Amy Mills and Timur Hammond
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781479827787
- eISBN:
- 9781479850662
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479827787.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter begins with a brief survey of the literature that constitutes the present spatial turn in Middle East studies (MES). This review has two aims: to examine the (often undertheorized or ...
More
This chapter begins with a brief survey of the literature that constitutes the present spatial turn in Middle East studies (MES). This review has two aims: to examine the (often undertheorized or loosely defined) understandings of space at work in MES research and to explore the central or emerging research interests in MES developed by this spatial turn. The chapter then considers the theories of space discernible in research on the Middle East for many decades before the present spatial turn. It argues that not only does an interest in space have a far longer history in MES than recent critical research lets on, but that attention to this issue is important because it illuminates the ways in which evolving understandings of space accompany changing research agendas and, possibly, new theoretical, methodological, or conceptual assumptions in the interdisciplinary arena of MES more generally. Next, the chapter discusses questions of disciplinarity, particularly in relation to geography, and the ways in which disciplinary and institutional histories have shaped the contours of the spatial turn in Middle East area studies. It concludes by identifying new directions for research.Less
This chapter begins with a brief survey of the literature that constitutes the present spatial turn in Middle East studies (MES). This review has two aims: to examine the (often undertheorized or loosely defined) understandings of space at work in MES research and to explore the central or emerging research interests in MES developed by this spatial turn. The chapter then considers the theories of space discernible in research on the Middle East for many decades before the present spatial turn. It argues that not only does an interest in space have a far longer history in MES than recent critical research lets on, but that attention to this issue is important because it illuminates the ways in which evolving understandings of space accompany changing research agendas and, possibly, new theoretical, methodological, or conceptual assumptions in the interdisciplinary arena of MES more generally. Next, the chapter discusses questions of disciplinarity, particularly in relation to geography, and the ways in which disciplinary and institutional histories have shaped the contours of the spatial turn in Middle East area studies. It concludes by identifying new directions for research.
Irad Malkin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199734818
- eISBN:
- 9780199918553
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734818.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter provides the background to applying “network” as a heuristic concept to historical interpretation. Greek colonization dotted the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea with ...
More
This chapter provides the background to applying “network” as a heuristic concept to historical interpretation. Greek colonization dotted the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea with distant settlements that served as network nodes; with greater distance came fewer degrees of separation and the overall connectivity that, in terms of “small worlds,” allowed for Greek commonalities to disseminate and for Greek civilization to appear as a self-emergent phenomenon in a complex system. Physical divergence brought about cultural convergence. The chapter discusses the universality of network approaches; its contemporary implications; its place in the spatial turn, combining historical with geographical notions; Mediterranean historiography (Braudel, Goitein, Horden, and Purcell); The reversal of our cognitive maps (denying the role of centers vs. backwaters and observing “Greece” via a wide-angle lens); the role of individual “connectors”; the emergence of regional identities; middle grounds and colonial clusters; network and Mediterranean city-state culture (with Phoenicians and Etruscans); the role of colonization; and the formation of the Greek convergence.Less
This chapter provides the background to applying “network” as a heuristic concept to historical interpretation. Greek colonization dotted the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea with distant settlements that served as network nodes; with greater distance came fewer degrees of separation and the overall connectivity that, in terms of “small worlds,” allowed for Greek commonalities to disseminate and for Greek civilization to appear as a self-emergent phenomenon in a complex system. Physical divergence brought about cultural convergence. The chapter discusses the universality of network approaches; its contemporary implications; its place in the spatial turn, combining historical with geographical notions; Mediterranean historiography (Braudel, Goitein, Horden, and Purcell); The reversal of our cognitive maps (denying the role of centers vs. backwaters and observing “Greece” via a wide-angle lens); the role of individual “connectors”; the emergence of regional identities; middle grounds and colonial clusters; network and Mediterranean city-state culture (with Phoenicians and Etruscans); the role of colonization; and the formation of the Greek convergence.
Edward W. Soja
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780520281721
- eISBN:
- 9780520957633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520281721.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
This is a transitional chapter that removes the primary focus from Los Angeles. First, Soja discusses his critical spatial perspective, summarizing key ideas from Postmodern Geographies, Thirdspace, ...
