McConnell, F;
Dittmer, J;
(2018)
Liminality and the diplomacy of the British Overseas Territories: An assemblage approach.
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
, 36
(1)
pp. 139-158.
10.1177/0263775817733479.
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Abstract
This paper examines diplomatic processes that compose our geopolitical world as dynamic and yet also seemingly affirm the status quo. It turns attention to the entrepreneurial creativity of individual diplomats, the transformations occurring at threshold moments, spaces and practices, and the materiality of diplomacy that exceeds human agency. The paper does so by forging an innovative dialogue between assemblage theory and the notion of liminality as developed in cultural anthropology, and by focusing on a hitherto overlooked set of diplomatic actors: British Overseas Territories (OTs). Three vignettes of OT diplomacy are traced: an account of the liminal subjectivity of London-based OT representatives; the 1982 Argentinian invasion that tipped the Falkland Islands into a state of greater autonomy; and the geophysical ‘tipping point’ of the 1997 volcanic eruption on Montserrat that made the island dependent for the foreseeable future. The paper concludes by noting potential avenues of future research that the synergy between liminality and assemblage may open up in the fields of Science and Technology Studies (STS), anthropology and geography.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Liminality and the diplomacy of the British Overseas Territories: An assemblage approach |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0263775817733479 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775817733479 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Assemblage, British Overseas Territories, diplomacy, legitimacy, liminality, the event |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1573195 |
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