Spatial Turn Research Articles

Heterotopias of Higher Education: Technology, Power, and the (Re)Construction of Classroom Space

Abstract In drawing upon traditions of critical geographies and the spatial turn in educational theory, this paper argues there are opportunities for expanding spatial modes of educational analysis to digital topographies. Technology facilitates alternative modes of social and spatial ordering in higher education in ways that promote freedom, but that are also are uniquely vulnerable to market capture and the neoliberal logics of the university. In particular, Zoom classrooms constitute an example of Foucault’s heterotopia. By exploring each tenet of a heterotopic space that Foucault outlines in his piece “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias,” this paper argues that bringing Foucault’s theoretical toolkit to bear on these digital environments offers inroads for leveraging critical, normative critiques of the role of technology in higher education.

Urban Fictional History: Postmodern Space-Time Experimentation in The Atlas by Kai-cheung Dung

The critical examination of Hong Kong’s identity and the spatial turn in narrative forms were two prominent characteristics of Hong Kong literature in the late 20th century. Kai-cheung Dung’s novel The Atlas: Archaeology of an Imaginary City, published in 1997, the year of Hong Kong’s handover, addresses this issue, embodying the pursuit and deconstruction of Hong Kong’s local consciousness. This paper focuses on the postmodern features of this work from the dimensions of time and space, including: (1) the dialectical relationship between time and space; (2) the construction of the third space; (3) the latent text of Hong Kong identity. Kai-cheung Dung tries to create an imaginary space that opposes the forgotten and subverted Hong Kong of reality. It is an infinitely expanding literary universe, in which he explores the city's complex nature and pursues a sense of self-orientation born between forgetting and remembering. Through a detailed analysis of The Atlas: Archaeology of an Imaginary City, the opening work of Kai-cheung Dung’s Series of V City, this paper aims to complete the understanding of his continually evolving literary world—revealing a stable internal unity beneath the fragmented and disjointed textual representations.

Refiguring Museums. Investigating Tensions in Exhibition Spaces

Understood as active in the mediation of knowledge and values, museum spaces have become a growing field of investigation in the course of the spatial turn within the museum studies. In this special issue, we focus on the transformation of museum space. To this end, we introduce a specific theoretical framework, the refiguration of spaces, which aims to think spatial transformation in a non-linear, multiscalar and multiple way: The basic assumption is not to presume a sequential historic transformation of spatial figurations of museums – from chambers of wonders, through universal museums and white cubes towards interactive museums – in which a new type always replaces the previous one, but rather to draw our attention onto the dense juxtaposition of these figurations, which continue to be drawn upon, competing to reshape museums, and informing our spatial understanding of the museum of the future. In this editorial, we firstly (re)trace the different spatial-aesthetic figurations of museums and work out the limitations of a transformational framework. We introduce then the refiguration theory and its potential, before presenting the seven contributions of the special issue and synthesising their findings about the conflicting and shifting multiple spatialities of museums. We end our editorial with a speculative reflection about the futures of refiguring museums.

Filmowe wizerunki przestrzeni Donbasu po 2014 roku w wybranych filmach o tematyce wojennej

The paper aims to analyse the spatial representation in contemporary Ukrainian films created after 2014, set in the Donbas region and revolving around the ongoing war. As I reference the specific spatial context, my analysis is grounded in the framework of spatial turn. It also is crucial for me to delve into the history of Donbas and the portrayals of this place in Ukrainian cinematography. Film ecocriticism constitutes a significant context, particularly concerning representations of natural and postindustrial landscapes, often ravaged by human actions, especially in the context of warfare. Referring to the concept of landscape, I rely on Arnold Berleant’s perspective, noting that culturally transformed landscapes hold the same value as natural ones, and every landscape contributes to shaping cultural traditions. In my study, I employ textual film analysis derived from general structural analysis. My considerations encompass productions, such as Klondike (2022) directed by Maryna Er Gorbach, Reflection (2021) and Atlantis (2019), both directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych, as well as Bad Roads (2020) directed by Natalia Vorozhbyt.

