The Disappearing Village

Authors

  • Max Staples Charles Sturt University

Keywords:

Folkloristics, Village,

Abstract

The idea of the village has never been more popular. The word is applied across time, and place, and even projected into cyber-space. Yet never has Western society been so cut off from the traditional village, or known so little about it. This paper looks at popular conceptions of the village, and the current view that the village is a place of positive community values. It traces the history of the village in the Western imagination and shows that traditionally, the village was ignored, or denigrated. It considers the motives of developers and planners who call their projects ‘villages’ and asks if the qualities of human scale, individuality, and community interaction are the very thing they lack.

Author Biography

Max Staples, Charles Sturt University

c/- School of Communication and Creative Industries, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678

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Published

2010-11-05

Issue

Vol. 25 (2010): A Celebratory Issue

Section

International and Comparative Studies

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