Heterotopia (space)

Heterotopia is a concept in human geography elaborated by philosopher Michel Foucault to describe places and spaces that function in non-hegemonic conditions. These are spaces of otherness, which are neither here nor there, that are simultaneously physical and mental, such as the space of a phone call or the moment when you see yourself in the mirror.[1]

Etymology

Heterotopia follows the template established by the notions of utopia and dystopia. The prefix hetero- is from Ancient Greek ἕτερος (héteros, "other, another, different") and is combined with the Greek morphemes οὐ ("not") and τόπος ("place") and means "no-place". A utopia is an idea or an image that is not real but represents a perfected version of society, such as Thomas More's book or Le Corbusier's drawings. As Walter Russell Mead has written, "Utopia is a place where everything is good; dystopia is a place where everything is bad; heterotopia is where things are different — that is, a collection whose members have few or no intelligible connections with one another."[2]

Heterotopia in Foucault

Foucault uses the term "heterotopia" (French: hétérotopie) to describe spaces that have more layers of meaning or relationships to other places than immediately meet the eye. In general, a heterotopia is a physical representation or approximation of a utopia, or a parallel space (such as a prison) that contains undesirable bodies to make a real utopian space possible.

Foucault uses the idea of a mirror as a metaphor for the duality and contradictions, the reality and the unreality of utopian projects. A mirror is metaphor for utopia because the image that you see in it does not exist, but it is also a heterotopia because the mirror is a real object that shapes the way you relate to your own image.

Foucault articulates several possible types of heterotopia or spaces that exhibit dual meanings:

Foucault's elaborations on heterotopias were published in an article entitled Des espaces autres (Of Other Spaces). The philosopher calls for a society with many heterotopias, not only as a space with several places of/for the affirmation of difference, but also as a means of escape from authoritarianism and repression, stating metaphorically that if we take the ship as the utmost heterotopia, a society without ships is inherently a repressive one, in a clear reference to Stalinism.[3]

Heterotopia in the work of other authors

Human geographers often connected to the postmodernist school have been using the term (and the author's propositions) to help understand the contemporary emergence of (cultural, social, political, economic) difference and identity as a central issue in larger multicultural cities. The idea of place (more often related to ethnicity and gender and less often to the social class issue) as a heterotopic entity has been gaining attention in the current context of postmodern, post-structuralist theoretical discussion (and political practice) in Geography and other spatial social sciences. The concept of a heterotopia has also been discussed in relation to the space in which learning takes place.[4] There is an extensive debate with theorists, such as David Harvey, that remain focused on the matter of class domination as the central determinant of social heteronomy.

The geographer Edward Soja has worked with this concept in dialogue with the works of Henri Lefebvre concerning urban space in the book Thirdspace.[5]

Mary Franklin-Brown uses the concept of heterotopia in an epistemological context to examine thirteenth century encyclopedias as conceptual spaces where many possible ways of knowing are brought together without attempting to reconcile them.[6]

Heterotopia in literature

The concept of heterotopia has had a significant impact on literature, especially science fiction, fantasy and other speculative genres. Many readers consider the worlds of China Miéville and other weird fiction writers to be heterotopias insofar as they are worlds of radical difference transparent or of indifference to their inhabitants.[7] Samuel Delany's 1976 novel Trouble on Triton is subtitled An Ambiguous Heterotopia and was written partly in dialogue with Ursula K. Le Guin's science fiction novel The Dispossessed, which is subtitled An Ambiguous Utopia.[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ Foucault, Michel (1971). The Order of Things. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-679-75335-3.
  2. ↑ Mead, Walter Russell (Winter 1995–1996). "Trains, Planes, and Automobiles: The End of the Postmodern Moment". World Policy Journal 12 (4): 13–31. JSTOR 40209444.
  3. ↑ Foucault, Michel (October 1984). "Des Espace Autres". Architecture, Mouvement, Continuité 5: 46–49.; it has been translated into English twice, first as Foucault, Michel (Spring 1986). trans. Jay Miskowiec. "Of Other Spaces". Diacritics 16 (1): 22–27. available online at http://foucault.info/documents/heterotopia/foucault.heterotopia.en.html (accessed 10 August 2014); and second as Foucault, Michel (1998). "Different Spaces". In Faubion, James D. Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology: Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984, Volume 2. trans. Robert Hurley. New York: The New Press. pp. 175–185. ISBN 978-1565843295.; ambiguities of the two translations are discussed in Johnson, Peter (November 2006). "Unravelling Foucault's 'Different Spaces'". History of the Human Sciences (SAGE) 19 (4): 75–90. doi:10.1177/0952695106069669..
  4. ↑ Blair, Erik (2009). "A Further Education College as a Heterotopia". Research in Post-Compulsory Education 14 (1): 93–101. doi:10.1080/13596740902717465.
  5. ↑ Soja, Edward (1996). Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 1-55786-675-9.
  6. ↑ Franklin-Brown, Mary (2012). Reading the World: Encyclopedic Writing in the Scholastic Age. Chicago, Ill.: University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-26068-6.
  7. ↑ Gordon, Joan (November 2003). "Hybridity, Heterotopia, and Mateship in China Miéville's Perdido Street Station". Science Fiction Studies (SF-TH Inc., DePauw University) 30 (3): 456–476. JSTOR 4241204.
  8. ↑ Delany, Samuel R. (November 1990). "On Triton and Other Matters: An Interview with Samuel R. Delany". Science Fiction Studies (SF-TH Inc., DePauw University) 17 (3): 295–324. JSTOR 4240009.
  9. ↑ Chan, Edward K. (Summer 2001). "(Vulgar) Identity Politics in Outer Space: Delany's Triton and the Heterotopian Narrative". Journal of Narrative Theory 31 (2): 180–213. JSTOR 30225762.

Further reading

External links

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