In Of Other Spaces Foucault coined the term “heterotopias” to signify “all the other real sites that can be found within the culture" which "are simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted.” For Foucault, heterotopic spaces were first of all spaces of crisis, or transformative spaces, however these have given way to heterotopias of deviation and spaces of discipline, such as psychiatric hospitals or prisons. Foucault's essay provokes us to think through how spaces of crisis and critique function to open up disruptive, subversive or minoritarian fields within philosophical, political, cultural or aesthetic discourses. This book takes this interdisciplinary and international approach to the spatial, challenging existing borders, boundaries, and horizons; from Claire Colebrook's chapter unpacking the heterotopic spaces of America and Mexico that lie beyond reductive ideological spaces of light and darkness, to a Foucauldian reading of the Zapatista resistance. With essays on politics, philosophy, literature, post-colonial studies, and aesthetics from established and emerging academics, this book answers Foucault's call to give us a better understanding of our present cultural epoch.
In Of Other Spaces Foucault coined the term “heterotopias” to signify “all the other real sites that can be found within the culture" which "are simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted.” For Foucault, heterotopic spaces were first of all spaces of crisis, or transformative spaces, however these have given way to heterotopias of deviation and spaces of discipline, such as psychiatric hospitals or prisons. Foucault's essay provokes us to think through how spaces of crisis and critique function to open up disruptive, subversive or minoritarian fields within philosophical, political, cultural or aesthetic discourses. This book takes this interdisciplinary and international approach to the spatial, challenging existing borders, boundaries, and horizons; from Claire Colebrook's chapter unpacking the heterotopic spaces of America and Mexico that lie beyond reductive ideological spaces of light and darkness, to a Foucauldian reading of the Zapatista resistance. With essays on politics, philosophy, literature, post-colonial studies, and aesthetics from established and emerging academics, this book answers Foucault's call to give us a better understanding of our present cultural epoch.
Introduction Chapter 1: ‘Literature-Outside-Space: Foucault, Sade and Tales of Terror’ Fred Botting, Kingston University London, UK Chapter 2: ‘The Living Space of the Image’ Julien Reid, University of Lapland, Finland Chapter 3: ‘Inside Comfort: The Interior and the Immune System’ Dr Sheena Culley, Independent Scholar Chapter 4: ‘Spacing the interior: The Carceral body as heterotopia in contemporary Palestinian Cinema’ Robert G. White, Kingston University London, UK Chapter 5: ‘The Politics of the Hidden Space: Georges Bataille and non-knowledge in the era of transparency’ David Hancock, Buckinghamshire New University, UK Chapter 6: ‘Mirrors and Masks: The Political Space of Zapatismo’ Anthony Faramelli, Kingston University London, UK Chapter 7: ‘In the Beginning All the World Was America’ Claire Colebrook, Pennsylvania State University, USA Index
This collection responds to and interrogates Foucault’s philosophical thinking on spaces of crisis and critique.
Anthony Faramelli is a Research Fellow at Kingston University, UK. David Hancock is Senior Research Assistant at Buckinghamshire New University, UK. Robert G. White is a PhD student at the London Graduate School, Kingston University, UK.
A fascinating compilation of provocative essays. Foucault's concept
of 'heterotopia' is the departure point for many of the authors in
this collection - allowing them to 'think differently' about a
diverse range of issues. They are to be complimented on a
sophisticated reading of heterotopia which avoids the
all-too-frequent interpretation of this in terms of absolute,
physical space. This allows the authors to develop and extend
Foucault's thinking and that of a range of other 'post-conventional
thinkers', to develop novel critiques of the present and of
contemporary politics. Readers interested in resistance politics,
in theorising vulnerability and in the development of a
minoritarian-ethics will find this book thought-provoking.
*Angharad Beckett, Associate Professor of Political Sociology,
University of Leeds, UK*
When the freedom even to imagine new forms of life and political
organisation is denied by the assertion that there is no
alternative, the notion of heterotopias takes on particular
importance. The papers in this valuable collection draw on the work
of Michel Foucault and Edward Soja to elaborate the critical and
disruptive force of spatial thinking. Transdisciplinary and
political, the writing in this outstanding volume is a powerful
demonstration of this force in action.
*David Webb, Professor of Philosophy, Staffordshire University,
UK*
Spaces of Crisis and Critique takes Foucault’s all too brief
account of heterotopias as an invitation to investigate the hidden
and the overt spaces where a politics of resistance is still
possible. In foregrounding the aesthetic, as an opening on to the
political and philosophical, the collection poses critical
questions to those who think of politics as a science. It puts in
to question inert disciplines which act as boundary keepers to
critical knowledge, and it foregrounds the centrality and
complexity of spatiality to any thinking of the political. From
Faramelli’s account of Zapatista resistance to Colebrook’s
illuminating account of the spatial metaphors of light and dark in
the American political imaginary this superb book reanimates
Foucault studies. More importantly it fosters critical thinking in
the spaces where neoliberalism has not yet forced things to be held
to account. This collection should find its way on to the shelves
of those committed to the aesthetic remaking of our political
imaginaries.
*Mark Devenney, Co-Director, Centre for Applied Philosophy,
Politics and Ethics, University of Brighton, UK.*
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