#place is a new discussion on location, cultural politics, and social technologies

Topics covered on #place include, but are not limited to:

• The politics of intercultural communication
• Colonisation, cultural nationalism, 'intranationalism' (e.g. indigenous sovereignty)
• Regional alliances, globalisation and cultural politics
• Sociology of the knowledge economy
• The mediated experience of physical, social, economic and cultural locations
• Cultural relationships to land (particularly in colonial situations)
• Activism through local, regional and global networks
• The "places" of intellectual work
• Collaborative practices and located positions
• The uneven distribution of information

Why #place?

Location, position, situation and place have become increasingly common terms in comparative discussions of knowledge and culture.

Many institutions shaping the Western educational and political systems have claimed the betterment of "humankind" as their goal. The University in particular framed its contributions as adding to "humanity's stock of knowledge". Where exactly that knowledge came from, or went to, was seen to be unimportant. But the beneficiaries of this "knowledge economy", from a sociological perspective, turn out to be a select few, and Western ideologies tend to suppress these politics of intellectual labour. As David Turnbull puts it, in a culture that prefers the abstract over the concrete, "knowledge has to be presented as unbiased and undistorted, without a place or knower." Sharon Traweek calls this knowledge system "the culture of no culture", the desire to be beyond cultural location.

However, recent social movements can be seen as calls to put knowledge in its place. Increasingly, the West has been challenged on its habit of defining "the world" in its own image. Anti-colonial scholars such as Linda Tuhiwai Smith have demonstrated that knowledge and research have been central to the process of colonisation. The gains from knowledge production supposedly "for human benefit" have been largely hidden from indigenous groups, yet all too beneficial for the purposes of colonial power.

While the colonial project has harnessed communications technologies in service of its imperial aims, these communications networks are also fostering new collaborative practices which resist the imperial worldview. Media networks promise standardisation, but these networks are also allowing people in different "places" (physical, economic, social, cultural) to share perspectives and strategies for resistance, while developing their own sense of place.

The initial aim of #place is to collaboratively develop dialogue around these issues, share experiences and insights, and ultimately connect people working on related problems of location and cultural politics. This aim reflects my experience that people are discussing these issues between numerous cultures and knowledge traditions, but without a place that explicitly reflects on that connection. This aim is only a beginning, however, and the future aims of #place will be determined by those who join and participate. #place aims to bring many places into conversation.

By the end of 2004 a collective will be established from contributors to guide #place's development. Possibilities for #place in 2005 include meetings, conferences, publications, and alliances with other groups.

#place has been launched by Danny Butt: http://www.dannybutt.net
as part of the Intranation residency at Banff Centre for the Arts : http://www.intranation.net