More
This is a transitional chapter that removes the primary focus from Los Angeles. First, Soja discusses his critical spatial perspective, summarizing key ideas from Postmodern Geographies, Thirdspace, and Postmetropolis. Western social thought is seen as deeply shaped by social historicism and a bicameral logic focused on sociality and historicality. Soja insistently adds a third term, spatiality, and argues that every aspect of human life is simultaneously social, historical, and spatial. The chapter goes on to discuss the major trends affecting all cities in the twenty-first century. Building on the interplay of general trend and local particularity, Soja discusses the urbanization of the world and the growing concentration of wealth, innovation, and power in a global network of five hundred megacity regions. The unbounding of the modern metropolis is seen as spreading urban conditions into the rainforest, the deserts, the tundra, and the ice caps, every square inch of the earth’s surface. The urbanization of the globe is accompanied by the globalization of the urban, the creation of the most culturally and economically heterogeneous cities the world has ever seen. Also connected are the urbanization of suburbia; the extraordinary urban industrialization of China; and the continuing influence of the transdisciplinary spatial turn.Less
This is a transitional chapter that removes the primary focus from Los Angeles. First, Soja discusses his critical spatial perspective, summarizing key ideas from Postmodern Geographies, Thirdspace, and Postmetropolis. Western social thought is seen as deeply shaped by social historicism and a bicameral logic focused on sociality and historicality. Soja insistently adds a third term, spatiality, and argues that every aspect of human life is simultaneously social, historical, and spatial. The chapter goes on to discuss the major trends affecting all cities in the twenty-first century. Building on the interplay of general trend and local particularity, Soja discusses the urbanization of the world and the growing concentration of wealth, innovation, and power in a global network of five hundred megacity regions. The unbounding of the modern metropolis is seen as spreading urban conditions into the rainforest, the deserts, the tundra, and the ice caps, every square inch of the earth’s surface. The urbanization of the globe is accompanied by the globalization of the urban, the creation of the most culturally and economically heterogeneous cities the world has ever seen. Also connected are the urbanization of suburbia; the extraordinary urban industrialization of China; and the continuing influence of the transdisciplinary spatial turn.
Brian Baker
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719069048
- eISBN:
- 9781781700891
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719069048.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter introduces Iain Sinclair, who is a good example of the figure of the visionary outsider, and the author of known works such as Edge of the Orison and Lud Heat. It first presents a ...
More
This chapter introduces Iain Sinclair, who is a good example of the figure of the visionary outsider, and the author of known works such as Edge of the Orison and Lud Heat. It first presents a general description of Sinclair and his works, and then turns to his change of focus that corresponds to what has been called as the ‘spatial turn’ in social and critical theory. It shows that walking is Sinclair's practice of studying the spatial configurations modern life. Here, the chapter focuses on flâneur and the practice of ‘tactical’ walking.Less
This chapter introduces Iain Sinclair, who is a good example of the figure of the visionary outsider, and the author of known works such as Edge of the Orison and Lud Heat. It first presents a general description of Sinclair and his works, and then turns to his change of focus that corresponds to what has been called as the ‘spatial turn’ in social and critical theory. It shows that walking is Sinclair's practice of studying the spatial configurations modern life. Here, the chapter focuses on flâneur and the practice of ‘tactical’ walking.
Yasmine Ramadan
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474427647
- eISBN:
- 9781474476775
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474427647.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
The first part of the chapter presents the members of the sixties generation, telling the story of their emergence onto the cultural scene in Egypt. It outlines the socio-economic and political ...
More
The first part of the chapter presents the members of the sixties generation, telling the story of their emergence onto the cultural scene in Egypt. It outlines the socio-economic and political context of which they were both a part and an expression. Who are these writers? When and how did they emerge? What is significant about their work? Why did they appear at such a critical moment in Egyptian history? What are the sources of literary and aesthetic inspiration? This chapter draws on an array of primary material from the journals of the time whose pages were filled with discussions about this emerging generation. This presentation of the sixties generation is undertaken with an attention to the broader context of the literary sphere in Egypt, what Bourdieu calls “the field of cultural production.” The second part of the chapter focuses on the theoretical arguments for the examination of space in literature, examining the broader “spatial turn” in the humanities and social sciences, engaging this approach within the context of modern and contemporary Egyptian literature. A focus upon spatial representations expands our analysis of the work of the sixties writers, bringing together the thematic, the aesthetic, and the political.Less
The first part of the chapter presents the members of the sixties generation, telling the story of their emergence onto the cultural scene in Egypt. It outlines the socio-economic and political context of which they were both a part and an expression. Who are these writers? When and how did they emerge? What is significant about their work? Why did they appear at such a critical moment in Egyptian history? What are the sources of literary and aesthetic inspiration? This chapter draws on an array of primary material from the journals of the time whose pages were filled with discussions about this emerging generation. This presentation of the sixties generation is undertaken with an attention to the broader context of the literary sphere in Egypt, what Bourdieu calls “the field of cultural production.” The second part of the chapter focuses on the theoretical arguments for the examination of space in literature, examining the broader “spatial turn” in the humanities and social sciences, engaging this approach within the context of modern and contemporary Egyptian literature. A focus upon spatial representations expands our analysis of the work of the sixties writers, bringing together the thematic, the aesthetic, and the political.
