Abstract
AbstractI lay out a case for recognizing “vulgar territory,” a fusing of superficial categories of spatial sovereignty with identarian rhetorics of belonging. I argue that vulgar territory is composed of two primary elements: first, a simplistic conception of sovereignty as being entirely contiguous with state borders. Second, affective elements of spatial belonging, particularly hope and fear. These two basic elements combine in various ways depending on the particular meanings, images, and emotions that are assembled in particular geohistorical contexts. I show this with a rough typology of “vulgates” of hyper‐bordered and feminized territory by examining recent examples from around the world.
Highlights
Like many populist leaders worldwide, U.S President Donald Trump makes constant use of Twitter as a mechanism for unfiltered communication and provocation
Especially in feminist political geography and geopolitics, has developed critical analyses of social, emotional, and embodied instances of territory (e.g., Mayer, 2004; Smith, Swanson, & Gökarıksel, 2016), but this article focuses instead on decidedly uncritical understandings of territory in which sovereignty is coterminous with bordered space
I begin by reviewing scholarship in the two areas I argue are fundamental to the vulgar territorial outlook: a fixation on the state and territorial sovereignty as markers of political legitimacy, and affective elements of spatial belonging
Summary
Like many populist leaders worldwide, U.S President Donald Trump makes constant use of Twitter as a mechanism for unfiltered communication and provocation. Especially in feminist political geography and geopolitics, has developed critical analyses of social, emotional, and embodied instances of territory (e.g., Mayer, 2004; Smith, Swanson, & Gökarıksel, 2016), but this article focuses instead on decidedly uncritical understandings of territory in which sovereignty is coterminous with bordered space.
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