Presentation short abstract

By investigating Zhiziluo Village's traumatic rupture in history, this paper reveals how historical disconnection and memory politics shape the becoming of place, arguing for the integration of temporality in relational geography.

Presentation long abstract

This paper identifies and addresses a synchronic preference in relational geography, which has led to the under-theorisation of temporality in the becoming of place. Through a diachronic investigation of Zhiziluo Village in Nujiang, Yunnan, a remote mountainous village that has experienced the full cycle of connection, disconnection, and reconnection, this paper analyses how a traumatic rupture – an administrative relocation justified by a landslide that never occurred – and the subsequent enduring politics of memory have shaped its identity and trajectory. Developing three scenarios, namely the occurrence of rupture, struggle for memory, and conflict around tourism development, this paper makes three theoretical contributions: it establishes disconnection as a constitutive force, co-equal with connection; reveals memory politics as a central mechanism through which the past shapes the present; and, ultimately, proposes a fundamental revision of relational geography to incorporate temporality by accounting for historical cycles of (dis)connection and the struggles over memory.