Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of American Folklore

Volume

120

Issue

476

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Publication Date

2007

First Page

178

Last Page

203

Abstract

In the 1990s, the city of McCall, Idaho, and the surrounding region implemented the Rural Addressing System. The system assigned a name to every street and a number to every house and erected visible signage for both. Although a seemingly minor bureaucratic operation, the Rural Addressing System is a concrete example of Anthony Giddens's concept of space distanciation, and as such, it is a significant component of modernity and globalization. By investigating the impact of the Rural Addressing System on this region—particularly on the ways in which people give directions and think about space there—this article sheds light on how abstract processes such as modernization and globalization actually manifest in everyday life, the effects of those processes, and how people respond to them.

Comments

Originally published by the University of Illinois Press on behalf of the American Folklore Society.

Publisher's PDF and HTML full text available through remote link via Project MUSE.

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