We are now moving from "practice theories"
to some of the "phenomenological philosophies" that contributed to their
development, again with emphasis on "space". This week's authors explore
the different qualities attributed to places-defining places-through the
experiences and perceptions of the bodies that inhabit and move to and
through them. A good place to begin is Archaeologist Christopher Tilley's
path-breaking A Phenomenology of Landscape: Places, Paths and Monuments
(1994), which introduced to archaeology many of the topics we've already
seen in the literature. In the discussion he brings together the ideas
of the major phenomenologists as well as the practice/agency theorists
(Giddens, Bourdieu, de Certeau, Foucault)-so it serves as a bridge from
practice to phenomenology.
How did Tilley characterize
the new geography and new archaeology, in terms of their approach to space
and their subsequent development of methods and models to analyze space?
(pp.
8-10)
How does Tilley then characterize a generic
phenomenological perspective and its applications in more recent analyses
in geography? What does this imply about what archaeologists could/should
be doing?
In sorting through the literature on
space and place, what other classificatory oppositions regarding spatial
qualities or places does Tilley introduce in this chapter? How useful are
these, how well explained, or, are they problematic?
Regarding politics and power, what critique
does Tilley raise of all the phenomenological literature, and how valid
do you think it is?
In Michel de Certeau's (1984) The
Practice of Everyday Life, we will examine two major ideas that are
often cited: 1) his distinction between tactics and strategies (which can
be spatialized), and 2) his thoughts on "spatial stories"
Like Giddens' work, de Certeau's
form of analysis of practice in everyday life is meant to apply to contemporary
Western capitalist culture, with intentions towards "the individual subject
in political life." What does he mean by "marginal" or "common" people
versus "elites, and where does "consumption" (consumers) fit into his ideas?
How does de Certeau define the "tactics"
and "strategies" of practice, and how do they fit into his characterization
of society as divided between the dominators and dominated? What
are their spatial characteristics? (Try to get beyond the stultifying language.)
How is this a potentially useful way to understand the production and manipulation
of space in asymmetrical societies?
How does de Certeau transfer a literary
genre-narrative-into a spatial setting as a means to explore the internal
practice-based structure of space and the operations that give rise to
representations of space and place? How do time, movement, and thus the
body fit in? Although this chapter
deals with representations, spatial stories are much more and are integral
to practice.
What distinctions did de Certeau make
between "spaces" and "places"? What is the link to strategies and tactics?
How useful did you find this terminology and distinction?
What is de Certeau's important distinction
between "tours"(or itineraries) and "maps" in the representations of space/place?In
the historical development of"maps," how does the notion of "proper place"
become relevant?
Looking at some of the "operations" that
"mark out boundaries" what does de Certeau contribute concerning the dichotomy
of "frontiers" and "bridges"?
With some understanding of these ideas from
de Certeau, now consider how effectively archaeologist Cynthia Robin
made use of them in her study (of a Late Classic Maya hamlet) that "highlighted"
his work.
Ultimately, which ideas of his
did she use (and how well), and which ones could she have productively
used that, in this study, she did not?
Moving now more deeply into Phenomenology,
we will contrast two major components: phenomenologies of 'perception"
(this week) and of "being" (next week). Philosopher Edward Casey's
(1996) "How to Get from Space to Place" is a further guide to phenomenology
in anthropology more specifically.
According to Casey, how has
the "natural attitude" towards space that is critiqued by Husserl and other
phenomenologists an especial impediment for anthropologists?
Explain the "Archytian Axiom" and how
it makes sense in contrast with the "natural attitude"by highlighting the
"local" over the "general" and the role of perception and experience in
knowledge.
What does Casey see as the role of cultural
and social structures in perception and emplacement? (note: this is where
anthropology can contribute to phenomenology)
How do we as Western scientists, as anthropologists,
recoup the pre-Cartesian, pre-Gallilean notions of space and place?
How does Casey explain how the anthropological
study of culture can and should now incorporate the manifest centrality
of place and body?
What does Casey mean by the phrases "places
gather" and "places hold"?
What is the relationship of place to
event? How does this idea help to provide the basis for a theory
of space and time as place?
Finally, we can explore the Phenomenology
of Perception with a small excerpt from the book of this name by Maurice
Merleau-Ponty. Note his emphasis on psychology, especially abnormal
psychology-as much of phenomenology has been directed to and developed
by psychologists. Casey (48, n.10) says of Merleau-Ponty's
book, he "rarely speaks of place as such, but on my reading it is entailed
in everything he says about the lived body and its 'setting' (milieu),
'landscape' (paysage), or 'world' (monde)." This is in Chapter
3: "The Spatiality of One's Own Body and Motility"-with emphasis on the
embodiment of spatial experience and the movement of the body.
How does Merleau-Ponty contrast
the usual notion of "body image" with his own concept? How does
it relate to the rejection of the notion of abstract, homogenous space
we've become familiar with?
What does Merleau-Ponty say is the relationship
between the body and space?
What is the relationship of motility
(movement) to the body and to space, and to perception? How do these
ideas compare to Bourdieu's subsequent explanation of habitus?
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