Edward W. Soja
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816666676
- eISBN:
- 9781452946870
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816666676.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
This chapter discusses the origin of spatial justice and the emergence of spatial turn, or the increasing recognition of spatial justice throughout the world. Spatial justice is derived from the ...
More
This chapter discusses the origin of spatial justice and the emergence of spatial turn, or the increasing recognition of spatial justice throughout the world. Spatial justice is derived from the subject of ontology, or the belief that humans are both spatial and temporal beings, and that their behavior is interwoven with their surrounding and their limited time. The concept of spatial justice is now being widely applied in key issues such as human rights, social inclusion-exclusion, citizenship, democracy, poverty, racism, economic growth, and environmental policy. The powerful forces that arise from socially produced spaces such as urban agglomerations and cohesive regional economies are now being identified through understanding spatial justice.Less
This chapter discusses the origin of spatial justice and the emergence of spatial turn, or the increasing recognition of spatial justice throughout the world. Spatial justice is derived from the subject of ontology, or the belief that humans are both spatial and temporal beings, and that their behavior is interwoven with their surrounding and their limited time. The concept of spatial justice is now being widely applied in key issues such as human rights, social inclusion-exclusion, citizenship, democracy, poverty, racism, economic growth, and environmental policy. The powerful forces that arise from socially produced spaces such as urban agglomerations and cohesive regional economies are now being identified through understanding spatial justice.
Verena Andermatt Conley
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846317545
- eISBN:
- 9781846317217
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846317217
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book takes a new look at the ‘spatial turn’ in French cultural and critical theory since 1968. The author examines how Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau, Jean Baudrillard, Marc Auge, Paul ...
More
This book takes a new look at the ‘spatial turn’ in French cultural and critical theory since 1968. The author examines how Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau, Jean Baudrillard, Marc Auge, Paul Virilio, Bruno Latour and Etienne Balibar reconsider the experience of space in the midst of considerable political and economic turmoil. The book considers why French critical theorists turned away from questions of time and looked instead toward questions of space. It asks what writing about space can tell us about life in late capitalism. The author links this question to the problematic of habitability, taking us back to Heidegger and showing how it informs much of French theory. Building on the author's earlier study Ecopolitics, this book argues for recognition of the virtue of spatial theory and its pragmatic applications in the global milieu.Less
This book takes a new look at the ‘spatial turn’ in French cultural and critical theory since 1968. The author examines how Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau, Jean Baudrillard, Marc Auge, Paul Virilio, Bruno Latour and Etienne Balibar reconsider the experience of space in the midst of considerable political and economic turmoil. The book considers why French critical theorists turned away from questions of time and looked instead toward questions of space. It asks what writing about space can tell us about life in late capitalism. The author links this question to the problematic of habitability, taking us back to Heidegger and showing how it informs much of French theory. Building on the author's earlier study Ecopolitics, this book argues for recognition of the virtue of spatial theory and its pragmatic applications in the global milieu.
David Anderson
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198847199
- eISBN:
- 9780191882104
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198847199.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
The introduction commences with a ‘detour’ into the history of landscape art and the picturesque, suggesting ways that this mode pre-empted what may seem like more modern ideas about the interference ...
More
The introduction commences with a ‘detour’ into the history of landscape art and the picturesque, suggesting ways that this mode pre-empted what may seem like more modern ideas about the interference between perception and representation. This discussion is folded into a brief account of the so-called ‘spatial turn’ and the interventions of theorists including Doreen Massey and Marc Augé, establishing an immediate context for the work of Keiller, Sebald, and Sinclair. Suggesting a twin heritage of the ‘English Journey’ on the one hand and the French Surrealists and Situationists on the other, the introduction then offers the tension between amant and amateur as a way of characterizing the balance of exotic/everyday, plan/coincidence, and high-brow/low-brow in these figures’ work. It considers the role of pedestrianism and melancholia before closing with a discussion of Walter Benjamin and Gustave Doré’s ‘New Zealander’.Less
The introduction commences with a ‘detour’ into the history of landscape art and the picturesque, suggesting ways that this mode pre-empted what may seem like more modern ideas about the interference between perception and representation. This discussion is folded into a brief account of the so-called ‘spatial turn’ and the interventions of theorists including Doreen Massey and Marc Augé, establishing an immediate context for the work of Keiller, Sebald, and Sinclair. Suggesting a twin heritage of the ‘English Journey’ on the one hand and the French Surrealists and Situationists on the other, the introduction then offers the tension between amant and amateur as a way of characterizing the balance of exotic/everyday, plan/coincidence, and high-brow/low-brow in these figures’ work. It considers the role of pedestrianism and melancholia before closing with a discussion of Walter Benjamin and Gustave Doré’s ‘New Zealander’.
