Mapping the Rainbow Region: fields of belonging and sites of confluence
Abstract
This essay is about feelings of belonging considered in a self-reflexive journey through two landscapes – one theoretical, one physical/metaphysical. It argues that through the quilting of memories, critical reflections, anecdote, fictional readings, interviews and thick description, belonging becomes articulated through a spatial prism and imbrication of cultural fields and flows. The essay locates this theorisation of belonging in an exercise of mapping place and space in the rainbow region of northern New South Wales. Focusing on two specific coordinates that have subjective resonance for the author, Caddies Cafe and the Byron Lighthouse Walk, the essay explores what happened when he fled from the city.
Keywords
Mapping, imbrication, belonging, space, site-hardening
Author Biography
Baden Offord
Baden Offord teaches cultural studies and history at Southern Cross University, the only university located in the rainbow region of northern NSW. He left Sydney in 1992 to settle in Goonengerry, a small hamlet in the Byron hinterland. His research fields include cultural theory, human rights, sexuality and identity. He has published in Social Semiotics, Journal of Homosexuality and the International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies.