non-representational theory
{{Too abstract|date=April 2023}}
Non-representational theory is the study of a specific theory focused on human geography. It is the work of Nigel Thrift (Warwick University).Thrift, N. 2000. "Non-representational theory" in RJ Johnston, D Gregory, G Pratt and M Watts (eds) The Dictionary of Human Geography (Blackwell, Oxford)Thrift, N. 2007. Non-representational theory: Space, Politics, Affect (Routledge, London) The theory is based on using social theory, conducting geographical research, and the 'embodied experience.'McCormack, D.P., 2017. The circumstances of post‐phenomenological life worlds. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42(1), pp.2-13.
Definition
Instead of studying and representing social relationships, non-representational theory focuses upon practices – how human and nonhuman formations are enacted or performed – not simply on what is produced.Thrift, Nigel; 1997; 'The still point: expressive embodiment and dance', in Pile, S and Keith, M (eds.), Geographies of Resistance; (Routledge) pp 124–151 "First, it valorizes those processes that operate before … conscious, reflective thought … [and] second, it insists on the necessity of not prioritizing representations as the primary epistemological vehicles through which knowledge is extracted from the world".{{cite journal|last1=McCormack|first1=Derek|date=2005|title=Diagramming Practice and Performance|url=http://www.envplan.com/abstract.cgi?id=d51j|journal=Environment and Planning D: Society and Space|volume=23|issue=1 |pages=119–147|doi=10.1068/d51j|bibcode=2005EnPlD..23..119M |s2cid=14878136|accessdate=1 January 2015|url-access=subscription}} Recent studies have examined a wide range of activities including dance,Derek, McCormack; 2003; 'Geographies for Moving Bodies: Thinking, Dancing, Spaces'; (Sage) musical performance,Morton, Frances; 2005; 'Performing ethnography: Irish traditional music sessions and new methodological spaces' (Taylor and Frances) walking,Wylie, John; 2005' A single day's walking: narrating self and landscape on the South West Coast Path' (Transactions of the British Geographers) gardening,Crouch, David; 2003; 'Performances and constitutions of natures: a consideration of the performance of lay geographies' rave,Saldanha; 2005; 'Trance and visibility at dawn: racial dynamics in Goa's rave scene' 2005 listening to musicAnderson; 2004; 'A Principle of Hope: Recorded Music, Listening Practices and the Immanence of Utopia' and children's play.Harker; 'Playing and affective time-spaces'
Post-structuralist origins
This is a post-structuralist theory inspired in part by the ideas of the physicist-philosopher Niels Bohr,{{cite book |last1=Bohr |first1=Niels |title=The Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr, Vol II, Essays 1932 – 1957, On Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge |date=1963 |publisher=Ox Bow Press |location=Woodbridge, Conn. |isbn=0918024528 |pages=101}}{{cite book |last1=Barad |first1=Karen |title=Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning |date=2007 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, NC |isbn=9780822339175 }}{{cite journal |last1=Barad |first1=Karen |title=Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/345321# |journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society |year=2003 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=801–831 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |doi=10.1086/345321 |s2cid=16424758 |accessdate=25 March 2020|url-access=subscription }} and thinkers such as Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Bruno Latour, Michel Serres and Karen Barad, and by phenomenonologists such as Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.Smith, Richard G., 2003; "Baudrillard's nonrepresentational theory: burn the signs and journey without maps" in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 21; pp 67–84 More recently it considers views from political science (including ideas about radical democracy) and anthropological discussions of the material dimensions of human life.{{Citation needed|date=December 2017}} It parallels the conception of "hybrid geographies" developed by Sarah Whatmore.Whatmore, S. 2002. Hybrid Geographies (Sage)
Criticism
Critics have suggested that Thrift's use of the term "non-representational theory" is problematic, and that other non-representational theories could be developed. Richard G. Smith said that Baudrillard's work could be considered a "non-representational theory", for example, which has fostered some debate.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}} In 2005, Hayden Lorimer (Glasgow University) said that the term "more-than-representational" was preferable.Lorimer, H., 2005; "Cultural geography: the busyness of being 'more-than-representational'", Progress in Human Geography 29, 1 (2005) pp. 83–94
References
Further reading
- Macpherson, H. (2010), Non‐Representational Approaches to Body–Landscape Relations. Geography Compass, 4: 1-13. doi:10.1111/j.1749-8198.2009.00276.x
{{Human geography}}