Local agency and development trajectories in a rural region

ABSTRACT

Employing a theoretical lens from the anthropology of development, this paper takes an actor-oriented approach to understand the socio-cultural context of regional path development in a peripheral rural region and the role of local agency, drawing on a qualitative case study of the Cradle Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. Findings demonstrate the value of bottom-up attention to the logics of regional actors to understand regional development trajectories and the emergence of new economic paths. Analysing the regional development logics and actions of local actors in particular contexts can reveal the mechanisms through which regions create new paths or reinforce old ones.

KEYWORDS:

• agency
• path development
• rural regional development
• inclusive and sustainable development
• development logics
• actors

JEL:

• R11

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank the peer reviewers for insightful and constructive comments.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Data are from National Economics (NIEIR) – Modelled Series, ProfileID, n.d.

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Cradle Coast Authority and Swinburne University of Technology.