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This paper is motivated by a very current concern which is: how might subjects located in a predominantly single-industry resource region that has devastated by processes of ratiolization and privatization think about new regional economic futures when subjection to the Economy appears to be the most powerful and present determinant of their contemporary identity? In an attempt to provide some answers to this question I juxtapose three different modes of exploration and evidence: discussion of contemporary experiences of subjection as narrated by members of the Latrobe Valley community, analysis of historical documents that represent moments when specific forms of subjection first became embedded in practices of governmentality in the Valley, and speculations on the relations between being and becoming by social theorists Judith Butler and William Connolly. An analysis of selected techniques of governmentality affords some insights into how the Economy became the ultimate 'real' in the Valley whereas the Region has always figured as a 'construction'. And encouraged by Butler's and Connolly's work on the possibilities and politics of becoming some glimpses of new regional economic becomings are caught.

Katherine Gibson argues that as an antidote to capitalist globalization it is necessary to identify the full range of economic identities that people occupy and the multiple directions that local economic transformation might take. She suggests that an economic politics of place can build upon the distinctiveness of the diverse economies that inhabit specific economic landscapes. Using the lens of a diverse economy, she elaborates what community economy activism might be and introduces three stories of women's role in building and strengthening non-capitalist community economies in place.

This paper is motivated by a very current concern which is: how might subjects located in a predominantly single-industry resource region that has devastated by processes of ratiolization and privatization think about new regional economic futures when subjection to the Economy appears to be the most powerful and present determinant of their contemporary identity? In an attempt to provide some answers to this question I juxtapose three different modes of exploration and evidence: discussion of contemporary experiences of subjection as narrated by members of the Latrobe Valley community, analysis of historical documents that represent moments when specific forms of subjection first became embedded in practices of governmentality in the Valley, and speculations on the relations between being and becoming by social theorists Judith Butler and William Connolly. An analysis of selected techniques of governmentality affords some insights into how the Economy became the ultimate 'real' in the Valley whereas the Region has always figured as a 'construction'. And encouraged by Butler's and Connolly's work on the possibilities and politics of becoming some glimpses of new regional economic becomings are caught.

Katherine Gibson argues that as an antidote to capitalist globalization it is necessary to identify the full range of economic identities that people occupy and the multiple directions that local economic transformation might take. She suggests that an economic politics of place can build upon the distinctiveness of the diverse economies that inhabit specific economic landscapes. Using the lens of a diverse economy, she elaborates what community economy activism might be and introduces three stories of women's role in building and strengthening non-capitalist community economies in place.

In this paper we address the question of 'what next after poststructuralism' through a reassessment of area studies. In a narrative of our own involvement with place-oriented research and institutions, we examine the traditional position of area studies in geography and anthropology and its reevaluation by poststructuralist scholars in a number of disciplines. We argue that both prestructuralist and poststructuralist treatments of areas are oriented by a narrative of capitalist development; at the same time, we recognize that traditional area studies has a deep interest in noncapitalist economic practices and relations. It is therefore a resource for those of us who want to create a discourse of economic diversity as a contribution to a politics of economic innovation. The latter half of the paper presents an extended example of reading for economic difference drawn from fieldwork in the oil-palm sector in Papua New Guinea. We conclude with a 'post-poststructuralist' reflection on geographic field research. From our evolving perspective, the fieldwork practices that are the principal research methods of area studies constitute a relatively untheorized form of academic politics, creating differences in thought (and thus in the world) via new interpenetrations of concepts and 'matter'.

In this paper we address the question of 'what next after poststructuralism' through a reassessment of area studies. In a narrative of our own involvement with place-oriented research and institutions, we examine the traditional position of area studies in geography and anthropology and its reevaluation by poststructuralist scholars in a number of disciplines. We argue that both prestructuralist and poststructuralist treatments of areas are oriented by a narrative of capitalist development; at the same time, we recognize that traditional area studies has a deep interest in noncapitalist economic practices and relations. It is therefore a resource for those of us who want to create a discourse of economic diversity as a contribution to a politics of economic innovation. The latter half of the paper presents an extended example of reading for economic difference drawn from fieldwork in the oil-palm sector in Papua New Guinea. We conclude with a 'post-poststructuralist' reflection on geographic field research. From our evolving perspective, the fieldwork practices that are the principal research methods of area studies constitute a relatively untheorized form of academic politics, creating differences in thought (and thus in the world) via new interpenetrations of concepts and 'matter'.

J.K. Gibson-Graham explores two responses to the violence of development - the politics of empire and the politics of place. Drawing on the well-known book Empire by Hardt and Negri, the experience of the SID project on Women and the Politics of Place, and a slum dwellers' initiative in India, she attempts to open up alternatives to the dominance of capital and affirm a new political space.