ABSTRACT
In his recent plea for a ‘return of the local’ in a world that believes it is ‘globalizing’ (2009: 1) Peter Geschiere explores the meaning of the ‘local’ or the ‘autochthon’. The term means ‘to be born from the soil’, a concept that has acquired vital meaning in the present world of increasing migrations and greater mobility. Geschiere explores the meaning of this term in two different contexts of Africa and Europe. In Africa the local struggles for autochthonity are centred on the nation-state, while in Europe they invoke fierce debates over the integration of immigrants. But despite its different modes and historical specificities, the concept of the ‘autochthon’ ‘celebrates the primacy of being rooted as something selfevident’ and enables ‘participation in a world shaped by migration’ (Geschiere 2009: 38). The link to the land is central to autochthonity as it gives a strong territorial capacity in the globalising world where more people than ever have begun to assert their identities in ways which are deeply rooted in the local.
