Arguing for the value of a qualitative, decentralised analysis to challenge and respond to the dominance of methodological nationalism requires a methodological alternative rooted in reflexive positionality. I was born in Cardiff but lived the first years of my life in the South Wales Valleys. I was part of the marches to support the miners’ strikes as a child in the 1980s amidst the general feeling that Thatcher’s government was not representing Wales and the people living in my community. I remember the excitement amongst the adults in my life following a Yes vote for devolution in 1997 and the idea that the people of Wales would have some say over the policies impacting their lives. Since then, I have been interested in what territorial rescaling means for people living under dominant, central ruling powers