Place in Research Theory, Methodology, and Methods [Paperback]

Bridging environmental and Indigenous studies and drawing on critical geography, spatial theory, new materialist theory, and decolonizing theory, this dynamic volume examines the sometimes overlooked significance of place in social science research. There are often important divergences and even competing logics at work in these areas of research, some which may indeed be incommensurable. This volume explores how researchers around the globe are coming to terms - both theoretically and practically - with place in the context of settler colonialism, globalization, and environmental degradation. Tuck and McKenzie outline a trajectory of critical place inquirythat not only furthers empirical knowledge, but ethically imagines new possibilities for collaboration and action.

Critical place inquiry can involve a range of research methodologies; this volume argues that what matters is how the chosen methodology engages conceptually with place in order to mobilize methods that enable data collection and analyses that address place explicitly and politically. Unlike other approaches that attempt to superficially tag on Indigenous concerns, decolonizing conceptualizations of land and place and Indigenous methods are central, not peripheral, to practices of critical place inquiry.

1. Introduction to Place in Research  PART I  2. Conceptualizing Place  3. Decolonizing Perspectives on Place  PART II  4. Methodologies of Critical Place Inquiry  5. Methods of Critical Place Inquiry  6. Indigenous Methods of Critical Place Inquiry  7. Ethical Imperatives of Critical Place Inquiry

Tuck and McKenzie uncover important areas for further research: work that links materiality to critical questions of environment, economy and society; theorisations of space and place; as well as ongoing theorisatiló,