Place Flashcards
what is a concept?
an abstract representation of the world - they allow the creation of meaning and a partially shared navigation of spaces in which we exist
What did John Agnew (1987) outline as the three fundamental aspects of place as a meaningful location?
- Place as Location
- Place as Locale
- Sense of place
explain place as location
all places are located both when referring to place as a verb or noun (often referring to a physical location)
explain place as Locale
the shape of the place which people conduct lives as individuals, clear that spaces have material form
explain sense of place
subjective and emotional attachment people have to place
How do places become meaningful?
Through representations-
eg texts and images
Practices -
forms of routine action
eg- writing walking talking etc
these shared practices hold the meaning of place together (some aspects of shared meaning across populations)
What is the humanistic Geography approach to place?
- criticise quantitative spatial science
- emphasis on experience, feeling and different senses of being in the world
- focus on ‘place’ rather than ‘places’
- Emphasis on human experience to centre claim - we experience the world in ways that cannot be captured in quantitative measures
when did humanistic geography emerge?
1970s
Name an influential humanistic geographer and date of their research ?
Yi- Fu Tuan
(1977)
Yi- Fu Tuan (1977)
Contrasted space and place concepts
space allows movement
place is pause (not as dynamic or mobile as space)
Place is security and space is freedom
Criticisms of Yi- Fu Tuan (1977)
left out the politics of place
not much about the experience of place not being universal
not much said about power
Key theory underlying Marxist geography and place
Places are shaped and sustained by social relations
Name an influential Marxist Geographer and date of research
David Harvey (1993)
David Harvey (1993)
place is a social construct
questioned by what social processes is place made
the driving force that shapes place is capitalism
the experience of the ‘home’ is dramatically influenced by processes of capitalism - the concept of home is central to the reproduction of capital
Formation of ideologies (place presents one aspect of reality)
what is an ideology?
a set of ideas that don’t tell the truth , create one aspect of reality and hide as much as they reveal
how do feminist geographers approach place?
places are socially constructed
experiences, organisation and construction of place are gendered
eg- Home
site of security or a site of domestic work, monotony, abuse
The home has been feminised associated with the work of women
place is where performance of identity occurs
Name an influential feminist geography who theorised about place
Doreen Massey
Doreen Massey (1994)
increasingly homogenised world creates a fragmented and disrupted formation of place
concept of place
place is constructed out of a chain of social relations that weave around a locus - each experience is unique
Instead of thinking of places as particular boundaries should be considered as ‘articulated moments in networks of social interaction and understanding’
lots of relations place can be seen as extroverted rather than introverted - links with the global and the local
place is not static = places are process continually changing
Massey place quote (1994)
‘place can be considered as a series of articulated moments in networks of social interaction and understanding’
who theorised non-places?
Marc Auge (1995)
Auge (1995)
explored concepts of ‘non-places’
homogenised places - relative similarity of places of mobility, lost the sense of authenticity
evacuated of meaning or attachment
example - M25 service stations, McDonalds, airports etc
Counter arguments of Non-places
people who work there, form networks and communities within them
argue that these people do experience a sense of place in these locations and the place definitely has a meaning (source of income)
Castree (2009) on place
place intensely local and also non-local ‘outside’ forces intrude into the objective and subjective aspects of local life - every locale is both unique and shares common features with the other global locales that are connected to it
relationships between place and identity
whilst identities are formed in places they are not place bound
global forces also play a role
to understand sense of place must trace how local identities are built from they way people internalise non local influences
Masseys theory on agency in place -
place based agency varies from place to place
‘global power geometry’ - refers to the extent to which actors in certain places get to call the shots
example of power geometry
Costa Rica making money by selling off genetic resources
large amounts of plant, animals and insects that may be useful in the development of pharmaceuticals
In 1991- set up an organisation INBio to collect species samples and sell them
made over US$55million
agency unequally distributed within Costa Rica - indigenous peoples 30,000 live in small poor native reserves - legitimate claims to Costa Rican genetic inheritance = received none of the money made
Costa Rican people locked into structure
how much did INBio make?
US$55million
What year was INBio set up?
1991
