review of PostModern Geographies
Verso books has made available one of Edward W. Soja's first published works as part
of its radical thinkers series. Postmodern Geographies is an early meditation on the question
of space in capitalism and geography in modern critical theory. One might wonder about the
relevancy of this to radical politics while wading through passages on spatialized ontology, but
in fact the refocus on this work comes at a perfect time to help rethink political upheavals that
have occurred in just the last few weeks.
In the recent uprising in Egypt which ousted the octagenarian thug Hosni Mubarak,
Tahrir Square became the symbolic and literal center of the aspirations of a wide-range of
Egyptians hoping to awake from the oppressive doldrums of 30 years of emergency laws and
neo-liberal social decay. World-wide television viewers were treated to daily images of endless
crowds of protestors, dramatic street battles, and eventually the jubilation that filled the
square when Mubarak begrudgingly stepped down. Reporters were on hand to record the
slogans, the acts of social solidarity, and the faces of Egyptians themselves; many of whom
were experiencing the freedom to assemble freely for the first time in their lives.
For an uprising that is credited as having been originally started online using social
media, it is remarkable to see how important a physical geographical place became in deciding
the fate of the movement in Egypt. Despite any praise on the part of the media that served to
fetishize technology and the role of these new online forms of communication in reshaping
social movements, in the end it was people on the ground, occupying central squares and
factories across Egypt, which brought about tangible change. Further revolts have brought to
our attention similar locations in other World capitals. And in America, the capital building in
Madion, Wisconsin has become a focal point by being occupied by public employer unions
and supporters staging a protest against anti-labor legislation meekly disguised as budgetary
policy measures. It seems as though taking control of public space in order to create a central
point of resistance has done more in a few weeks in these situations than merely blogging and
tweeting could have ever done.
There is something refreshingly old fashioned about seeing this kind of street politics
reemerging. Of course we cannot be grateful for the outrageous injustices that have brought
people out to the streets. But seeing the classic images of marching columns of protestors,
barricades, and grassroots rallies is something never seen before by a young leftist raised
almost entirely after the collapse of the USSR. There was an aspect of immediacy, something
so human, about seeing people stare down the institutions of state oppression face to face.
And in reading Soja's insights into the ways in which oppression is now veiled more by
geography than history, we can begin to understand the novelty of seeing direct political
confrontation in public space.
Postmodern Geographies is a collection of 9 essays which each deal with aspects of
space in critical social theory. Starting with a history of the resistance to the conceptualization
of space in critical theory, Soja explains how geography was often neglected for being
considered to be stilted, empirical, and thoroughly undialectical as opposed to the preferred
focus on time and history. He gives a thorough summary of why space has often been pushed
to the side by the injunction to “always historicize”. Showing the extent of this resistance, He
is able to exhibit the originality of Henri Lefebvre's thought in approaching space as well as
tracing the awakening of Michel Foucault to the usefulness that geography would have in his
own investigation of social institutions. We are also shown how other big names in critical
theory have incorporated spatiality into their works. In a motif that continues through the
book, in this historical explanation we begin to see for ourselves how thinking about space
offer new perspectives on understanding how the survival of capitalism depends on the
creation of space. At this point it is at the micro-level of everyday life, what Lefebvre calls
the “bureaucratic society of controlled consumption”. The essay offers a wealth of academic
sources for anyone interested in how an individual exists within a space constructed to induce
consumption and quiescence. Anyone raised in the suburbs can find a fair deal that resonates
with this approach to thinking about space.
