Scholarly record
ARE HETEROTOPIAS STILL POSSIBLE?
Abstract
Foucault's category of heterotopia, defining the broadly understood non-normative spaces and places, constitutes one of the fundamental manifestations of the so-called spatial turn, initiated in the second half of the last century and characteristic for the great spectrum of specific research areas. Heterotopias were, in the Foucauldian world, exceptions within the structure of socially and culturally determined places and spaces conceptualized as normative ones. Today, almost half a century later, we should consider—and put as a thesis of our dissertation, whether outside enclaves detained during the previous orders, heterotopias have not dominated the entire space? The view the authors expressed stems from two fundamental premises. The first determines the consequences the progress of globalization processes resulting in the fall of spaces defined by this category into the process of self-destruction, which is expressed by their mutual overlapping and mutual dissolution. The second premise is based on the statement that heterotopia as a cognitive category makes, by its structure, a specific semiotic trap. It is realized, together with the invitation of Michel Foucault, to seek heterotopia in their proliferation reinforced by the processes of globalization; finally a large part of the space, along with the discourse about heterotopia, may be regarded as such. In other words, are heterotopias still possible, if they have become normality as specifically normative in discourse about space? There is also a special, among many others, possibility to interpret the situation from the perspective of the observer-specific distant city or a semi-distant one, which is the Central European Wroc\law. It connects in turn to the process of glocalization. The essence of asking questions about heterotopias, specified from this perspective, may be not so much questioning their meaning as a defining category, but rather doubt the possibility of their occurrence. In their work the authors undertake a discussion with the idea of Foucault's in relation to the selected architectural buildings and urban spaces of Wroc\law. In the first step the heterotopia category is analyzed in the context of its specific structure. Then the next issue considered is the ability, as an instrument, to set the filters meant to identify heterotopias in the prospects of the global and the local. Subsequently, the four specific examples are considered to illustrate these possibilities in the context of the peripheral city. Finally, the authors try to determine the potential of this term as a means of differentiation in a non-linear structure of the contemporary city.
Publication Impact Profile
Publication details
References12
Foucault M., Of Other Spaces, Diacritics, vol.16, No.1 (Spring, 1986), USA, pp 22-28, translated from the French by Jay Miskowiec. Originally published in Des Espace Autres, Architecture, Mouvement/ Continuité, October, 1984, France;
Hetherington K., Badlands of Modernity. Heterotopia and social ordering, Routledge, London, United Kingdom/USA, 1997, p 21;
Foucault M., The Order of Things, Andover, Hants: Tavistock, Great Britain, 1970, xv;
Hetherington K., Badlands of Modernity. Heterotopia and social ordering, Routledge, London, Great Britain, 1997, p 42;
Harkness J., Translator’s Introduction in Foucault M., This is Not a Pipe, Berkeley: University of California Press 1983, p 9-10 quoted after: Hetherington K., Badlands of Modernity, Heterotopia and social ordering, Routledge, London, 1997, p. 43;
Johnson P., History of the Concept of Heterotopia. Heterotopian Studies, Michel Foucault’s ideas on heterotopia. Retrieved March 2015, (http://www.heterotopiastudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/2.1-History-of Concept.pdf);
Genocchio B., ‘Discourse, Discontinuity, Difference: the Question of Other Spaces’ in S. Watson and K. Gibson (editors), Postmodern Cities and Spaces, Oxford: Blackwell, Great Britain, 1995, p 39, quoted after Johnson P., History of the Concept of Heterotopia. Heterotopian Studies, Michel Foucault’s ideas on heterotopia. Retrieved March, 2015, (http://www.heterotopiastudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/2.1-History-of Concept.pdf). Peter Johnson points out that this category has been used to describe twenty four different spaces.
Dehaene M., De Cauter L. (editors), Heterotopia and the City: Public Space in a Postcivil Society, Routledge, New York, USA, 2008. The book presents a variety of interpretations of heterotopia.
Ritzer G., Magiczny świat konsumpcji, Muza S.A., Warszawa, 2012. Ritzer argues that processes, places, services, people are emptied of substantive content and local meaning.
Heynen H., Heterotopia unfolded? in Dehaene M., De Cauter L. (editors). Heterotopia and the City: Public Space in a Postcivil Society, Routledge, New York, 2008,pp 311-323. Hilde Heynen notes that Cenzatti, Lang and Doron emphasize the transitory nature of heterotopias, which are the opposite of “dead zones” and “voids” on the map.
Cenzatti M., Heterotopias of difference in Dehaene M., De Cauter L. (editors). Heterotopia and the City: Public Space in a Postcivil Society, Routledge, New York, 2008, p 81.
Bauman Z., O ładzie, który niszczy, i chaosie, który tworzy, czyli o polityce przestrzeni miejskiej, [in:] J.S. Wojciechowski, A. Zeidler-Janiszewska (editors), Formy estetyzacji przestrzeni publicznej, Instytut Kultury, Warszawa, 1998, pp 7-23. Zygmunt Bauman regards “order” as one of the primary indicators of the "modernization" process; however, the "legibility" and "transparency" of social space, considered as attributes of the proper order in modern times were not a prerequisite for "being at one’s place" in all eras and for every human community.
View or Download full articleAccess options
SWS access login
Login as SWS Scientific CommitteeLogin as SWS Scientific PartnerLogin as SWS AuthorAuthors and approved SWS contributors will read and export their own linked papers after identity matching by SWS profile, email and SGEM GlobalID.
For librarian assistance: [email protected]
Purchase Instant Access
- Article can be downloaded after successful payment.
- Article may be used according to SWS library access terms.
- Article cannot be redistributed.