Drew Paul
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474456128
- eISBN:
- 9781474480727
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474456128.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
The introduction provides historical, theoretical, and cultural context for analysing the relationship between border spaces and literature and film. Beginning with a historical overview of borders ...
More
The introduction provides historical, theoretical, and cultural context for analysing the relationship between border spaces and literature and film. Beginning with a historical overview of borders in Israel and Palestine, with an emphasis on the recent proliferation of checkpoints and walls, it links spatial transformations to cultural shifts. Specifically, while borders have always featured in Palestinian and Israeli cultural production, their expansion in the 21st century has increased their prominence as crucial literary and filmic spaces. This chapter draws on contributions from the “spatial turn” in critical theory, in order to situate this study within larger transnational trends and phenomena. It argues that in the contemporary era, borders in Israel/Palestine are ubiquitous, excessive, and deceptive, leading to the question that guides much this book: How do these borders shape literature and film, and how do authors and filmmakers respond to, critique, and, in some cases, contest their presence?Less
The introduction provides historical, theoretical, and cultural context for analysing the relationship between border spaces and literature and film. Beginning with a historical overview of borders in Israel and Palestine, with an emphasis on the recent proliferation of checkpoints and walls, it links spatial transformations to cultural shifts. Specifically, while borders have always featured in Palestinian and Israeli cultural production, their expansion in the 21st century has increased their prominence as crucial literary and filmic spaces. This chapter draws on contributions from the “spatial turn” in critical theory, in order to situate this study within larger transnational trends and phenomena. It argues that in the contemporary era, borders in Israel/Palestine are ubiquitous, excessive, and deceptive, leading to the question that guides much this book: How do these borders shape literature and film, and how do authors and filmmakers respond to, critique, and, in some cases, contest their presence?
Joshua Armstrong
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781786942012
- eISBN:
- 9781789629897
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781786942012.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The rapidity of postwar globalization and the structural changes it has brought to both social and spatial aspects of everyday life have meant, in France as elsewhere, the destabilizing of senses of ...
More
The rapidity of postwar globalization and the structural changes it has brought to both social and spatial aspects of everyday life have meant, in France as elsewhere, the destabilizing of senses of place, identity, and belonging, as once familiar, local environments are increasingly de-localized and made porous to global trends and planetary preoccupations. Maps and Territories identifies such preoccupations as a fundamental underlying impetus for the contemporary French novel. Indeed, like France itself, the protagonists of its best fiction are constantly called upon to renegotiate their identity in order to maintain any sense of belonging within the troubled territories they call home. Maps and Territories reads today’s French novel for how it re-maps such territories, and for how it positions its protagonists vis-à-vis the spatial crisis of globalized capitalism. It uncovers previously unseen affinities amongst—and offers original perspectives on—a diverse set of authors: namely, Michel Houellebecq, Chloé Delaume, Lydie Salvayre, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Virginie Despentes, Philippe Vasset, Jean Rolin, and Marie Darrieussecq. In the process, it sets the literary works into dialogue with a range of influential theorists of postmodernity and globalization, including Paul Virilio, Marc Augé, Peter Sloterdijk, Bruno Latour, Fredric Jameson, Edward Casey, David Harvey, and Ursula K. Heise.Less
The rapidity of postwar globalization and the structural changes it has brought to both social and spatial aspects of everyday life have meant, in France as elsewhere, the destabilizing of senses of place, identity, and belonging, as once familiar, local environments are increasingly de-localized and made porous to global trends and planetary preoccupations. Maps and Territories identifies such preoccupations as a fundamental underlying impetus for the contemporary French novel. Indeed, like France itself, the protagonists of its best fiction are constantly called upon to renegotiate their identity in order to maintain any sense of belonging within the troubled territories they call home. Maps and Territories reads today’s French novel for how it re-maps such territories, and for how it positions its protagonists vis-à-vis the spatial crisis of globalized capitalism. It uncovers previously unseen affinities amongst—and offers original perspectives on—a diverse set of authors: namely, Michel Houellebecq, Chloé Delaume, Lydie Salvayre, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Virginie Despentes, Philippe Vasset, Jean Rolin, and Marie Darrieussecq. In the process, it sets the literary works into dialogue with a range of influential theorists of postmodernity and globalization, including Paul Virilio, Marc Augé, Peter Sloterdijk, Bruno Latour, Fredric Jameson, Edward Casey, David Harvey, and Ursula K. Heise.