Where was 1821?

The aim of this special issue of Historein is to offer a new and fresh perspective on the 1821 Greek Revolution by drawing on the insights that the spatial turn has brought to the study of the Age of Revolutions. Our point of departure was that although the revolution took place in time and space, it is questions of temporality and of situating the revolution in a temporal context that have mainly preoccupied historians. This can hardly be said about space. In fact, as we argue, the spatial categories that historians have used have had a “natural” and self-evident character that required little or no probing. We wanted to interrogate this character, and what we consider as a lacuna in our understanding of the revolution. Thus, the aim of the introduction is threefold. The first part briefly discusses the historiography on space, and the ways in which this has been used in the study of Age of Revolutions. It also explains why the revolution provides a rich setting to think through space and pose questions about spatiality. The second part introduces the articles that comprise the issue. In this part, we also attempt to bring the contributions together by showing that they can be seen as falling into three very broad categories depending on the type of space they feature (space as place, space as territory, and space as an imagined category). The last part considers other possibilities, other vistas of research, where a “spatial” perspective can take us, if we want to better understand the 1821 Revolution.

Miejsce i psychogeografia w Ambasadorach Henry’ego Jamesa

Following the recent spatial turn in literary criticism and the shift of focus on place, the present paper examines the special significance of place in Henry James’s novel The Ambassadors (1903) and explores the relationship between geography and psychology through the main character, Lambert Strether. Analysing the latter’s outer and inner observations draws on a close reading of the novel and the instrumentation of such theories as psychogeography and psychoanalytical criticism. Strether’s trip is an introspective voyage as much as an exploratory expedition, allowing insight into his subconsciousness through the tropes of the places he traverses. His mental visions of spaces in the novel can be surmised in terms of a psychogeography of his movements, a sort of landscape of the mind which is a reflection of the Freudian perception of the human psyche.

Beyond the asylum

AbstractMy research is situated within the literature looking at the processes of deinstitutionalisation of the mental health system through the lived geographies placed in between the walls of the asylum. It addresses mental health geographers' call for a situated knowledge about mental health and, by using the Italian psychiatric experience of the 1960s and 1970s as an example, stresses the importance of looking at care in both spatial and relational terms. Through a geographical understanding of the Italian psychiatric reform, that goes from Franco Basaglia's renowned work to the underrepresented experience of Turin, in northwest Italy, I will examine how space is intertwined with processes of mental health care. Additionally, I assess the role played by the interaction between spatial and relational elements in potentially enabling patients' self‐determination, empowerment and inclusion. The case of Turin—the story of which will be told through the analysis of archival material from a grassroots association called Associazione per la Lotta contro le Malattie Mentali—will serve to expand the common narrative around the Italian lesson and to give resonance to the instrumental role played at the time by both patients and civil society. By looking at the key events that led to the gradual dismantlement of the traditional psychiatric institutions in the metropolitan area of Turin, this paper contributes to the spatial turn in mental health studies, calling upon researchers to look at past achievements as something we still need to learn from and safeguard.

The spatial turn in Catalan cultural studies

In recent years several projects have emerged that address Catalan culture from a spatial point of view. This article aims to review the theoretical framework of what is known as the spatial turn in order to evaluate its main contributions, and some potential future orientations, in Catalan cultural studies. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part provides an overview of the main approaches inside spatial studies. In the second part, a selection of studies on Catalan culture and literature is reviewed from the perspective of their connections with spatial studies. Finally, the third part presents three case studies focused on examples from Catalan poetry, film, and science fiction and interprets them from three different spatial perspectives: the first based on the phenomenological perspective, the second on the methodology of emotional and sensory geography and the concept of cognitive mapping , and the third on the spatial figurations of postmodern empire. This final section aims to broaden the applications of spatial analysis, extending it to the interpretation of an open, diverse selection of representations of contemporary Catalan culture.

