Return of a Native: Learning from the Land

Rural England is a mythic space that conceals the relationship between rural and urban areas. This book challenges stereotypes and explores the urgent need to reconsider the concept of countryside in the context of the climate emergency.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 492 pages
Publication date: 08 February 2022
Publisher: Watkins Media

Rural England, a mythical realm, serves as a vibrant canvas upon which individuals from diverse backgrounds project a myriad of fantasies, prejudices, desires, and fears. This captivating book aims to challenge these prevailing notions, unveiling the artificial divide between rural and urban realms, which serves to conceal the underlying interconnectedness between these two fundamental pillars of human settlement. This exploration of rurality takes a fixed point in north-west Hampshire, marked by a signpost that guides in four directions to two towns, four villages, and two hamlets. Through a rich tapestry of stories, interviews, and reportage gathered over two decades, the book dismantles tired stereotypes that portray rural England as a separate realm, either trapped in a perpetual time warp or reduced to a refuge for retired, wealthy urbanites, ardent nature enthusiasts, and, more recently, those seeking respite from the pandemic in urban centers. It poses two fundamental questions: what does the term "rural" mean in today's context? And what will it signify tomorrow?

The author, an ambivalent native, finds themselves entangled in the land, yet constantly yearning for the city. Both the argument and narrative are propelled by an urgent need to reassess the concept of "countryside" within the framework of the climate emergency and the profound collapse of ecosystems caused by intensive farming, which has poisoned the land. Drawing from a feminist, postcolonial perspective, the author is attuned to the slow-burning violence of historical processes spanning centuries, including enslavement, colonialism, industrialization, and globalization.

Weight: 504g
Dimension: 136 x 216 x 48 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781913462987
Edition number: New ed