Reconfiguring rurality

Abstract

The concept of planetary rural geographies is an antithesis of planetary urbanization's erasure of the ‘rural’. Rather than push the compartmentalization of development spaces or processes, planetary rural geographies provide a framework of analyses that valorizes epistemic plurality, and which can help to better understand emerging complex problems in an ever-evolving world. The three rural space spectra of crisis, conflict, and hope, which are embedded within the geographies of rurality, serve as a new configuration and units of analyses for reestablishing the enduring nature of rurality itself. While the propositions in the thesis are plausible, some critiques are, however, offered to further shed light on the complexities and unique attributes of rural places.