“Between the East and the West”: Vladimir Bartol’s Self-Identification between Central European Ljubljana and Mediterranean Trieste (1946–1956)

The article addresses Vladimir Bartol’s fluid self-identification in relation to changeable places of his stay in the first decade after the Second World War. The writer’s constant oscillation between Trieste and Ljubljana was accompanied by the shift in perspectives (minority/majority) and cultural/linguistic dualities which render the Slovenian literature in Italy with existentialist overtone. Bartol’s return to Trieste problematized his self-understanding not only in spatial terms but also with respect to overlapping temporalities (Habsburg multicultural free port of the past versus the present Cold-War image of the city). Consequently, his stay in Trieste gave way to the extensive personal writing which is also the paper’s main source (autobiography and unpublished fragments of diary). Drawing inspiration from the spatial turn and applying the phenomenological prism of experience of certain places, the author attempts to present Bartol’s self-identification reconfigured in alignment with his post-war existential topography stretched between Central European Ljubljana and Mediterranean Trieste.

“Burned by the Torch of the Incendiary”

During the early Gold Rush period, San Francisco’s seaport was hastily constructed on a site that was ill-fit for its purpose. Challenges included firstly the need for incoming vessels to be unloaded by hand onto smaller vessels in order to bring goods ashore and, secondly, a series of six great fires over eighteen months, from December 1849 to mid-1851. The fires, which repeatedly burned San Francisco’s seaport to the ground, staggered the confidence of the business community and gave rise to a “moody conviction” that the city was doomed. These developmental challenges provide the context within which seaport workers living in San Francisco from Sydney were constituted as a problem. These migrants were attacked on account of the important roles they assumed in the operation of the seaport and were accused of starting San Francisco’s fires to create opportunities for theft and plunder. A strategic series of attacks orchestrated by the Committee of Vigilance saw these migrants pushed out of the valuable waterfront real estate they had occupied. These attacks also formed part of a broader post-fire redevelopment project. This attempt to tease out the social history of San Francisco’s built environment contributes to a spatial turn in historical studies that emphasizes the need to regard space as well as time as a critical dimension of social life.

From Globalisation to Planetarisation: The Principle of Interdependence as a Vector for a New Law of the Earth: The Lex Anthropocenae

The principle of interdependence is the core of the idea of a Common Home, a notion introduced into the public debate by the encyclical Laudato si’, and one which is essential to overcome the anthropocentric narrowness of the ethical–legal normativity on which the Rule of Law is based. The theological contribution to the formulation of the principle of interdependence is embedded in a rich legal–philosophical tradition, which has in C. Schmitt a leading exponent. Thanks to the juridical spatial turn outlined by this author, we may recognize that law regulates not only inter-human relations but also inter-system relations between society and the Earth’s ecosystem. To implement a corresponding structural change, however, we need move beyond Schmittian reductionism, which univocally associates the idea of law with the physical dimension of the occupation of space and its rational inscription as property and sovereignty, a form of predatory appropriation and domination which has brought us to the threshold of the current global ecological and political disorder. Only by juridically implementing interdependence as a new regulator of the relationship between Earth and society and of the relations between peoples can we politically govern and solve the ongoing (ecological, health, social, and international) world crisis.

Observations on the future trajectories of postcolonial literary geography

In this commentary, I chart the future trajectories of postcolonial literary geography that would enable it to become an inquiry of literary and geographical knowledge of 21st century globalization replete with neo-imperial agendas and controls. In this context, I focus on three overlapping moments in critical thought – the spatial turn, affective turn, and environmental turn – that can revitalize postcolonial literary geography to analyze and contest contemporary crises in place-making and its reflection in literature.

Reviewing flexible learning spaces for Māori-medium education

In Aotearoa New Zealand, schooling is experiencing a “spatial turn” (Benade, 2019), as more large and open classroom spaces, often called flexible learning spaces (FLSs), are built by the Ministry of Education. At the same time, there has been a momentous “right-shift” (Higgins et al., 2014) towards learning Māori language and culture. The second official acknowledgement and celebration of Matariki this year, including a public holiday, is indicative of the groundswell of interest in the Māori world. These two important educational shifts are being explored in the research project entitled “A Māori Modern Learning Environment.

