The crisis, the economic geography and Julie Graham: local development alternatives from the feminist critique

Abstract

This article reflects on academic interpretations consolidated and well established local development strategies, weighed against the potential that offers the concept of local development based on ethical and political principles. The article is organized through a dual purpose. On one hand it wishes to pay tribute to the work of Julie Graham, professor of economic geography at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who passed away suddenly in 2010. On the other hand, on the pretext of Graham’s legacy, it extends and develops its thinking with the contributions of feminist, poststructuralist and neo-Marxist approaches, to advance towards interpretative approaches for building a new development narrative. It concludes that alternatives to the present crisis can be found in the potential offered by local economies if these are rooted in the territory and based on ethical questions and social and environmental justice.