Dualities of Place among Rural and Urban Periphery Homegrown Adults in Israel☆

Abstract

Following the general idea of place matters and based on the particular features of rural/peripheral settlements, people, and communities, the current study aims at exploring the development and meaning of peripheral identity and its construction, as perceived by adults who were born and raised in the northern periphery of Israel. Using the phenomenological genre, 40 interviews were conducted with adults aged 26–40 who grew up in the periphery at least until the age of 21. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted, based on the principles of grounded theory. The analysis yielded four main categories that represented four dimensions of a conflict or a paradox that characterizes life in the periphery: (1) Personal chronology from childhood to adulthood; (2) Family as an anchor vs. an obligation; (3) Settlement as inner vs. the outside environment; (4) Region as empowerment and powerful vs. deficit and powerless. The findings indicate that the embedded identity of the peripheral homegrown is ambiguous, conflictual, and contradictory. The current study aims to demonstrate how the social constructive approach can challenge the meanings of rurality/peripherally as an experience that is shaped in different ways.