Introduction: Conceptualizing Hinterlands

Abstract

This introduction first considers the history of the hinterland as not just any spatial distribution but one driven by and instrumental to the workings of the capitalist-colonialist-climatic assemblage. Subsequently, it contends that an interdisciplinary conceptual approach to hinterlands that straddles the humanities and social sciences allows for critical and engaged reflection on the haunting afterlives of colonialism, the logistical turn of global capitalism, the impending threat of environmental collapse, and persistent urban-suburban-rural-wilderness divides. The introduction closes by outlining how, together, the contributions to this volume make clear that while hinterlands are primarily realms of extraction and abandonment, they are places of possibility as well, where alternative ways of living together and new forms of care, including for the planet, may flourish.