Alternative ways of thinking, analysing and performing economic geographies have become ever more significant in recent years. The importance of such alternatives continues to be underlined by the recent global financial crisis, the ongoing social and political consequences of which have spread from Europe and the USA to economies and places throughout the world. Yet there is a real danger that the debate about alternatives simply becomes a way of fixing global capitalism in its present crisis-ridden form. Instead, the analysis of alternative economic spaces must continue to offer a critique of the very notion of capitalism as a universal, if variable, set of social relations.
For geographers and other critical social scientists there is great excitement about the possibilities inherent in constructing alternative economic spaces and for exploiting alternative spaces of political engagement. This important book brings together critical analyses of alterity from across the social sciences and humanities, refining and advancing what alternative economies and polities are, how they are formed, what difficulties and problems they face, and how they might be sustained. A central theme running through the book is the need to examine critically both the material contexts and the conceptual categories deployed in the making of alternative economies.
This rich and inspiring collection samples an exciting new scholarly tradition, one that draws upon and feeds into the social movements that are transforming economies worldwide. At once supportive and critical, Interrogating Alterity is a must-read for anyone interested in the 'other economies' currently taking shape on the ground.-J.K. Gibson-Graham, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA and University of Western Sydney, Australia
