Globalization and the Paradoxes of Place: Poverty and Power in Memphis

Abstract

At present, globalization research on complex technological and financial processes takes priority over studies of place and locality. A few cities, namely those described as “Global Cities,” receive special attention as centers of “command and control.” But most studies overlook less “essential” places and ignore the impact of local places on globalization processes. This research explains how tensions between global processes and local practices create paradoxes of place and confound predictions that globalization processes create “generic” outcomes. It focuses on Memphis, Tennessee, a less well‐known and underresearched Southern “regional” city that serves the region and the nation as a vital link in the global economy and a site of cultural innovation.