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Abstract

In rethinking area studies, I argue for a more open approach to standpoint theory, one that is rooted in a feminist ethics of care. The latter’s commitment to intimate knowing, and its problematisation of the distance between self and other, allows for a more relational approach to place. By drawing from feminist care ethics, it thus becomes possible to address criticisms of essentialism and distancing that place-based standpoint theory is also charged with. I address these theoretical debates as a researcher from an ‘Area’ who ‘never left’; and within the context of my own struggles with knowing how to place, and distance myself as an academic and member of the LGBTQ activist community in Singapore.

Keywords

Activism area studies feminist ethics of care feminist geography place sexuality

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