aihui along the Heilongjiang River, China, as an example. The research was conducted regarding two aspects: First, we analyzed the space morphology of the villages in the Aihui district and interpreted their locality. On this basis, we conducted a survey of villagers’ subjective perceptions of the village space and their place identity through in-depth interviews. From the collected interview texts, we extracted, verified, and analyzed the role of morphological constituents in the construction of place identity. Finally, a comprehensive framework was established. The features of space morphology are the projections of locality in physical space. People use morphological constituents to construct an image of the village and scenes of local life; morphological constituents with local characteristics can help enhance people’s place identity.

New Mobility Paradigm and Indigenous Construction of Places: Physical and Symbolic Mobility of Aymara Groups in the Urbanization Process, Chile

In the current global scenario, in which mobility has been strongly impacted, it is relevant to highlight certain mobility experiences of Indigenous Latin American peoples, in which new cultural and geographical elements justify revisiting this phenomenon. In this context, the mobility of the Aymara ethnic group offers an opportunity for such a second look. Although the subject has been approached from the perspectives of internal migration processes and physical movement, as in other Latin American cases, studies have omitted some important aspects for its analysis, such as the practices, meanings, and political implications associated with mobility. Based on the new mobility paradigm, this article seeks to strengthen the perspective on mobility by researching rural-urban mobility practices and their meaning regarding the experiences of Aymara people who migrated from the rural municipality of Putre to settle in the city of Arica from the 1950s. At the same time, it is shown that these Aymara mobility practices imply spatiotemporal dynamics that are key for the construction of place, and allow for a widening of base elements that should be considered in the new mobility paradigm. This research is based on five years of ethnography, including mobile accompaniment and semi-structured interviews. This methodological approach has allowed researchers to explore how elements related to physical and symbolic mobility have constantly constructed relational spaces within the Arica and Parinacota region over time. This shows that mobility does not only refer to physical movement, but to politics, emotions, culture, and memory as well. From these results, the article examines and discusses key elements related to physical and symbolic mobility, and their implications in political and intercultural terms.

A tale of two cities: The discursive construction of ‘place’ in gentrifying East London

In recent years, the East End of London has been dramatically transformed from a poor, working-class area, to one of the most fashionable neighbourhoods in the world. Adding to a growing body of research which examines the sociolinguistic dynamics of gentrifying neighbourhoods, this article draws on data from two ethnographic projects to examine how young people from the gentrified (i.e. working-class) and gentrifier (i.e. middle-class) communities index place attachment in East London. I demonstrate that for the gentrified community, place attachment is related to the ethnic and cultural genealogy of the immediate, local neighbourhood. Whilst for the gentrifiers, place identity is associated with the cosmopolitan economic and social opportunities of the city. I argue that whilst these communities occupy the same physical neighbourhood, these discourses suggest that they conceptually and socioculturally reside in two very different cities. (Gentrification, place, space, East London)*

Brazil is my cousin, the U.S. has parks: Children’s construction of Brazil and the United States in a bilingual education program

Drawing from a 3-year ethnographic project in one elementary school in the United States, this article examines how a group of 43 first graders perceived and constructed Brazil and the U.S. during a drawing and writing activity in their bilingual (Portuguese-English) classroom. The majority of the participating children (81.4%) either migrated from Brazil to the U.S. or were born in the U.S. of Brazilian parents. Data analysis reveals that Brazil was frequently portrayed as an idyllic landscape that included several relatives and friends and a range of activities with loved ones, while the U.S. involved immediate family members, material goods, and places for leisure. Grounded in a relational understanding of place and placemaking, we argue that the children engaged in a range of place-based moves to construct Brazil and the United States during the activity. These acts of placemaking included evocations of transnational memories, ongoing activities and aspirations, social relationships, and local institutional expectations, particularly the school curriculum and teachers’ discourse about Brazil. The findings suggest that immigrant children’s construction of place is multifaceted, dynamic, and situated.

Interacting with place and mapping community needs to context: Comparing and triangulating multiple geospatial-qualitative methods using the Focus–Expand–Compare approach

Geospatial-qualitative methods, which combine both observation and interpretative accounts during data collection through extended exposure and movement in place, have been increasingly used to explore “person–place” interactions and assess communities of place. Despite their increased use, there is a lack of reflexive discussion on how they differ in capturing person–place interactions and ways to combine them. Drawing on our experiences using three related methods—Photovoice, Walking through Spaces, and interactive Participatory Learning and Action exercise-led community focus groups—we compared the methodological advantages that each method brings to the construction of “place” and in exploring person–place interactions among the community of older adults living in a neighborhood of Singapore for a neighborhood assessment. We then illustrated how using a Focus–Expand–Compare approach for methodological triangulation can add value in generating greater depth and breadth of perspectives on a topic of interest explored for intervention development.

Displacement Beyond Borders

This chapter focuses on how the Northern Uganda war between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan Army (1987-2008) reformulated Acholi people's local construction of place, political belonging, material, and emotional connections. In other words, how historical processes with war, flight, and displacement reshaped meaning of being Acholi in Northern Uganda. The two-decade period of war in Northern Uganda (1986-2008) led to the displacement of Acholi people both internally and externally. Almost the whole population of Acholiland were affected by the LRA insurgency that dismantled societal structures that had for long anchored Acholi culture. During this turbulent period, Acholi people lived in camps and in the neighboring countries, especially Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR), and Kenya, among others. This gives this conflict a cross-border dimension.