Vol. 3, No. 2 (2007): 109\u2013132.<\/p>\n
Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n This article explores an ongoing research engagement with a squatter settlement\u00a0community in a period of large-scale urban modernization strategies in\u00a0contemporary Malaysia. This study is part of a larger local\/global community\u00a0sustainability research project attempting to better understand how local (and\u00a0particularly poor) communities respond to and construct viable livelihoods in\u00a0contemporary globalization. By positioning oneself in such places, one is also\u00a0inevitably drawn into the compromised conditions of the cultural and political\u00a0processes of these experiences, yet is also distanced by the fact that one does not\u00a0have these everyday experiences, simply by not living in these places. This article\u00a0moots the idea of an “in-betweenness of research” as one way to reflect on the\u00a0post-colonial problematic of subjectivities in fieldwork. It questions the\u00a0situatedness of power and knowledge, the importance of place for both\u00a0researcher\/subject and informant\/object; and suggests that to align oneself within\u00a0such an “in-betweenness” geopolitical and “neither\/nor or both\/and” place, while\u00a0carrying out research on issues related to that very struggle is to also occupy a\u00a0space of deeper scholarly understanding. While the resulting contradictions make\u00a0this sort of engaged research more difficult to carry out, they also generate insight\u00a0that could provide some basis for analytical understanding and theoretical\u00a0innovation in a wider temporal and spatial context.<\/p>\n Author’s bio<\/strong><\/p>\n Yaso Nadarajah is a Research Fellow at the Globalism Institute at RMIT University in Melbourne where her research is focused on issues of local\/global imaginaries, place, belonging and the resilience of communities in the context of development and globalization. Yaso is also the project manager for research being conducted on local\/global issues in the Hamilton region of Victoria, the Kuala Lumpur Petaling Jaya corridor, Kolli Hills, Theni District, Chennai, Ampara (Sri Lanka) and Papua New Guinea. Yaso is an editor of the International Journal Local-Global: Studies in Community Sustainability.<\/p>\n Download<\/strong><\/p>\n Download full article (PDF)<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Vol. 3, No. 2 (2007): 109\u2013132. Abstract This article explores an ongoing research engagement with a squatter settlement\u00a0community in a period of large-scale urban modernization strategies in\u00a0contemporary Malaysia. This study is part of a larger local\/global community\u00a0sustainability research project attempting to better understand how local (and\u00a0particularly poor) communities respond to and construct viable livelihoods in\u00a0contemporary … Continue reading