Alison J. Murray Levine
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781786940414
- eISBN:
- 9781789629408
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781786940414.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Vivre Ici analyzes a selection of films from the vast viewing landscape of contemporary French documentary film, a genre that has experienced a renaissance in the past twenty years. The films are ...
More
Vivre Ici analyzes a selection of films from the vast viewing landscape of contemporary French documentary film, a genre that has experienced a renaissance in the past twenty years. The films are connected not just by a general interest in engaging the “real,” but by a particular attention to French space and place. From farms and wild places to roads, schools, and urban edgelands, these films explore the spaces of the everyday and the human and non-human experiences that unfold within them. Through a critical approach that integrates phenomenology, film theory, eco-criticism and cultural history, Levine investigates the notion of documentary as experience. She asks how and why, in the contemporary media landscape, these films seek to avoid argumentation and instead, give the viewer a feeling of “being there.” As a diverse collection of filmmakers, both well-known and less so, explore the limits and possibilities of these places, a collage-like, incomplete, and fragmented vision of France as seen and felt through documentary cameras comes into view. Venturing beyond film analysis to examine the production climate for these films and their circulation in contemporary France, Levine explores the social and political consequences of these “films that matter” for the viewers who come into contact with them.Less
Vivre Ici analyzes a selection of films from the vast viewing landscape of contemporary French documentary film, a genre that has experienced a renaissance in the past twenty years. The films are connected not just by a general interest in engaging the “real,” but by a particular attention to French space and place. From farms and wild places to roads, schools, and urban edgelands, these films explore the spaces of the everyday and the human and non-human experiences that unfold within them. Through a critical approach that integrates phenomenology, film theory, eco-criticism and cultural history, Levine investigates the notion of documentary as experience. She asks how and why, in the contemporary media landscape, these films seek to avoid argumentation and instead, give the viewer a feeling of “being there.” As a diverse collection of filmmakers, both well-known and less so, explore the limits and possibilities of these places, a collage-like, incomplete, and fragmented vision of France as seen and felt through documentary cameras comes into view. Venturing beyond film analysis to examine the production climate for these films and their circulation in contemporary France, Levine explores the social and political consequences of these “films that matter” for the viewers who come into contact with them.
Roger Cooter and Claudia Stein
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300186635
- eISBN:
- 9780300189438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300186635.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This chapter presents an analysis of an essay on the historicization of the production of health posters dealing with AIDS. It explores the visual and spatial turn in relation to history writing in ...
More
This chapter presents an analysis of an essay on the historicization of the production of health posters dealing with AIDS. It explores the visual and spatial turn in relation to history writing in terms of the conceptualization of the global and the physical aesthetic arrangement of objects in museum spaces. It discusses observations about the trend in museum display during the first decade of the new millennium and offers comments on historians' interest in the globalization theme.Less
This chapter presents an analysis of an essay on the historicization of the production of health posters dealing with AIDS. It explores the visual and spatial turn in relation to history writing in terms of the conceptualization of the global and the physical aesthetic arrangement of objects in museum spaces. It discusses observations about the trend in museum display during the first decade of the new millennium and offers comments on historians' interest in the globalization theme.
James F. Osborne
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- December 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780199315833
- eISBN:
- 9780197545799
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199315833.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Classical
This chapter develops insights from recent social theory in space and place that emphasizes the socially contingent nature of the built environment and its perception by those who dwell within it. ...
More
This chapter develops insights from recent social theory in space and place that emphasizes the socially contingent nature of the built environment and its perception by those who dwell within it. Spatial analysis of settlement patterns within the Syro-Anatolian Culture Complex illustrates that rather than being evenly distributed across the landscape, as per the vision of territoriality in the modern nation-state, power at the regional scale was highly variable and swift to change, a phenomenon referred to as malleable territoriality. Each kingdom’s capital city was a tightly coordinated nexus of symbols that celebrated royal authority to pedestrians in such a way that no matter where one turned, as one moved through the city, the legitimacy of the royal figure was constantly being reinforced. Yet as soon as one moved into a settlement lower on the settlement hierarchy, one sees that the political is far less evident, even absent. And even in the capital cities themselves, those indicators of royal power are frequently found smashed into pieces. Spatial analysis therefore indicates that not only was power expressed and experienced differently depending on one’s location in the built environment, it was also something that could be contested.Less
This chapter develops insights from recent social theory in space and place that emphasizes the socially contingent nature of the built environment and its perception by those who dwell within it. Spatial analysis of settlement patterns within the Syro-Anatolian Culture Complex illustrates that rather than being evenly distributed across the landscape, as per the vision of territoriality in the modern nation-state, power at the regional scale was highly variable and swift to change, a phenomenon referred to as malleable territoriality. Each kingdom’s capital city was a tightly coordinated nexus of symbols that celebrated royal authority to pedestrians in such a way that no matter where one turned, as one moved through the city, the legitimacy of the royal figure was constantly being reinforced. Yet as soon as one moved into a settlement lower on the settlement hierarchy, one sees that the political is far less evident, even absent. And even in the capital cities themselves, those indicators of royal power are frequently found smashed into pieces. Spatial analysis therefore indicates that not only was power expressed and experienced differently depending on one’s location in the built environment, it was also something that could be contested.
