ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 explores how aesthetic sensibilities influence how belonging is negotiated at the different scales of body, family, neighborhood, town, province, nation, and the globe. As it argues, belonging is best conceived of as a relational notion, which means that it is not a subjective experience but is shaped and negotiated in a multiscalar, reciprocal relationship between body and world. My analysis shows how in the DFs’ narratives belonging stands out as a negotiation for a relationship of peaceful dwelling with the landscape. As the body is intimately engaged in a lived relationship with the world, this sense of peaceful dwelling requires simultaneous negotiations at different scales. Moreover, these negotiations have unequal results that contribute to different intensities of belonging. As the DFs’ narratives show, belonging is often not experienced as a completely fulfilled relationship on all scales. This sense of partial belonging leaves one with a longing to belong more closely and intimately. It is this sense of partial fulfillment that I suggest characterizes the DFs’ sense of national belonging.
