More-than-human, emergent belongings

Abstract

Belonging is an ambiguous concept that has tended to escape the rigorous theorization of other key concepts in geography. Rather than viewing this as a weakness, I turn to weak theory to consider belonging in generative ways, to reflect on the texture of how it is felt, used and practised. I particularly consider its emotional aspects and the ways it is performed by myriad humans and more-than-humans. I conclude with an ontological consideration. Understanding belonging as emergent co-becoming may allow for hopeful and inclusive geographies that are diversely care-ing and careful.

Reframing Indigenous water rights in ‘modern’ Taiwan: reflecting on Tayal experience of colonized common property

“…Methodological approaches which embrace more-than-human worlds are increasingly acknowledged as framing the interface between human and natural systems in the discipline of Human Geography (Whatmore 2002;Braun 2005;Panelli 2010;Suchet-Pearson et al 2013;Wright 2014;Bawaka et al 2015;Larsen and Johnson 2016). Among studies of more-than-human worlds, there is growing interest in how Indigenous philosophies perceive relations and connections with non-human agents, such as rivers, land and forests.…”

Consensus decision-making as a research method for generative justice: empirical practices from a money-less economy in Chiapas, Mexico

“…Where more-than-human refers to non-human agents such as animals, places, emotions, things and flows (Wright, 2015). Specific organizational structures such as hierarchy and capitalism transform the economic relationships among people and the morethan-human.…”

Home stories: immigrant narratives of place and identity in contemporary Ireland

“…These two concepts yoke identity and place together, with home "located in the complex relationships through which migrants and others build and interpret lives" (Ralph and Staeheli 2011, p. 522). See also Wright 2014). In this section, we look at how notions of home are represented and negotiated in the narratives of a small number of research participants (see Table 2) and the insights this provides into people's sense and ways of conceptualizing place and identity.…”

“…For example, work on transnationalism and translocalism shows the ways in which both places and identities are connected and changed through the experience of migration (Conradson and Mckay 2007;Levitt and Jaworsky 2007;Brickell and Datta 2011). Transnational and translocal approaches have been particularly important in foregrounding concepts such as "belonging" and "home" that allow the relationship between place and immigrant identity to be understood in more nuanced ways (see Ehrkamp 2005;Blunt and Dowling 2006;Mee and Wright 2009;Antonsich 2010;Ralph and Staeheli 2011;van Riemsdijk 2014;Wright 2014). The quote from Tomaz shows this very clearly, as he 1 Tomaz is a pseudonym.…”