category mistake

A vivid discussion of Kilburn, the area of north-west London where she lived, demonstrated how it was impossible to understand the district “without bringing into play half the world and a considerable amount of British imperialist history”. Her account of walking down the Kilburn High Road, talking to her newsagent during the Gulf war of 1991 – “silently chafing at having to sell the Sun” – brought these connections to life. The piece also challenged the then predominant view on the left that a politics of place was necessarily nostalgic or inward looking.      doreen massey