“Bridge City: When does local pride become exclusionary?” (Oregon Humanities)
Recommended reading - and discussing: with a book group, a salon, over coffee, over beer, and with friends and neighbors:
“Bridge City: When does local pride become exclusionary?” by Anna Vo, in Oregon Humanities, July 29, 2019.
“.... When you hear about nationalism, you may think of Trumpism, of anti-immigrant sentiment, but I bet you never think of yourself, of Portland. I wonder often about the pro-nature dogma, the cedar and mountain pride, the shoe-and-backpack consumerism entwined with suiting up for a thirty-minute “hike,” or swallowing nature like a fusion chimichanga sushi burrito. The regionalism so many people in Oregon espouse sounds a lot like localized nationalism to me. Its rhetoric can be easily weaponized to promote exclusion. …..” [Link to full article. Archived here.]