How does justice smell? Reflections on space and place, justice and the body

Jacob Meiring

doi:10.4102/hts.v72i1.3492

Abstract

Flowing from a joint consultation on Spatial Justice and Reconciliation on 21–22 September 2015, hosted by the Centre for Contextual Ministry and the Ubuntu Research Project of the University of Pretoria, this article reflects on the notions of space and justice from the perspective of a contemporary theological anthropology as ‘embodied sensing’, where the making of meaning is sensed in the body. The argument is put forward that spatial justice is an embodied endeavour and that it cannot be achieved disconnected from the bodies of the persons in the concrete context where justice is strived for and where bodies can flourish. The relation between spatial justice, sense of place, human flourishing and the embodied sensing of meaning is explored.

Highlights

Is this how justice smells? The stench from the decaying corpses of animals in a pit nearby whiffed into the bus where we, a group of theologians, church workers and community activists from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya,1 were parked on a manmade hillock overlooking the dump site on the outskirts of Mamelodi township, and still further away from the affluent east of Pretoria, South Africa
I argue that the embodied sensing of meaning correlates to the idea of human flourishing and I explore the link between spatial justice and the notion of ‘sense of place’
I would agree that the optimum physical, mental and social well-being of human and nonhuman bodies in a concrete, local place is intended in the idea of spatial justice

Summary

Introduction

Is this how justice smells? The stench from the decaying corpses of animals in a pit nearby whiffed into the bus where we, a group of theologians, church workers and community activists from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya,1 were parked on a manmade hillock overlooking the dump site on the outskirts of Mamelodi township, and still further away from the affluent east of Pretoria, South Africa. I argue that the embodied sensing of meaning correlates to the idea of human flourishing and I explore the link between spatial justice and the notion of ‘sense of place’.

Results

Conclusion