Pathways: A Concept, Field Site and Methodological Approach to Study Remoteness and Connectivity

Abstract

The idea of center and periphery has been highly influential in shaping mental maps of how the world is spatially structured.For certain geographical configurations, however, neither periphery, nor center-nor any point along the axes between them-provides a useful description.Taking the village of Walung in eastern Nepal as a vantage point, I propose the notion of pathways as a concept and field site, and suggest co-itinerant ethnography as a methodological approach to the study of remoteness and connectivity.Pathways, I argue, are a key to understanding a particular set of seemingly remote places at the edge of nation-states.