Bodies, Sensations, Space and Time: The Contribution from Henri Lefebvre

Abstract: In geography as well as other human/social sciences, issues on the body and embodiment have increasingly come to the fore over recent decades. In the same period, and in particular following the English translation of The Production of Space , Henri Lefebvre has been a central figure in the geographical discourse. However, even though a range of writers on Lefebvre do acknowledge his emphasis on embodiment, it seems that he has only partially found his way into the core of the body literature. The aim of this paper is to explore Lefebvre's contribution to a geographical theory of the body, in particular when it comes to the conception of a generative and creative social body as an intrinsic part of social practice. I start by exploring the way in which Lefebvre's conception of the body is developed in creative dialoque with other philosophers, such as Marx, Heideggger and Nietzsche, and continue by way of an explication of his own contribution. This is done under the headings of 'spatial bodies' and 'temporal bodies', in this way also emphasizing creative, moving bodies. Instead of a conclusion the paper argues that Lefebvre's contribution could gainfully interact with later (not least feminist) approaches, and through such interactions add to current discussions on 'body politics' and 'performativity'.     

Race, Protest, and Public Space: Contextualizing Lefebvre in the U.S. City

Since the early 1990s, Henri Lefebvre's theory of the social production of space has become widely used by Anglophone academics to understand contemporary urban processes in the Western world. This article argues that care must be taken in transporting Lefbevre's theoretical framework from one context to another. When applied in places like U.S. cities, it must be contextualized in relation to significant sociospatial processes, especially race. It is also argued that when the racialized geographies of U.S. cities are taken into account, Lefebvre's work—with its focus on the role representation plays in the production of space—aids our understanding of contemporary urban processes. The article develops this argument through an engagement with the racialized public spaces in and around downtown Lexington, Kentucky. The killing of an African-American teenager by a White police officer and the ensuing violence and commentary, especially two editorial cartoons, provide the opportunity to contextualize Lefebvre's theory. Furthermore, the case allows us to understand the role racialized representations of space play into the construction of urban geographies. The paper concludes by emphasizing the role of the body in Lefebvre's understanding of space and suggests that his twin notions of "the right to the city" and "the right to difference" hold out hope for the grassroots development of antiracist urban public spaces.     

基于场域理论的文化遗产旅游地多维空间生产研究——以江南水乡周庄古镇为例

本文以皮埃尔点布迪厄的"场域理论"和列斐伏尔"空间的生产理论"为视角,以深度访谈和参与观察为基础,对周庄古镇从"一元同心并置结构"到"多元同心嵌套结构"转变过程中的多维空间生产进行了分析,结果表明:旅游场域形成之前的空间属于"内源性自生式本体空间",以"物理属性"为主;旅游场域形成后的空间属于"外源性嵌入式构建空间",倾向于"社会属性";旅游开发使物质空间景观化、文化空间多元化和社会空间复杂化,空间的分异和碎化趋向表明古镇社区正由"差序格局"转向"团体格局",进而表现为一种混合性"属地格局"。空间生产的动力机制主要是全球化背景下的地方怀旧情结、空间生产背后的政治力量博弈和空间生产中社区精英示范效应三种原因所致。本文指出在旅游快速发展背景下,古镇空间不是空洞的空间,空间的生产方向应该成为关注的焦点,这对理解古镇旅游空间场域的形成、生产及包容性发展具有重要导向。     

What’s radical about reality TV? An unexpected tale from Shanghai of a Chinese lesbian antihero

This article advances a Marxist approach to the contradictory relationship of minority sexuality to capitalist political economy. I use the work of Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci and critical theorist Nancy Fraser to tell a story of an extraordinary momentary opening for a distinct lesbian subculture in Shanghai. This moment was born from a Chinese reality TV show called Super Girl. A radical space for lesbian self-development is shown to have emerged through a relative uncoupling of the social relations of capitalism from political authority. This article warns against an Althusserian tendency within gay political economy and intersectionality analyses which slips into a notion of hegemonic market containment. Instead, a Marxism that is alert to subversive outlets by and for human agency is applied.     

