Joanie Willett
Biographic Data
| ID | 181596 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Joanie Willett |
| GIVEN NAMES | Joanie |
| FAMILY NAME | Willett |
| SIGNATURE | WILLETT J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Exeter |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9966-2116 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 96 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
More than human peripheries, peripheralisation, and the mattering of left behind regions
This paper starts with the statement that Western populism is the ‘revenge of the places that don't matter’ (Rodriguez-Pose, 2018), asking to what extent do rural areas matter if we foreground materials and imaginaries, rather than human activity. Drawing on Deleuzian assemblages, this paper argues that ‘mattering’ as currently conceived is too narrow and anthropocentric. Instead, foregrounding matter and non-human bodies and beings shows how rur…
More-Than-Human Geopolitics
This paper contributes to a New Materialist geopolitics, showcasing the global impacts of everyday, bottom-up embodied practices between people, communities, geologies, ecologies, and polities. It develops a More-Than-Human concept of political imaginaries, exploring how non-human bodies shape the intentionalities underpinning political action. Human and non-human, living and non-living beings and bodies co-create individual ‘worldmakings’ – the …
Peripheralization and economic development
The concept of peripheralization explores the agency of peripheries to address uneven development, considering the power dynamics and material and discursive processes which underpin how peripheries become more (or less) peripheralized in relation to economic cores, over time. This paper adds that peripheralization is multi-causal. In other words, the paper claims that the agency of actors in peripheral areas needs to be understood as being compr…
Navigating Changing Economies and Rural Policy
Place‐based studies of regional policy ask how places can better adapt to economic and social changes. This is especially prescient for research and policy supporting ‘left‐behind’ regions. This paper amends this question, asking not how places adapt, but how the people living and working within them navigate change. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Cornwall in the United Kingdom and the Southwest of Virginia, USA, the paper uses the complex …
Nature recovery and regional development
This paper provides an overview of the cultural, political and policy changes that are creating new economic opportunities through nature recovery. We introduce research being undertaken with an alliance of English local authorities in rural–peripheral regions to explore these opportunities and their implications for local and regional development paths. The paper highlights the questions driving the project and introduces the economic sectors in…
Place-based rural development
Counter-urbanisation and a politics of place
This paper uses a case study of Cornwall to address the question of what new politics of place that counter-urbanisation brings about. Counter-urbanisation to Cornwall in the SW of the UK has been popular for decades. Initially it was perceived as a way to repopulate this remote rural region, and challenge its sparse population distribution. Later it became a neo-endogenous growth tool to attract a creative class of dynamic entrepreneurs, and the…
The affective economy and fast fashion
Many commentators recognise the need to make clothing more sustainable due to its deleterious environmental and social ramifications. However, it is challenging to change the consumer behaviour that drives fast fashion markets because people have complex relationships with clothing. In this study, we illustrate how the relationships that people have with clothing can be shaped by workshops that immerse them in making, mending, and modifying garme…
The deep story of Leave voters affective assemblages
Why did Cornwall vote for Brexit? Assessing the implications for EU structural funding programmes
In the 2016 referendum on UK EU membership, regions which benefitted from high levels of structural funds voted to leave the EU. This was unexpected given the Europeanisation processes expected of the funds in terms of identity and loyalty. Within this case study of Cornwall, we use qualitative methods to assess why this happened and the implications for future structural funding programmes. We find that the rationale behind the Brexit vote was l…
Challenging peripheralising discourses
Towards a participatory representative democracy? UK Parish councils and community engagement
Peripheralisation
Recently scholars have started to consider the persistence of peripheries in relation to how they are represented by others outside of the region. Drawing on Foucauldian knowledge/power processes and forms of 'internal colonialism', powerful core regions construct and reconstruct knowledge about peripheries as a weaker 'other'. However this denies agency to passive, peripheral 'victims', compromising their capacity to contest their peripherality.…
Cornwall's Devolution Deal
This article considers the devolution deal signed by Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the summer of 2015. It asks if the deal constitutes a more sustainable approach to governance, concluding that while there are some factors that help to enhance sustainability, other areas urgently require more attention. These claims are made through an analysis of a model of sustainability which emphasises the importance of networks and feedback loops envis…
The Production of Place