In following essays, Soja goes on to narrate the various debates that come with
incorporating the concept of spatiality into critical theory. For instance, in the chapter on
the “Socio-spatial Dialectic”, we see how difficult it is to conceptualize how exactly social
relations of production produce space. Is the built environment a product of this process, or
merely part of the “superstructure”? How do we understand a struggle over public space, or
rent, using the Marxist form of analysis which is more immediately concerned with the
struggle going on in the workplace? Soja provides some fascinating viewpoints and directs our
attention towards an understanding of why controlling public space is still important in our
contemporary age. Political power is not only interested in controlling what goes on at the
point of production or in the realm of ideology, but indeed aims to create a built environment
conducive to the survival of capitalism. Class struggle, therefore, must include a fight over the
production of space and its “territorial structure of exploitation and domination”. By taking
over public space, these recent uprisings in places like Wisconsin and Egypt have made a
powerful assertion that a democratic and free sense of space is not one in which capitalism is
able to roam “freely”, but instead one where democratic deliberation is present and central.
Soja's strengths definitely lie in bringing together theories of space that have as their
subject the urban environment. At other levels he doesn't seem as convincing. Although
necessary to the stated goal of a comprehensive reassertion of space at all levels of critical
theory, his passages on “spatialized ontology” and Anthony Giddens' concept
of “structuration” seem particularly unhelpful. He also takes a step in the opposite direction
by becoming less theoretical and applying his and other critical theorists' ideas on spatiality to
a geographical portrait of Los Angeles. Soja offers some spectacular figures on the immense
economic output of Los Angeles, and shows empirically just how fractured and unequal the
built environment is. However, after such an excellent explanation of the dialectic of space in
capitalism and a strong critique of the resistance to the role of space in critical theory, it seems
ironic that his move to exhibiting the real-life example of the capital of postmodern geography
seems much more like dry empiricism than dynamic analysis.
As political struggle goes forward, Edward Soja's book will be useful by giving us
another approach to envisioning resistance to the logic of capitalism. Using his excellent
examination of how capital produces and controls space, it is up to us to work out the
implications. Especially given the preliminary and open-ended nature of Postmodern
Geographies, the ways in which we can reassert space into our political strategies is ample.
When thinking about a fight over use of a public square, or the fate of a marginalized urban
group, foreign wars, or even our own individual place in everyday life, it will be fruitful to
remember a new injunction: always territorialize!
of its radical thinkers series. Postmodern Geographies is an early meditation on the question
of space in capitalism and geography in modern critical theory. One might wonder about the
relevancy of this to radical politics while wading through passages on spatialized ontology, but
in fact the refocus on this work comes at a perfect time to help rethink political upheavals that
have occurred in just the last few weeks.
In the recent uprising in Egypt which ousted the octagenarian thug Hosni Mubarak,
Tahrir Square became the symbolic and literal center of the aspirations of a wide-range of
Egyptians hoping to awake from the oppressive doldrums of 30 years of emergency laws and
neo-liberal social decay. World-wide television viewers were treated to daily images of endless
crowds of protestors, dramatic street battles, and eventually the jubilation that filled the
square when Mubarak begrudgingly stepped down. Reporters were on hand to record the
slogans, the acts of social solidarity, and the faces of Egyptians themselves; many of whom
were experiencing the freedom to assemble freely for the first time in their lives.
For an uprising that is credited as having been originally started online using social
media, it is remarkable to see how important a physical geographical place became in deciding
the fate of the movement in Egypt. Despite any praise on the part of the media that served to
fetishize technology and the role of these new online forms of communication in reshaping
social movements, in the end it was people on the ground, occupying central squares and
factories across Egypt, which brought about tangible change. Further revolts have brought to
our attention similar locations in other World capitals. And in America, the capital building in
Madion, Wisconsin has become a focal point by being occupied by public employer unions
and supporters staging a protest against anti-labor legislation meekly disguised as budgetary
policy measures. It seems as though taking control of public space in order to create a central
point of resistance has done more in a few weeks in these situations than merely blogging and
tweeting could have ever done.
There is something refreshingly old fashioned about seeing this kind of street politics
reemerging. Of course we cannot be grateful for the outrageous injustices that have brought
people out to the streets. But seeing the classic images of marching columns of protestors,
barricades, and grassroots rallies is something never seen before by a young leftist raised
almost entirely after the collapse of the USSR. There was an aspect of immediacy, something
so human, about seeing people stare down the institutions of state oppression face to face.
