Authentic Place, Local Identities and Environmental Discourses
Abstract
This paper is intended to provide a critic perspective on the definition of
places authenticity as proposed in the conventional environmental discourses.
It suggests that, by following a very widespread view, modernity is con-
sidered responsible for the loss of authenticity and the consequent disen-
chantment of the world. However, environmental discourses claiming for the
defence of places authenticity and adopting a rhetoric of nostalgia for a loss
primeval relation between humans and nature are liable of some critics. In
particular, these refer to the essentialist definition of local places and cul-
tures and to the relevance of the underlying power geometries. In order to
inquire the possibility for a more positive gaze on modernity an alternative
account of modernity is provided, by considering some suggestions from the
hybrid geography. A different perspective on places as heterogeneous and
porous is proposed together with further developments for the alternative
environmental commitment.