This article uses critical political theories to engage with regional economic development as a site of exclusion, inequality and interwoven power relationships, which would benefit from theoretical analysis. It does this through the concept of lifestyle from regional development creative industries discourses and regional branding, considering how time operates in the narratives of place used to represent and promote a region to the outside worl…
The fragmentation of the nation state? Regional development, distinctiveness, and the growth of nationalism in Cornish politics
Stateless nations across the European Union have become increasingly vocal and confident in asserting a desire for autonomy, devolved governance and independence. Meanwhile, identity politics has become a key factor of contemporary European regional development, with utility as a social, economic and governance tool. Culture has become a resource for regional branding to attract inward investment and differentiate in terms of competitiveness. The…
Devolution and Localism in England
In the aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum, an academic investigation into devolution and localism in England could not be more timely. As the authors allude, at the time that the res
The Uneven Path of UK Devolution
Within the context of the devolution process in England, Cornwall and the North-East stand out in contrasting comparison. The North-East was given the opportunity to vote for a regional assembly, which it rejected in 2004, while the strong popular movement for an assembly in Cornwall was ignored by central government. This is reflected in the literature on the English question and regionalism in the UK, which focuses on the example of the North-E…
Liberal Ethnic Nationalism, Universality, and Cornish Identity
Within the liberal paradigm, ethnic nationalism and identity are often conceptualized as ‘exclusive’, lacking the capacity for universal membership ( I pperciel 2007; K ohn 1946; K ymlicka 1995), and is juxtaposed against ‘inclusive’, civic forms of identity. This article problematizes this claim, asking whether civic territorial identities also contain their own forms of exclusion. Using the N ew R egionalism and the identity politics of contemp…
National identity and regional development
The politics of identity is important within regional and governance policy debates, becoming a mechanism for 'filling in' the democratic gaps left by the hollowing out of the state, with much discourse about constructing identities for governance purposes. This raises questions about the feasibility of processes of identity construction, and whether it starts from new, or builds on existing identities. We use the case study of the Cornish campai…
Embeddedness or Escapism? Rural Perceptions and Economic Development in Cornwall and Northumberland
This article explores the effect of perceptions of rural life upon the subsequent actions of counterurbanisers and the resulting impact for rural economic development in the contrasting counties of Cornwall and Northumberland. Perceptions of a high quality of life attract migrants to remote rural areas yet these areas also have high rates of economic deprivation. In-migration can stimulate rural development but in this article we hypothesise that…
The Uneven Path of UK Devolution
Within the context of the devolution process in England, Cornwall and the North-East stand out in contrasting comparison. The North-East was given the opportunity to vote for a regional assembly, which it rejected in 2004, while the strong popular movement for an assembly in Cornwall was ignored by central government. This is reflected in the literature on the English question and regionalism in the UK, which focuses on the example of the North-E…
Peripheralisation
Recently scholars have started to consider the persistence of peripheries in relation to how they are represented by others outside of the region. Drawing on Foucauldian knowledge/power processes and forms of 'internal colonialism', powerful core regions construct and reconstruct knowledge about peripheries as a weaker 'other'. However this denies agency to passive, peripheral 'victims', compromising their capacity to contest their peripherality.…
Embeddedness or Escapism? Rural Perceptions and Economic Development in Cornwall and Northumberland
This article explores the effect of perceptions of rural life upon the subsequent actions of counterurbanisers and the resulting impact for rural economic development in the contrasting counties of Cornwall and Northumberland. Perceptions of a high quality of life attract migrants to remote rural areas yet these areas also have high rates of economic deprivation. In-migration can stimulate rural development but in this article we hypothesise that…
Counter-urbanisation and a politics of place
This paper uses a case study of Cornwall to address the question of what new politics of place that counter-urbanisation brings about. Counter-urbanisation to Cornwall in the SW of the UK has been popular for decades. Initially it was perceived as a way to repopulate this remote rural region, and challenge its sparse population distribution. Later it became a neo-endogenous growth tool to attract a creative class of dynamic entrepreneurs, and the…
The affective economy and fast fashion
Many commentators recognise the need to make clothing more sustainable due to its deleterious environmental and social ramifications. However, it is challenging to change the consumer behaviour that drives fast fashion markets because people have complex relationships with clothing. In this study, we illustrate how the relationships that people have with clothing can be shaped by workshops that immerse them in making, mending, and modifying garme…
The Production of Place
This article uses critical political theories to engage with regional economic development as a site of exclusion, inequality and interwoven power relationships, which would benefit from theoretical analysis. It does this through the concept of lifestyle from regional development creative industries discourses and regional branding, considering how time operates in the narratives of place used to represent and promote a region to the outside worl…
