ABSTRACT
Peripheries are the places of learning and unlearning that have to be sought; going out to the peripheries does not simply happen. It is the result of a decision, a commitment. Looking at a case study and a series of interviews from the Connemara region in West Ireland, we can learn about the complexities of living at geographical and partially structural peripheries. The peripheral area has also become a stage where globalization is enacted or at least felt. Two interesting windows into the quality of life emerged from the interviews: delivery and funerals. The case study illustrates one key aspect of this handbook, namely the uniqueness and richness of any given context, the possibility to discover complexity in history, in the diversity of communities and community members, and in the multifariousness of living situations. In many instances, peripheries are the products of complex processes of peripheralization. Centers and peripheries are much more “made” than “found.”