Laudato Si’ and Spatial Turn: A Theological Approach

This article analyses the encyclical letter Laudato Si’ against the backdrop of the contemporary and theological “spatial turn”. It asks if and how Laudato Si’ incorporates the main elements of this movement that pushes for a reappraisal of space and/or place in theological reasoning. This inquiry is motivated by a public and constructive understanding of theology, with the conviction that it too should bring its specific contribution to the challenges of the “Common Home”. The article starts by characterizing this theological “spatial turn”, and by putting it into the context of similar trends in other human and social sciences. Secondly, it focuses on the analysis of Laudato Si’, namely by considering the role played in it by spatiality. Thirdly, and in a brief systematic way, it presents some concluding remarks that describe how Laudato Si’ may be interpreted in the “spatial turn” framework. Following these remarks, the article concludes that there is a moderate incorporation in Laudato Si’ of the concerns that promote and sustain a theological “spatial turn”.

A Spatial Reading of Obadiah on the Vertical Axis of the Ancient Near Eastern Cosmic Geography

Since the 1970s, biblical studies have experienced a “spatial turn,” giving rise to an emphasis on a variety of approaches to the spatial analysis of biblical texts. Space is something that is constructed, produced, and represented by means of words. It is thus possible for the associations and memories of spaces to change. This study’s purpose is threefold: (1) to provide a short overview of the significance of studying space and memory together; (2) to provide an overview of ancient Near Eastern cosmic geography to contextualise our study’s reference to vertical spatial orientation; and (3) to illustrate how such a vertical spatial reading can aid us in better understanding the text of Obadiah, which deals predominantly with space in terms of land and sacred space.

Gaming & Geography (Education): Gaming and Geography (Educa-tion): A Model of Reflexive Analysis of Space and Action in Video Games

Since philosophical turns such as the spatial turn etc., geography has been dealing more intensively with the subjective per-ception and construction of space. Video games, and especially the vast digital spaces therein, are developed by teams of programmers, developers, and designers who make creative spatial construction decisions based on different worldviews, experiences, values, and skills. These processes result in a specific intended spatial experience for players to traverse. How-ever, these players also approach the games with certain worldviews, prior experiences, values, etc., and the question arises to what extent spatial experiences can be intentionally passed through and what consequences the perception has for the (young) players we address with geography instruction. Thus, there is undoubtedly communication be-tween both sides about digital space in video games. Furthermore, the question arises what role the creation of digital spaces in the games plays for the experience, understanding and reception of real analog spaces as well as for the further competences of stu-dents like, exemplary, in the field of sustainability or decision reflections. Thus, it cannot be dismissed that an engagement with video games should play a stronger role in the context of addressing the reflection of spatial perceptions and construc-tions in geography education. Yet, they are still largely underrepresented in studies of geography education and many stud-ies lack sufficient empirical proof and orientation for teacher professionalization. In the paper, results from the research pro-ject "Gaming & Geography" will be presented, which attempts to create further legitimizing foundations for the integration of video games as a medium in the didactic discourse of geography via a mixed method a-proach and transfer services for teachers. Based on the research in the project, a model for reflexive analysis of digital space and action in video games will also be presented, which should facilitate a stronger and more serious didactic integration of video games in geographic education. The results of the study provide a significant contribution to take the medium of video games as a geographical medium more seriously and the study provides further establishment measures to use the presented model didactically, be-cause they show that students actively engage in geographic contexts in games, they reflect on the contexts presented and the experts encourage the necessity of the presented model.