Igor Krstić
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781474406864
- eISBN:
- 9781474421928
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474406864.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Taking vital clues from the ‘spatial turn’ in the humanities and social sciences, the chapter discusses slums both off and on screen, as urban as well as cinematic (or represented) spaces. It ...
More
Taking vital clues from the ‘spatial turn’ in the humanities and social sciences, the chapter discusses slums both off and on screen, as urban as well as cinematic (or represented) spaces. It provides in that way an interdisciplinary discourse on some of the book’s larger conceptual frames: the ‘planet of slums’, the ‘cinematic city’, ‘representation’ and the notion of ‘world cinema’. The author suggests that it is important to take critical voices into consideration that explain the ‘mass production of slums’ (Davis) as an effect of global capitalism (Castells et. al.). However, in accordance with recent empirical research, particularly with UN-HABITAT’s global report The Challenge of Slums (2003), the author suggests to also acknowledge the diversity of slums. This double-perspective – acknowledging diversity while also considering the historical dynamics of globalisation – is also useful when approaching world cinema. The author conceives world cinema consequently in terms of global-local exchanges (or ‘glocalisation’): employing the riverine / maritime metaphors used by film and globalisation scholars alike, the author proposes to look at representative examples via their local historical contexts as well as through considering the larger global flows (currents or waves) of documentary and realist styles in world cinema.Less
Taking vital clues from the ‘spatial turn’ in the humanities and social sciences, the chapter discusses slums both off and on screen, as urban as well as cinematic (or represented) spaces. It provides in that way an interdisciplinary discourse on some of the book’s larger conceptual frames: the ‘planet of slums’, the ‘cinematic city’, ‘representation’ and the notion of ‘world cinema’. The author suggests that it is important to take critical voices into consideration that explain the ‘mass production of slums’ (Davis) as an effect of global capitalism (Castells et. al.). However, in accordance with recent empirical research, particularly with UN-HABITAT’s global report The Challenge of Slums (2003), the author suggests to also acknowledge the diversity of slums. This double-perspective – acknowledging diversity while also considering the historical dynamics of globalisation – is also useful when approaching world cinema. The author conceives world cinema consequently in terms of global-local exchanges (or ‘glocalisation’): employing the riverine / maritime metaphors used by film and globalisation scholars alike, the author proposes to look at representative examples via their local historical contexts as well as through considering the larger global flows (currents or waves) of documentary and realist styles in world cinema.
Serhat Ünaldi
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824855727
- eISBN:
- 9780824868673
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824855727.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
There is a lot to be learned about societies from studying their buildings. Because they are shaped by humans, and humans are shaped by them, the supposedly empty shells are filled with information ...
More
There is a lot to be learned about societies from studying their buildings. Because they are shaped by humans, and humans are shaped by them, the supposedly empty shells are filled with information about the social, political and economic structure of a given culture. As one of the world’s most impenetrable concrete jungles, Thailand’s capital Bangkok has many buildings that are waiting to be interpreted. There is concrete evidence for the importance of urban space to Thailand’s recent trajectory of protest and upheaval. The unfolding events have had a marked spatial dimension with politics being played out in the streets of Bangkok accompanied by unprecedented debates on the concentration of real estate holdings in the hands of the royal family and associated elite groups. This concentration reflected broader economic and political disparities and the unequal distribution of the fruits of the royalist-led capitalist development that underlies the country’s current transformation.Less
There is a lot to be learned about societies from studying their buildings. Because they are shaped by humans, and humans are shaped by them, the supposedly empty shells are filled with information about the social, political and economic structure of a given culture. As one of the world’s most impenetrable concrete jungles, Thailand’s capital Bangkok has many buildings that are waiting to be interpreted. There is concrete evidence for the importance of urban space to Thailand’s recent trajectory of protest and upheaval. The unfolding events have had a marked spatial dimension with politics being played out in the streets of Bangkok accompanied by unprecedented debates on the concentration of real estate holdings in the hands of the royal family and associated elite groups. This concentration reflected broader economic and political disparities and the unequal distribution of the fruits of the royalist-led capitalist development that underlies the country’s current transformation.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846317545
- eISBN:
- 9781846317217
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846317217.001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book describes how and where space can be appreciated for its ecological implications. It identifies various types of space and considers how the term replaces or complements time as an ...
