Sense of Place and the Politics of “Insider-ness” in Villages Undergoing Transition: The Case of City Kampung on Penang Island

This chapter considers how village folks surrounding expanding cities impact on the urban environment and ways of life. These village folks have brought rural ways of life into extended urban regions, but these ways of life have been threatened by continuing urbanization. Since the 1980s, the village land surrounding George Town and Bayan Lepas in Penang, Malaysia, has become a site of conflict and contestation, having been acquired for the purpose of urban and industrial development. The kampung people, who consider themselves “insiders,” have expressed their love for place and village life by reinforcing some aspects of the rural economy, networks, culture, association, and built environment. The politics of “insider-ness” is also explored in this chapter in order to discover how kampung folks see themselves and “others.” In relation to this, elements of feelings, emotions, and images of the people toward their land and lifestyles will be revealed. This chapter will also reflect on the historical and contemporary forms of rural-urban linkages and transitions.