Place and nation

Common-sense understandings of geographic scale tend to view places and nations as geographical entities that operate at two distinct scales. In this chapter, I challenge these geographical imaginations by demonstrating the inter-connectedness of place and nation. I do so in two ways, drawing on examples largely based on the specific case study of Wales, a region and nation located on the western seaboard of the UK. I begin by showing how the discourse of nationalism portrays nations and national territories as places that should have some meaning for members of the nation. The second kind of inter-connectedness I discuss relates to how nations come to inhabit ‘local’ places in various ways. Nations take on meaning and are reproduced in different places and a detailed examination of this process provides us with an insight into the character of national discourses in general. I conclude the chapter by highlighting the potential for place to act as a source of national reconciliation.