Feminism and the Spaces of Transformation

Feminist political theory draws on particular spatial imaginations in elaborating a politics of transformation. This paper establishes this in relation to two familiar accounts of feminist transformation – those of Judith Butler and Luce Irigaray. Respectively I read their work as suggesting that transformation of gender relations takes the form of ubiquitous revolution, taking place everywhere, or a distant dream of an (im)possible future – elsewhere. The paper then turns to discuss the work of Julia Kristeva, often dismissed as not feminist and conservative. I read her work politically, within the frame of feminist theory. She offers a different, heterogeneous account of transformation, as both possible in the present and also limited by the existence and need for social and symbolic orders. In exploring the heterogeneous spatial imagination of her work, the paper suggests that the spatialities of abjection are diverse and productive. Abjection is not simply about devising territories and borders. Moreover, dominant spatialities cannot be described as simply masculine. Finally, drawing links with Lefebvre's account of representational spaces, I argue that Kristeva's work can be extended to inform our understanding of how spaces themselves can be transformed.     

BOOK REVIEW

Book Reviewed in this article: Statistics for Spatial Data, by Noel Cressie. Applications of the Expansion Method, edited by John Paul Jones, III and Emilio Casetti. Sources of Metropolitan Growth, edited by Edwin S. Mills and John F. McDonald. Work, Wages, and Poverty Income Distribution in Post-Industrial Philadelphia, by Janice Fanning Madden and William J. Stull. The International Petrochemical Industry: Evolution and Location, by Keith Chapman. Industrialization, Economic Development, and the Regional Question in the Third World From Import Substitution to Flexible Production, by Michael Storper. The Capitalist Space Economy: Geographical Analysis after Ricardo, Marx and SrafFa, by Eric Sheppard and Trevor J. Barnes. Regional Economic Analysis of Innovation and Incubation, by Evert Jan Davelaar. Technology and the Garden: Research Parks and Regional Economic Development, by Michael I. Luger and Harvey A. Goldstein. Improving Access to Health Care: What Can the States Do?, edited by John Goddeeris and Andrew Hogan.     

景颇族传统宗教仪式空间生产的现代性困境研究

少数民族传统宗教与族群历史、文化认同一脉相通，其仪式的强化实践素来为众人认可，透过仪式表象触及深层次的意识结构已成学界共识。研究传统宗教仪式的空间生产不仅对解析其背后的意识形态运动具有指导价值，也能为有关宗教、文化部门提供管控参考。文章从列斐伏尔的空间生产理论入手，探究地处边疆山区的景颇族传统宗教仪式在面对外来宗教的空间解构、现代性引发的空间变迁、族群内部的话语争夺及旅游空间介入调控等背景下，其相应的主体实践及力量博弈，厘清空间生产的主次困境和作用机理，以传统宗教有益价值为导向，引导仪式空间生产朝凝聚族群、强化团结的目标靠拢。     

Plasticity and the Future of Philosophy and Theology

Abstract

This article develops a theoretical and political critique of the contemporary notion of the deconstruction of Christianity, primarily in the later work of Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy. The deconstruction of Christianity relies upon an understanding of temporality and messianicity derived from Heidegger and Benjamin, and we challenge this privileging of messianism in contemporary philosophy and theology. Messianism is contrasted with plasticity, and plasticity is shown to have resources to overcome the impasses of contemporary thought in a counter-messianic way. To oppose messianism is not to oppose theological thinking, but to open a creative and productive political space for a radical theological and philosophical reflection.     

侗族百家宴非遗文化旅游空间生产中的角色实践:基于“角色—空间”理论分析框架

角色与空间互构视野下，研究聚焦文化空间这一空间类型，将角色理论与文化空间理论和空间生产理论对接，运用研究整合法构建了“角色-空间”理论分析框架。在此基础上，研究以文化空间类非遗--广西侗族百家宴为研究对象，以广西三江侗族自治县程阳八寨景区岩寨为案例地，关注旅游开发后侗族百家宴非遗文化旅游空间生产中的角色建构、角色扮演、角色情境定义等角色实践问题，以及角色实践视野下侗族百家宴非遗文化旅游空间生产的结果。这对于提高传统角色理论在空间问题研究上的解释力、促进角色理论的空间转向，拓展文化空间理论和空间生产理论的角色面向，以及在微观实践层面上明确侗族百家宴文化空间保护与旅游化生存策略具有较大裨益。     

