ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a background and substance to why the periphery (rural, countryside, etc.), should be given a much more prominent role in societal research, while, at the same time, questions the present urban/core-based paradigmatic positions in academia, economic, political and social life. It is framed within a context of major global development issues and combined with a necessary bottom-up approach. An important digression, it identifies important cultural ‘negatives’ pertaining to the periphery and its assumed identities, concluding with some reflections of the specific, somewhat un-academic conditions for the outline and eventual discussion.
