SPACES, PLACES, AND THE HISTORIANS: A COMMENT FROM A GERMAN PERSPECTIVE

This article discusses from a specifically German point of view the "spatial turn" in history and the approaches of this forum. Many recent interventions have suggested that "space" (as opposed to "time") was for many years a marginalized category in the German historio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:History and theory :Studies in the philosophy of history 2013-10, Vol.52 (3), p.420-432
Main Author: SCHWERHOFF, GERD
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abstract spaces
Communication
Cultural customs
Forum: At Home and in the Workplace: Domestic and Occupational Space in Western Europe from the Middle Ages
Geography
Geopolitics
Historians
Ornamental turns
Perceptions
Political debate
Social interaction
Social structures
Spatial dimensions
Spatial perception
Time
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article discusses from a specifically German point of view the "spatial turn" in history and the approaches of this forum. Many recent interventions have suggested that "space" (as opposed to "time") was for many years a marginalized category in the German historiographical debate because of the ideological contamination of the category "space" by the Nazis. In the context of the vivid, lively "provincial" or "regional" history practiced in Germany, however, "space" has always played an important role. The debates around the spatial turn nevertheless provide the opportunity for deliberate reconceptualization. This comment proposes a relational understanding of "space" as the core of the new approach and identifies some central elements and terms for it: the differentiation of "spaces," "places," and "locations"; movement in space; the division of space in the form of boundaries; finally, the ordering and classification of space in the form of written or visual representations.
ISSN:0018-2656
1468-2303
DOI:10.1111/hith.10677