Marxism and bureaucracy: A paradox resolved

This article describes one apparently paradoxical course of development of the concept of bureaucracy within Marxism. The paradox has to do with the striking difference between the role attributed to bureaucrats by Marx and by a number of prominent members of the heretics from the Marxist tradition. In Marx's own analysis of contemporary societies, bureaucracies were rarely given a central and never a primary role. In his portrayal of the future society, bureaucrats were swept from the stage altogether. In the writings of Trotsky and theorists of a new bureaucratic class, bureaucrats have come to play a central and ultimately the central role. The argument of the article is that both elements of the paradox stem from precisely the same set of theoretical commitments, in particular the same combination of claims as to what the fundamental activities and actors in societies are, what are the dynamic forces in societies and what is the destination of modern societies. Notwithstanding serious and much‐debated differences between them, what these theories have in common lies deeper than anything on which they disagree. The article concludes by arguing that neither of these approaches is likely to lead to successful analyses of the place of bureaucrats in modern societies.     

全球化时代的城市大事件营销效应:基于空间生产视角

在全球竞争时代,大事件营销已经成为城市政府实现增长策略的重要工具。文章引入空间生产的分析视角,对城市大事件营销的物质空间效应、社会空间效应、经济与政治效应进行了客观的评述,这些影响有正面的,也有负面的,从而揭示了通过大事件营销实现城市空间生产过程的本质。文章指出,大事件营销成为城市在全球化流动空间中增强对资本等发展要素粘性的重要媒介,实现了从流动空间向场所空间的转变,对城市的空间、经济、社会与政治关系等都产生着深刻的重塑作用。但是,更加关注如何将外向增长机遇与城市内生增长能力进行更好的结合,是非常必要的。     

Bogdanov,Marx, and the limits to growth debate

Bogdanov is a major rival to the philosophical orthodoxy of Plekhanov and Lenin. We explicate the foundational notions of his philosophy—praxis and experience—and trace his revisionism to Kant, Fichte, Mach, and Spencer. We show that Bogdanov's approach represents a predominantly pragmatic reading of Marx, influenced by the empiricism of Mach and Spencer as well as by Kantian apriorism. Bogdanov's version of Unified Science—Tektology—is considered against his philosophical background. The concept of praxis is at the center of the controversy between Marxist orthodoxy and revisionism. We analyze the connection between Bogdanov's philosophy of praxis, and the constructivism of the young Marx. Consequently, we see how Bogdanov's quest for infinite creativity is conceptually connected with the Fichtean–Marxian quest for infinite growth. Furthermore, we consider the issue of technological growth in a framework of the contemporary limits to growth debate.     

绅士化语境下的失所现象:概念溯源及研究综述

失所（displacement）现象历来受到国际学界的广泛关注。本文主要探讨因绅士化而造成的失所现象,并对西方理论体系和实证研究进行较全面的综述。因绅士化造成的失所可分为直接性失所和间接性失所。依据不同的形成原因,直接性失所分为物质性失所和经济性失所,而间接性失所包括排斥性失所和潜在性失所。在笛卡尔式空间观的主导下,西方主流失所研究历来偏重直接性失所,而忽视间接性失所。本文认为,间接性失所背后的列斐伏尔空间观应纳入到失所理论体系中,以更好地指导失所实证研究。本文指出,结合中国现实,对失所现象进行理论化与概念化,对于转型期中国可持续城市发展具有现实与深远的意义。     

A Waste of Space? Towards a Critique of the Social Production of Space…

This paper outlines a framework for a critique of Henri Lefebvre's notion of the social production of space, undertaken around five intersecting themes: language and meaning, the separation of space and time, the processes of production and construction, empowerment and value, and space and place.     

马克思的五种社会形态理论与陈独秀的“二次革命论”

理论界在考察陈独秀的"二次革命论"的思想来源和理论基础时,往往与苏联和共产国际的指示、与其自身残存的资产阶级民主思想、与国共合作的实际环境相联系,实际上这只是一种表面现象.只要仔细阅读陈独秀的著述,不难发现,陈独秀在论述中国革命的一系列问题时,是基于其社会历史进化观,这种社会历史进化观深受马克思的五种社会形态理论的影响,可以说,马克思的五种社会形态理论才是陈独秀"二次革命论"的理论基础.     