And in reading Soja's insights into the ways in which oppression is now veiled more by
geography than history, we can begin to understand the novelty of seeing direct political
confrontation in public space.
Postmodern Geographies is a collection of 9 essays which each deal with aspects of
space in critical social theory. Starting with a history of the resistance to the conceptualization
of space in critical theory, Soja explains how geography was often neglected for being
considered to be stilted, empirical, and thoroughly undialectical as opposed to the preferred
focus on time and history. He gives a thorough summary of why space has often been pushed
to the side by the injunction to “always historicize”. Showing the extent of this resistance, He
is able to exhibit the originality of Henri Lefebvre's thought in approaching space as well as
tracing the awakening of Michel Foucault to the usefulness that geography would have in his
own investigation of social institutions. We are also shown how other big names in critical
theory have incorporated spatiality into their works. In a motif that continues through the
book, in this historical explanation we begin to see for ourselves how thinking about space
offer new perspectives on understanding how the survival of capitalism depends on the
creation of space. At this point it is at the micro-level of everyday life, what Lefebvre calls
the “bureaucratic society of controlled consumption”. The essay offers a wealth of academic
sources for anyone interested in how an individual exists within a space constructed to induce
consumption and quiescence. Anyone raised in the suburbs can find a fair deal that resonates
with this approach to thinking about space.
In following essays, Soja goes on to narrate the various debates that come with
incorporating the concept of spatiality into critical theory. For instance, in the chapter on
the “Socio-spatial Dialectic”, we see how difficult it is to conceptualize how exactly social
relations of production produce space. Is the built environment a product of this process, or
merely part of the “superstructure”? How do we understand a struggle over public space, or
rent, using the Marxist form of analysis which is more immediately concerned with the
struggle going on in the workplace? Soja provides some fascinating viewpoints and directs our
attention towards an understanding of why controlling public space is still important in our
contemporary age. Political power is not only interested in controlling what goes on at the
point of production or in the realm of ideology, but indeed aims to create a built environment
conducive to the survival of capitalism. Class struggle, therefore, must include a fight over the
production of space and its “territorial structure of exploitation and domination”. By taking
over public space, these recent uprisings in places like Wisconsin and Egypt have made a
powerful assertion that a democratic and free sense of space is not one in which capitalism is
able to roam “freely”, but instead one where democratic deliberation is present and central.
Soja's strengths definitely lie in bringing together theories of space that have as their
subject the urban environment. At other levels he doesn't seem as convincing. Although
necessary to the stated goal of a comprehensive reassertion of space at all levels of critical
theory, his passages on “spatialized ontology” and Anthony Giddens' concept
of “structuration” seem particularly unhelpful. He also takes a step in the opposite direction
by becoming less theoretical and applying his and other critical theorists' ideas on spatiality to
a geographical portrait of Los Angeles. Soja offers some spectacular figures on the immense
economic output of Los Angeles, and shows empirically just how fractured and unequal the
built environment is. However, after such an excellent explanation of the dialectic of space in
capitalism and a strong critique of the resistance to the role of space in critical theory, it seems
ironic that his move to exhibiting the real-life example of the capital of postmodern geography
seems much more like dry empiricism than dynamic analysis.
As political struggle goes forward, Edward Soja's book will be useful by giving us
another approach to envisioning resistance to the logic of capitalism. Using his excellent
examination of how capital produces and controls space, it is up to us to work out the
implications. Especially given the preliminary and open-ended nature of Postmodern
Geographies, the ways in which we can reassert space into our political strategies is ample.
When thinking about a fight over use of a public square, or the fate of a marginalized urban
group, foreign wars, or even our own individual place in everyday life, it will be fruitful to
remember a new injunction: always territorialize!
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