Radical Cultures and Local Identities

This edited interdisciplinary collection draws together recent original work on the connections between radicalism and localism in a variety of international locations over the last two hundred years. The areas covered include the United Kingdom, North America, South Africa, the Caribbean, Germany, Italy and Spain. The book questions whether certain political issues have more impact at a local level and whether common radical responses can be discerned across space and time. The contributors' essays also consider to what extent the local offers a space in which new political possibilities can be explored, and especially the extent to which radical participation from groups who are under-represented in many national campaigns appears more easily available at the local level. Finally, the essays in the collection examine the distinctiveness of local political radicalism. This involves looking at the activities of communal organizations and political parties that defined themselves against nationally-situated sites of power, but also at how the many cultural manifestations of radicalism, such as music, theatre and art, were shaped distinctively at local level and how radical ideas were spread across wider areas from local bases.