The Locals

Rob Garbutt is an Associate Lecturer in Cultural Studies and Writing at Southern Cross University, Australia. He earned a BSc in Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, a Master’s in Adult Education at the University of Technology, Sydney, and a PhD in Cultural Studies at Southern Cross University. He has published on the topics of place, identity and belonging, as well as on equity in higher education.

Contents: Local epistemology and ontology - Human geography of place and the local scale - Critical review of international literature on being a local - Locals, tourists and cosmopolitans - The language of being a local - Local language in rural and metropolitan Australia - Spatial, cultural and historical practices of becoming a local - Indigenisation of settlers in settler states - Australian locals, autochthony and race - The ethics of place, identity and belonging.

«'The Locals' is exquisitely written; its seven chapters (plus an introduction) demonstrate the author's scrupulous self-reflection, conceptual vigour and breadth, and methodological diversity and depth. [...] 'The Locals' is a challenging analysis of rurality and race relations in a settler-society.» (Andrew Gorman Murray, Cultural Studies Review 18, 2012/1)
«[...] this book offers an insightful analysis of a hitherto relatively understudied concept: that of the 'local'. Anchored in the author's experience as a 'local' [...], the book engages with the Australian context while it also offers valuable theoretical insights concerning the concept of the 'local' in the social sciences and humanities. [...] This is a highly recommended text for people interested in Australia's notions of white autochthony, localism and the mundane and nuanced ways such notions are inscribed into people's self-image.» (Victor Roudometof, International Sociology 28, 2013/5)