The importance of territorial references in transnational processes. A critique of case...

Abstract

The adjective “desterritorialization” and similar others are often used to name contemporary social processes associated to the idea of globalization. These adjectives, which suggest the little or null relevance of territorial referents, are frequently used without demonstration. The idea of “desterritorialization” has became a sort of “common sense”, and thus an a priori answer that obstructs the possibility of asking, and therefore to research. In contrast with the former, based on extended field research, this article shows the importance of territorial referents for numerous and very diverse social agents, based in several countries, deeply linked to several transnational processes. The article shows that globalization and transnationalization not necessarily imply “desterritorialization”, and that according to case specificities we would rather use terms as transterritoriality, multiterritoriality, multilocalization, or reterritorialization.