Place-based rural development
Challenging peripheralising discourses
National identity and regional development
The politics of identity is important within regional and governance policy debates, becoming a mechanism for 'filling in' the democratic gaps left by the hollowing out of the state, with much discourse about constructing identities for governance purposes. This raises questions about the feasibility of processes of identity construction, and whether it starts from new, or builds on existing identities. We use the case study of the Cornish campai…
Cornwall's Devolution Deal
This article considers the devolution deal signed by Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the summer of 2015. It asks if the deal constitutes a more sustainable approach to governance, concluding that while there are some factors that help to enhance sustainability, other areas urgently require more attention. These claims are made through an analysis of a model of sustainability which emphasises the importance of networks and feedback loops envis…
The fragmentation of the nation state? Regional development, distinctiveness, and the growth of nationalism in Cornish politics
Stateless nations across the European Union have become increasingly vocal and confident in asserting a desire for autonomy, devolved governance and independence. Meanwhile, identity politics has become a key factor of contemporary European regional development, with utility as a social, economic and governance tool. Culture has become a resource for regional branding to attract inward investment and differentiate in terms of competitiveness. The…
Why did Cornwall vote for Brexit? Assessing the implications for EU structural funding programmes
In the 2016 referendum on UK EU membership, regions which benefitted from high levels of structural funds voted to leave the EU. This was unexpected given the Europeanisation processes expected of the funds in terms of identity and loyalty. Within this case study of Cornwall, we use qualitative methods to assess why this happened and the implications for future structural funding programmes. We find that the rationale behind the Brexit vote was l…
Towards a participatory representative democracy? UK Parish councils and community engagement
Liberal Ethnic Nationalism, Universality, and Cornish Identity
Within the liberal paradigm, ethnic nationalism and identity are often conceptualized as ‘exclusive’, lacking the capacity for universal membership ( I pperciel 2007; K ohn 1946; K ymlicka 1995), and is juxtaposed against ‘inclusive’, civic forms of identity. This article problematizes this claim, asking whether civic territorial identities also contain their own forms of exclusion. Using the N ew R egionalism and the identity politics of contemp…
Embeddedness or Escapism? Rural Perceptions and Economic Development in Cornwall and Northumberland
This article explores the effect of perceptions of rural life upon the subsequent actions of counterurbanisers and the resulting impact for rural economic development in the contrasting counties of Cornwall and Northumberland. Perceptions of a high quality of life attract migrants to remote rural areas yet these areas also have high rates of economic deprivation. In-migration can stimulate rural development but in this article we hypothesise that…
Liberal Ethnic Nationalism, Universality, and Cornish Identity
Within the liberal paradigm, ethnic nationalism and identity are often conceptualized as ‘exclusive’, lacking the capacity for universal membership ( I pperciel 2007; K ohn 1946; K ymlicka 1995), and is juxtaposed against ‘inclusive’, civic forms of identity. This article problematizes this claim, asking whether civic territorial identities also contain their own forms of exclusion. Using the N ew R egionalism and the identity politics of contemp…
National identity and regional development
The politics of identity is important within regional and governance policy debates, becoming a mechanism for 'filling in' the democratic gaps left by the hollowing out of the state, with much discourse about constructing identities for governance purposes. This raises questions about the feasibility of processes of identity construction, and whether it starts from new, or builds on existing identities. We use the case study of the Cornish campai…
The Uneven Path of UK Devolution
Within the context of the devolution process in England, Cornwall and the North-East stand out in contrasting comparison. The North-East was given the opportunity to vote for a regional assembly, which it rejected in 2004, while the strong popular movement for an assembly in Cornwall was ignored by central government. This is reflected in the literature on the English question and regionalism in the UK, which focuses on the example of the North-E…
Devolution and Localism in England
In the aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum, an academic investigation into devolution and localism in England could not be more timely. As the authors allude, at the time that the res
Cornwall's Devolution Deal
This article considers the devolution deal signed by Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the summer of 2015. It asks if the deal constitutes a more sustainable approach to governance, concluding that while there are some factors that help to enhance sustainability, other areas urgently require more attention. These claims are made through an analysis of a model of sustainability which emphasises the importance of networks and feedback loops envis…
The Production of Place
