Rural melancholy and the metronormative

Posted on | April 20, 2009 | 3 Comments

Since getting back from my travels I’ve been working on a few things, including plans for Crossroads 2010 and invites for the CRN State of the Industry conference in November. I’ve been really excited about the plenary speakers for Crossroads for weeks, so it’s great to have the news official now. Meanwhile, we will probably go live with the SOI lineup this week, so stay tuned to the CRN website for that.

Over Easter I had some time off with my family and on obligatory post-travel/holiday cold. But since then I’ve managed to finish a draft of “Available in selected metros only” – a paper I’ve been developing since the Wollongong broadband workshop in February. It’s quite a personal paper in some ways. It wrestles with some of the feelings I had growing up as a kid in Tasmania, combined with some experiences from my current dis-located home as a South Coast commuter. In this way it might seem strange to people who think of me as a “city-based academic”.

It’s also potentially odd because it brings together a range of things that aren’t often thought about in tandem: affect and broadband, queer theory and telco policy. William joked that I have come up with a new concept – the metronormative! Anyway, I would really value more feedback while it’s under peer review. A large size version of the paper is here (it’s big because it contains pictures of Combis). If you need a smaller file, just let me know.

Category: Publications, State of the Industry 2009

Comments

3 Responses to “Rural melancholy and the metronormative”

  1. jean
    April 20th, 2009 @ 8:18 pm

    I think the idea of the “metronormative” in the ICT policy context, particularly in combo with queer theory, is actually spot-on! I googled it just now, just in case you really had coined a brilliant new term. Sadly, no. But what do you know, I found it used by Halberstam in In a Queer Time and Place where she talks about country-to-city migration: http://tinyurl.com/dxo9tz

  2. jean
    April 20th, 2009 @ 8:26 pm

    oh, you probably googled it too, of course. never mind me. :)

  3. Anna Hickey-Moody
    April 25th, 2009 @ 4:23 pm

    i love the concept of the metronormative. it has so much in it. will read paper and feed back. :-)

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