Tote Orte und gelebte Räume: zur Raumtheorie von Michel de Certeau S. J

In: Historical social research: HSR-Retrospective (HSR-Retro) = Historische Sozialforschung, Band 38, Heft 3, S. 22-39

Abstract

"The spatial thinking of French Jesuit Michel de Certeau (1925-1986) has been frequently discussed and put in context with the spatial turn. De Certeau's spatial theory is organized through a framework of dualistic key-categories: space and place, map and tour, strategy and tactic. However, his theory has more to offer than a formal pattern for describing spatial practices in urban space in the vein of French structuralism. The distinction between spaces and places rather holds a strong normative implication. His practical transformation from places into spaces thus not only plays an important role for his cultural history of everyday life developed in Arts de faire, but also in his work on historical writing and meta-historiography, and his research in early modern mysticism. This paper examines the main features of de Certeau's theory of space and their interdisciplinary appropriation, as well as discusses the potential of the spatial practice approach for social and cultural studies beyond the conceptualization of everyday practices of resistance." (author's abstract)