This article uses critical political theories to engage with regional economic development as a site of exclusion, inequality and interwoven power relationships, which would benefit from theoretical analysis. It does this through the concept of lifestyle from regional development creative industries discourses and regional branding, considering how time operates in the narratives of place used to represent and promote a region to the outside worl…
The fragmentation of the nation state? Regional development, distinctiveness, and the growth of nationalism in Cornish politics
Stateless nations across the European Union have become increasingly vocal and confident in asserting a desire for autonomy, devolved governance and independence. Meanwhile, identity politics has become a key factor of contemporary European regional development, with utility as a social, economic and governance tool. Culture has become a resource for regional branding to attract inward investment and differentiate in terms of competitiveness. The…
Towards a participatory representative democracy? UK Parish councils and community engagement
Peripheralisation
Recently scholars have started to consider the persistence of peripheries in relation to how they are represented by others outside of the region. Drawing on Foucauldian knowledge/power processes and forms of 'internal colonialism', powerful core regions construct and reconstruct knowledge about peripheries as a weaker 'other'. However this denies agency to passive, peripheral 'victims', compromising their capacity to contest their peripherality.…
Why did Cornwall vote for Brexit? Assessing the implications for EU structural funding programmes
In the 2016 referendum on UK EU membership, regions which benefitted from high levels of structural funds voted to leave the EU. This was unexpected given the Europeanisation processes expected of the funds in terms of identity and loyalty. Within this case study of Cornwall, we use qualitative methods to assess why this happened and the implications for future structural funding programmes. We find that the rationale behind the Brexit vote was l…
Challenging peripheralising discourses
The deep story of Leave voters affective assemblages
The affective economy and fast fashion
Many commentators recognise the need to make clothing more sustainable due to its deleterious environmental and social ramifications. However, it is challenging to change the consumer behaviour that drives fast fashion markets because people have complex relationships with clothing. In this study, we illustrate how the relationships that people have with clothing can be shaped by workshops that immerse them in making, mending, and modifying garme…
Place-based rural development
Counter-urbanisation and a politics of place
This paper uses a case study of Cornwall to address the question of what new politics of place that counter-urbanisation brings about. Counter-urbanisation to Cornwall in the SW of the UK has been popular for decades. Initially it was perceived as a way to repopulate this remote rural region, and challenge its sparse population distribution. Later it became a neo-endogenous growth tool to attract a creative class of dynamic entrepreneurs, and the…
Peripheralization and economic development
The concept of peripheralization explores the agency of peripheries to address uneven development, considering the power dynamics and material and discursive processes which underpin how peripheries become more (or less) peripheralized in relation to economic cores, over time. This paper adds that peripheralization is multi-causal. In other words, the paper claims that the agency of actors in peripheral areas needs to be understood as being compr…
Navigating Changing Economies and Rural Policy
Place‐based studies of regional policy ask how places can better adapt to economic and social changes. This is especially prescient for research and policy supporting ‘left‐behind’ regions. This paper amends this question, asking not how places adapt, but how the people living and working within them navigate change. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Cornwall in the United Kingdom and the Southwest of Virginia, USA, the paper uses the complex …
Nature recovery and regional development
This paper provides an overview of the cultural, political and policy changes that are creating new economic opportunities through nature recovery. We introduce research being undertaken with an alliance of English local authorities in rural–peripheral regions to explore these opportunities and their implications for local and regional development paths. The paper highlights the questions driving the project and introduces the economic sectors in…
More than human peripheries, peripheralisation, and the mattering of left behind regions
This paper starts with the statement that Western populism is the ‘revenge of the places that don't matter’ (Rodriguez-Pose, 2018), asking to what extent do rural areas matter if we foreground materials and imaginaries, rather than human activity. Drawing on Deleuzian assemblages, this paper argues that ‘mattering’ as currently conceived is too narrow and anthropocentric. Instead, foregrounding matter and non-human bodies and beings shows how rur…
More-Than-Human Geopolitics
This paper contributes to a New Materialist geopolitics, showcasing the global impacts of everyday, bottom-up embodied practices between people, communities, geologies, ecologies, and polities. It develops a More-Than-Human concept of political imaginaries, exploring how non-human bodies shape the intentionalities underpinning political action. Human and non-human, living and non-living beings and bodies co-create individual ‘worldmakings’ – the …
Sociology (16 works) · Political science (15 works) · Law (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Politics (12 works) · Geography (9 works) · Rural development and sustainability (9 works) · Economics (8 works) · Political economy (6 works) · Psychology (6 works)