The geography of the life-world – Spatialising the social theory of Alfred Schütz

The aim of this article is to highlight a frequently neglected aspect of Alfred Schütz’ social theory by suggesting a new spatial and bodily reading of his phenomenology. This change in emphasis should allow disciplines exploring the interrelations of the social and the spatial, especially human geography, to address a relative blind spot in the research by allowing a bodily perspective to be better incorporated methodologically in explanations of socio-spatial phenomena. To this end, the phenomenological social sciences - along with their hermeneutic-reconstructive methods – should be emphasised in their potential for contributing to contemporary discussions on the spatial turn. The voids of contemporary approaches are addressed as we also continue existing phenomenological work in human geography to deepen an understanding of the concept of the life-world (Lebenswelt) - especially of its spatial dimensions. This also enables us to make a proposal for the further development of our methodology, formulating a specific ‘Leib-based’ approach to the social and physical world.

Betwixt and between: Triple liminality and liminal agency in the Swedish gig economy

In this paper, we identify when and why migrant gig workers experience liminality in the socio-spatial context of food delivery in the Swedish gig economy. We analyse qualitative interviews and informal conversations with food delivery workers in Stockholm through the lens of the territory-place-scale-network (TPSN) framework as developed by Bob Jessop, Neil Brenner and Martin Jones. We find that workers are challenged to deal with triple liminality regarding their work identities, workplaces and work organisation through platforms. Focusing on liminality as a central aspect of gig work, we further find that despite having little worker agency, some of the study participants engage in what we call liminal agency, that is actively pursuing possibilities for progress in uncertain states of in-betweenness. By unpacking the liminal dynamics that especially migrant food delivery riders are confronted with in their daily working lives, this study contributes to the debate on the migrant gig economy, the spatial turn in organisation studies and efforts from human geography to understand agency in precarious gig work.

Hebrew Gomel: Space, Genre, Modernity

Abstract: This article explores the understudied role of Gomel as an important center of literary production during the emergence of Hebrew modernism at the turn of the twentieth century. Prominent writers such as Gershon Shofman, Yosef Haim Brenner, and Uri Nissan Gnessin fostered personal and literary dialogues in and with the city. By combining various methodological approaches—New Historicism, literary cartography, and regional history—we analyze the unique spatial dynamics that sparked Gomel's transformation into a laboratory of Hebrew modernism. While grounding our readings of Shofman, Brenner, and Gnessin in the spatial turn in literary theory, we argue that these three canonical Hebrew writers created literary texts that captured the urban experience of this eastern European Jewish metropolis. We trace the evolution of Hebrew texts written in Gomel from a synchronic perspective and construct a detailed description of the town's literary-cum-cultural history. At the same time, we focus on Gomel's broader historical and geographical status within the Pale of Settlement and demonstrate how each of the three writers used a different literary genre—the urban miniature, the novel, and the novella—to create a unique representation of Gomel's urban space. Furthermore, by focusing on the chronotope of Gomel, our readings of Shofman, Brenner, and Gnessin underscore that these texts are grounded in Gomel's urban fabric through particular forms of local belonging, rather than an abstract notion of "uprooted" existence.

Edward W. Soja's Radical Spatial Perspective

Edward W. Soja saw early in his career that “it is now space more than time, geography more than history, that hides consequences from us.” His life-long scholarly project centered around this contention, inspiring his advocacy of a socio-spatial dialectic, his contribution to the so-called “spatial turn,” and his fervent belief that all matters of justice are matters of geography, necessitating the “reassertion of space in critical social theory.” In his decidedly interdisciplinary and agenda-setting work, he became associated with several schools of thought, from Marxism and cultural studies, to postmodernism and critical theory. But his defining feature remained his radical approach to the study of cities and regions vis-à-vis an investigation of Los Angeles informed by the work of Henri Lefebvre. In doing his decades of investigation of urbanization, restructuring, and political struggle writ large, he developed a lexicon that helped identify, problematize, and speak to an array of otherwise aspatial ontological, epistemological, and phenomenological scholarly positions, always placing space at the center. This paper discusses Soja's personal and intellectual advocacy of a radical spatial perspective, arguing that his neat categorization as a “postmodern geographer” is one that is both real and imagined—as limiting as it is liberating.