Girard and Heidegger: Mimesis,Mitsein, Addiction

In his essay “Peter’s Denial,” René Girard draws a parallel between mimesis and Martin Heidegger’s concept of being-with (Mitsein). In this essay I explore this parallel through a third, intermediate term—addiction—on the assumption that living in a world governed by mimesis, according to Girard, and living in the modus of Mitsein, according to Heidegger, can both be characterized as a kind of addiction. The clarification of the parallel between mimesis and Mitsein through this intermediate term may contribute to a better understanding of a central concept of Heidegger’s philosophy and, at the same time, bring into view the philosophical dimension of Girard’s mimetic theory. In my conclusion I propose Levinas’s ethical approach as a possible cure to the addiction to mimesis and being-with.     

Topoiesis: Procesos de espacialización en la literatura (crítica y metodología)

ABSTRACT

Space in literary texts has been widely studied but poorly systematized. There is no valid method of analysis that gives space a critical meaning. For instance, critics have eluded the fact that time and space cannot be considered separately. On the other hand, they have used concepts or methods from disciplines aside literature such as anthropology, biology, psychology, or geography that do not help clarify the meaning or signification of a literary text. We begin this article by giving a review of the main theoretical and critical positions regarding space in literature from the second half of the twentieth century. We do this in order to evaluate the main results those studies have attained. Later on, we propose a methodology that may clarify the significance of space in a literary text. The concept topoiesis (as far as we know, it has not been used in the humanities) represents for us a key word. It helps us to distinguish one main process where space can turn from a signification practice to the production of meaning in a literary text.     

武汉市滨水公共游憩空间生产的过程与机理

城市滨水公共游憩空间是城市功能转型的典型代表。运用实地调研、访谈、批判性语篇分析等方法，基于列斐伏尔的空间生产理论和福柯的微观权力理论，建立起贯穿空间规划、建设、管理和使用全过程的解构思路，从“规训者—反规训者”视角分析了武汉市滨水公共游憩空间生产的过程和机制。研究发现：①武汉市滨水公共游憩空间的生产是规训者与反规训者相互作用、共同推动的结果，经历了由空间的表征主导的“游憩化规划”阶段，由空间的实践主导的“水岸重塑”阶段和由表征的空间主导的“流动秩序实践”阶段；②多元利益主体在不同阶段形成了自上而下的趋同性空间再造和自下而上的异质性空间实践，但政府始终主导着空间生产过程，保障了其游憩化、公益性方向。     

The Space Station

Abstract

The era of manned spaceflight began in the early 1960s. Now, only a quarter of a century later, the foundation is being laid for permanently manned space stations which, a century ago, were the domain of visionaries whose dreams of space habitats and their uses were not that far away from current plans. The first space stations were the Soviet Salyut 1 and the American Skylab of the early 1970s. The Russians built a succession of Salyuts, the last of which was Salyut-7, launched in 1982. This was succeeded in 1986 by Mir, to which a first expansion module has already been added. Mir is planned to become a multimodule facility. The Americans have chosen a different path to their space station. From 1975 to 1981, they developed their Space Transportation System (Space Shuttle) of which Spacelab is a part. Built by Europe and flown first in 1983, it is the world's only reusable, manned space laboratory. The Space Shuttle is to be the logistics vehicle for the US-directed International Space Station, which includes cooperation from Europe, Japan and Canada. As currently planned, the ISS will consist of a rectangular framework of trusses at the center of which will be a core of laboratory, habitation and logistics modules. Unattached space station elements are to include polar-orbiting platforms and a co-orbiting, automated laboratory.     

Technology and crisis; Marx,Schumpeter and beyond

Observing that the notion of economic crisis per se has, from its origins, been closely tied to the idea of technological progress, this article examines the roots and development of this liaison in Marx, Schumpeter and the recent contribution of Freeman, et al. (1982). A concept (the Third Sector) is proposed for the relation between the structural evolution of economic organization and technological progress; this concept is developed through a critique of Marx and Schumpeter in the light of contemporary economic circumstances, and as complementary to the more technology‐generic “new technology systems” approach of Freeman, et al. In conclusion it is found, on a cursory examination, that the organizational changes implied by the Third Sector are corroborated by the evolution of technology‐based multinational corporations, while echoing Marx and Schumpeter in their possible consequences for economic crisis in the 1980's.