More
This book describes how and where space can be appreciated for its ecological implications. It identifies various types of space and considers how the term replaces or complements time as an operative critical concept. It also sets the spatial turn in French theory. The chapters in this book present the individual differences among the French theorists while suggesting, an evolution of the concept of space. The French theorists addressed include Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau, Jean Baudrillard, Marc Augé, Paul Virilio, Bruno Latour and Etienne Balibar. These theorists are selected due to their common focus and the implications of their work for the future.Less
This book describes how and where space can be appreciated for its ecological implications. It identifies various types of space and considers how the term replaces or complements time as an operative critical concept. It also sets the spatial turn in French theory. The chapters in this book present the individual differences among the French theorists while suggesting, an evolution of the concept of space. The French theorists addressed include Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau, Jean Baudrillard, Marc Augé, Paul Virilio, Bruno Latour and Etienne Balibar. These theorists are selected due to their common focus and the implications of their work for the future.
Suzanne Aspden
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226595962
- eISBN:
- 9780226596150
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226596150.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Opera
While theatres and opera houses have been one of the most persistent features of the urban landscape, few scholars have considered how opera’s physical situation might relate to and engage with the ...
More
While theatres and opera houses have been one of the most persistent features of the urban landscape, few scholars have considered how opera’s physical situation might relate to and engage with the development of its social, cultural and political functions. This introduction examines some of the ways in which cultural geography as it has developed over recent decades might offer the tools for examining the history of the opera house as a socio-cultural phenomenon, from its European origins in tennis courts, boarding schools and theatres of all kinds, to its codification as a civic and national institution, and its replication and contestation as an expression of imperial ambition and regional pride across the globe. Aspects of the contemporary practice of cultural geography invoked begin from its so-called 'cultural' and 'spatial' 'turns' and include the politics of identity, mobility, territoriality, and post-colonialism, as well as related practices of media archaeology and intermediality.Less
While theatres and opera houses have been one of the most persistent features of the urban landscape, few scholars have considered how opera’s physical situation might relate to and engage with the development of its social, cultural and political functions. This introduction examines some of the ways in which cultural geography as it has developed over recent decades might offer the tools for examining the history of the opera house as a socio-cultural phenomenon, from its European origins in tennis courts, boarding schools and theatres of all kinds, to its codification as a civic and national institution, and its replication and contestation as an expression of imperial ambition and regional pride across the globe. Aspects of the contemporary practice of cultural geography invoked begin from its so-called 'cultural' and 'spatial' 'turns' and include the politics of identity, mobility, territoriality, and post-colonialism, as well as related practices of media archaeology and intermediality.
Jürgen Schaflechner
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190850524
- eISBN:
- 9780190850555
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190850524.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Chapter 5 elaborates on the evolution of the pilgrimage and maps the process in recent decades that has gradually claimed the Hinglaj valley and the shrine as Hindu religious space. It offers a ...
More
Chapter 5 elaborates on the evolution of the pilgrimage and maps the process in recent decades that has gradually claimed the Hinglaj valley and the shrine as Hindu religious space. It offers a detailed analysis of the various resting places, ritual activities, and mytho-historic narratives found on the pilgrimage to Hinglaj in order to show how such paṛāv (Hin. halting/resting places) have transformed in recent years. Using colonial sources, travelogues, and the author’s own ethnographical material from Sindh and Balochistan, the chapter offers a comprehensive study of the sanctum sanctorum and how it has been physically manipulated by Hindu renovators in order to minimize visual impressions suggestive of the (Zikri-) Muslim tradition, a manifestation of the general “Hinduization” in recent decades at the shrine. The chapter also demonstrates how both man-made and natural material alterations in the past, such as renovations or landslides, led to new narratives and ritual practices at the shrine.Less
Chapter 5 elaborates on the evolution of the pilgrimage and maps the process in recent decades that has gradually claimed the Hinglaj valley and the shrine as Hindu religious space. It offers a detailed analysis of the various resting places, ritual activities, and mytho-historic narratives found on the pilgrimage to Hinglaj in order to show how such paṛāv (Hin. halting/resting places) have transformed in recent years. Using colonial sources, travelogues, and the author’s own ethnographical material from Sindh and Balochistan, the chapter offers a comprehensive study of the sanctum sanctorum and how it has been physically manipulated by Hindu renovators in order to minimize visual impressions suggestive of the (Zikri-) Muslim tradition, a manifestation of the general “Hinduization” in recent decades at the shrine. The chapter also demonstrates how both man-made and natural material alterations in the past, such as renovations or landslides, led to new narratives and ritual practices at the shrine.
