Geographies that matter--the rhetorical deployment of physicality?

Jackson (2000) proposes a 'rematerialization' of social and cultural geography. He argues for the grounding of geographical analysis in the concrete world of actual physical objects. Examining the work of Jackson (2000) and Miller (1987, 1998) this paper interrogates this return to the phy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social & cultural geography 2003-06, Vol.4 (2), p.139-152
Main Author: Kearnes, Matthew B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cultural studies
Geography
Materialism
Materiality
Matter
Object
Ontology
Philosophy
Physical
Research methods
Rhetoric
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Summary:Jackson (2000) proposes a 'rematerialization' of social and cultural geography. He argues for the grounding of geographical analysis in the concrete world of actual physical objects. Examining the work of Jackson (2000) and Miller (1987, 1998) this paper interrogates this return to the physical. In particular, this paper argues that current articulations of physicality rely on a universal metaphysics of matter--positing matter as a universally undifferentiated conditionality. This reliance is problematic in that it signifies an essentialist dichotomy between the objective (the material) and the subjective (the textual). Also this dichotomy necessitates a linear dialectics of matter subjugating the material to the determinative action of form. In subjecting Jackson's notion of rematerialization to a critical philosophical reading, the aim is to disturb the unquestioned metaphysical implications of this return. Indeed it is to suggest that a rematerialization of social and cultural geography must account for the wayward expressiveness of matter--its representative and active capacities outside its relation with the subject.
ISSN:1464-9365
1470-1197
DOI:10.1080/14649360309061