Ontologies of place,placelessness, and movement: queer quests for identity and their impacts on contemporary geographic thought

The rise of and reactions to identity politics and practice have precipitated renewed debates about ontology in geography. Actor‐network theory (ANT) and ‘non‐representational theory’ have much to offer these discussions. Their de‐centered notions of ‘agency’, topological (rather than Cartesian) spatial imaginations, and what I term ‘humble’ ontologies offer a way out of the seeming paradox presented by various binarisms underlying contemporary social theory and philosophy, such as structure/agency, essentialism/constructionism, subject/object, and theory/practice. The value of these approaches is very apparent when considering a particularly politicized form of identity practice: queer identity quests. They lead to (among other things) ontologies of place, placelessness and movement that are new, fresh, enriching and potentially empowering.     

小地方

瑞士的达沃斯、中国海南的博鳌、法国的戛纳、意大利的威尼斯…… 无论你有没有去过,对这几个地方都肯定不会陌生。因为每年到了固定的时间节点,它们都会以极高的频率出现在媒体的报道中。达沃斯全球经济论坛、博鳌亚洲论坛、戛纳电影节、威尼斯电影节和艺术双年展……这些政要、富豪、名流、明星和艺术家云集的盛会。总是会吸引全世界人们关注的目光。     

Napoleon and Europe revisited

This article outlines the main themes of my book Napoleon's Integration of Europe (1991). Napoleonic France and Europe constituted an inseparable whole, through the ambitions of the French political class to impose an administrative prism of rational, modernising reforms on what were perceived as less developed societies. Such a study implied a dual dimension: the ideals and practices of the Imperial administration, and their impact on the subject populations. Criticisms of the book are grouped into four categories which are addressed in turn: the importance attached to Napoleon's personality and role; the implications, for analysis and interpretation, of the choice of archival sources-prefectoral and civil administration rather than police or judicial records; the influence of the Napoleonic model of administration beyond France, particularly in Germany; the possibility of treating the Grand Empire with its dependent states as a single phenomenon. Finally, it is worth noting that in the decade since publication of the book the deeper legacies of the Napoleonic model have barely attracted the attention of historians.     

Hedwig revisited

The mainstream success of the 2014 Broadway revival of John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch is in stark contrast to the precarity of the central protagonist’s life and the communities out of which the original Hedwig production emerged. While these tensions reveal some of the complicities between homonormativity, gentrification, and neoliberalism, by tracing Hedwig’s other genealogies, a more complicated vision of queer possibility emerges.     

A Happening Place

Snowymountains,bluelakes,mountainousvillages,ancientmonasteriexAllofthesemakeNyingchiahappeningplacefortourists,mountaineers,scientistsandexplorers.WORLD-CLASSWONOER.NamjabarwaisaTibetanwordthatmeansaspearthrustintotheskies.Indeed,thePeak,7,782metersabo…     

Islamism revisited

While contemporary Islamism is a response to the domestic political situation in many Muslim countries, as well as to US and western policies in the Muslim world, it is also about religious assertion and the forging of an alternative ideology, not only as a means of empowerment but also as a means of establishing a particular social order. The debate is as much an internal one as it is a global one and in many ways mirrors the struggles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for political and cultural independence.     

Place Out of Place: a Pohnpeian Chiefdom in Kansas City

This article describes the formation of the Kansas City area as a section in the Pohnpeian sociopolitical system. Pohnpeian chiefdoms are traditionally marked out as ‘sections’ of land on the island of Pohnpei. Pohnpeians’ connection to their land is powerful and imbued with meaning but the Compact of Free Association propels Pohnpeian out‐migration to the United States. As the immigrant population of Pohnpeians in Kansas City increased, a paramount (tribal district) chief organized the ‘Section Over Heaven of Kansas City’ at the urging of collaborating Pohnpeian Kansas City residents. As the only fully functioning section outside of Pohnpei, the Kansas City section chief assigns chiefly titles, conducts tribute feasts, and incorporates the location into the Pohnpeian sociopolitical system. By integrating people and environment in meaningful ways, the Kansas City section creates a Pohnpeian place, separated from Pohnpeian land, integrated into Pohnpeian chieftainship. Pohnpeians in the United States refer to Kansas City as a Pohnpeian place in part on the basis of the paramount chief's organization of the Kansas City section.     

在那摇远的地方

几年前,见到刚从墨脱回来的摄影师卢广。 墨脱,那个遥远的、原始的、危险重重的,几乎无路可走的地方。那个神秘的、丰盛的、圣洁浪漫的,美到无与伦比的地方。就在这一夜,杭州正下着入冬以来的第四场雪,从办公楼的窗口望出去,是高架上蠕蠕前行的车河。在这间暖气充足的办公室里,阅读前往墨脱的故事。