Joshua Armstrong
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781786942012
- eISBN:
- 9781789629897
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781786942012.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The Introduction sets out the terrain of the book by signifying a key historical turning point in postwar France (and the West more generally): the spatial crisis of globalized capitalism. The ...
More
The Introduction sets out the terrain of the book by signifying a key historical turning point in postwar France (and the West more generally): the spatial crisis of globalized capitalism. The effects of this crisis are felt as once familiar, local environments are increasingly de-localized and made porous to global trends and planetary preoccupations. The chapter proposes an initial synthesis of key notions from important thinkers of postmodernity and globalization—including Paul Virilio, Marc Augé, Peter Sloterdijk, and Bruno Latour —in order to develop the parameters of this crisis, which notably entails the destabilizing of senses of place, identity, and belonging. It makes the claim that such preoccupations constitute a fundamental underlying impetus for the contemporary French novel, illustrating this with a brief reading of Jean Rolin’s Les événements [The Events] (2015). Finally, it presents overviews of each chapter, introducing the corpus of eight novels that will be the subject of the book: novels by Michel Houellebecq, Chloé Delaume, Lydie Salvayre, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Virginie Despentes, Philippe Vasset, Jean Rolin, and Marie Darrieussecq.Less
The Introduction sets out the terrain of the book by signifying a key historical turning point in postwar France (and the West more generally): the spatial crisis of globalized capitalism. The effects of this crisis are felt as once familiar, local environments are increasingly de-localized and made porous to global trends and planetary preoccupations. The chapter proposes an initial synthesis of key notions from important thinkers of postmodernity and globalization—including Paul Virilio, Marc Augé, Peter Sloterdijk, and Bruno Latour —in order to develop the parameters of this crisis, which notably entails the destabilizing of senses of place, identity, and belonging. It makes the claim that such preoccupations constitute a fundamental underlying impetus for the contemporary French novel, illustrating this with a brief reading of Jean Rolin’s Les événements [The Events] (2015). Finally, it presents overviews of each chapter, introducing the corpus of eight novels that will be the subject of the book: novels by Michel Houellebecq, Chloé Delaume, Lydie Salvayre, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Virginie Despentes, Philippe Vasset, Jean Rolin, and Marie Darrieussecq.
Greta Hawes (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198744771
- eISBN:
- 9780191805936
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198744771.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The spatial turn in the humanities has fuelled new ways of thinking about landscape as a lived environment which is radically affected by human hands and human minds, and which radically affects ...
More
The spatial turn in the humanities has fuelled new ways of thinking about landscape as a lived environment which is radically affected by human hands and human minds, and which radically affects human experience. At the same time, scholars of Greek myth have become more sensitive to the contextual dynamics which animate the mythic tradition, having come to see storytelling as an activity which is both precisely situated in, and contingent on, its environment. This volume, which derives in part from the series of Bristol International Myth Conferences, brings together 15 chapters on the spatiality of Greek myth and its interrelationships with the landscapes of the Mediterranean. It displays the myriad ways in which Greek storytelling shaped, and was shaped by, its environment. The chapters display diverse approaches and introduce a wide range of material, taking in Greek poetic, geographical, mythographical, and historiographical texts, and archaeological and visual sources. Chronologically, they cover the full scope of Greek antiquity from the archaic period to the imperial period; geographically, they incorporate discussions of landscapes in mainland Greece, Magna Graecia, and Asia Minor.Less
The spatial turn in the humanities has fuelled new ways of thinking about landscape as a lived environment which is radically affected by human hands and human minds, and which radically affects human experience. At the same time, scholars of Greek myth have become more sensitive to the contextual dynamics which animate the mythic tradition, having come to see storytelling as an activity which is both precisely situated in, and contingent on, its environment. This volume, which derives in part from the series of Bristol International Myth Conferences, brings together 15 chapters on the spatiality of Greek myth and its interrelationships with the landscapes of the Mediterranean. It displays the myriad ways in which Greek storytelling shaped, and was shaped by, its environment. The chapters display diverse approaches and introduce a wide range of material, taking in Greek poetic, geographical, mythographical, and historiographical texts, and archaeological and visual sources. Chronologically, they cover the full scope of Greek antiquity from the archaic period to the imperial period; geographically, they incorporate discussions of landscapes in mainland Greece, Magna Graecia, and Asia Minor.