Infrastructures and feelings of ontological (in)security in times of crisis: Lessons from rural areas in British Columbia

Abstract

In government guidelines the strengthening of rural infrastructure is often seen as a central building block to create economically prosperous, well-developed rural regions and to support the well-being of local communities. We challenge this assumption by analyzing the subjective handling of infrastructures in a remote rural area in British Columbia, Canada. Based on the analysis of empirical material from photography-supported interviews, we argue that fully capturing the influence of infrastructures on local communities requires a relational approach to infrastructures understood as infrastructuring. Derived from the conceptualization of infrastructuring in science and technology studies, we developed the notion of infrastructural autonomy. With the notion of infrastructural autonomy, we are able to outline our findings that subjective and place-sensitive handlings of infrastructures promote gains in personal ontological security. Based on our qualitative study, we argue that a closer examination of the subjective relation between a place, its infrastructure, and its inhabitants is crucial to understand the infrastructural needs of a place as well as the well-being of its users.