Heterotopia (space)
Heterotopia is a concept in human geography elaborated
by philosopher Michel Foucault to describe places and
spaces that function in non-hegemonic conditions. These
are spaces of otherness, which are neither here nor there,
that are simultaneously physical and mental, such as the
space of a phone call or the moment when you see yourself in the mirror.[1]
(hospitals, asylums, prisons, rest homes, cemetery).
Heterotopia can be a single real place that juxtaposes
several spaces. A garden can be a heterotopia, if it
is a real space meant to be a microcosm of dierent
environments, with plants from around the world.
'Heterotopias of time' such as museums enclose in
one place objects from all times and styles. They
exist in time but also exist outside of time because
they are built and preserved to be physically insusceptible to times ravages.
Etymology
Heterotopia follows the template established by the notions of utopia and dystopia. The prex hetero- is from
Ancient Greek (hteros, other, another, dierent) and is combined with the Greek morphemes
(not) and (place) and means no-place. A
utopia is an idea or an image that is not real but represents a perfected version of society, such as Thomas
Mores book or Le Corbusier's drawings. As Walter Russell Mead has written, Utopia is a place where everything
is good; dystopia is a place where everything is bad; heterotopia is where things are dierent that is, a collection whose members have few or no intelligible connections with one another.[2]
'Heterotopias of ritual or purication' are spaces that
are isolated and penetrable yet not freely accessible
like a public place. To get in one must have permission and make certain gestures such as in a sauna or
a hammam.
Heterotopia has a function in relation to all of the remaining spaces. The two functions are: heterotopia
of illusion creates a space of illusion that exposes every real space, and the heterotopia of compensation
is to create a real spacea space that is other.
Foucaults elaborations on heterotopias were published in
an article entitled Des espaces autres (Of Other Spaces).
The philosopher calls for a society with many heterotopias, not only as a space with several places of/for the
armation of dierence, but also as a means of escape
from authoritarianism and repression, stating metaphorically that if we take the ship as the utmost heterotopia, a
society without ships is inherently a repressive one, in a
clear reference to Stalinism.[3]
Heterotopia in Foucault
Foucault uses the term heterotopia to describe spaces that
have more layers of meaning or relationships to other
places than immediately meet the eye. In general, a heterotopia is a physical representation or approximation of
a utopia, or a parallel space (such as a prison) that contains
undesirable bodies to make a real utopian space possible.
Foucault uses the idea of a mirror as a metaphor for the 3 Heterotopia in the work of other
duality and contradictions, the reality and the unreality of
authors
utopian projects. A mirror is metaphor for utopia because
the image that you see in it does not exist, but it is also a
heterotopia because the mirror is a real object that shapes Human geographers often connected to the
the way you relate to your own image.
postmodernist school have been using the term (and
Foucault articulates several possible types of heterotopia the authors propositions) to help understand the contemporary emergence of (cultural, social, political,
or spaces that exhibit dual meanings:
economic) dierence and identity as a central issue
A crisis heterotopia is a separate space like a board- in larger multicultural cities. The idea of place (more
ing school or a motel room where activities like com- often related to ethnicity and gender and less often to
the social class issue) as a heterotopic entity has been
ing of age or a honeymoon take place out of sight.
gaining attention in the current context of postmodern,
Heterotopias of deviation are institutions where we post-structuralist theoretical discussion (and political
place individuals whose behavior is outside the norm practice) in Geography and other spatial social sciences.
1
The concept of a heterotopia has also been discussed
in relation to the space in which learning takes place.[4]
There is an extensive debate with theorists, such as
David Harvey, that remain focused on the matter of
class domination as the central determinant of social
heteronomy.
EXTERNAL LINKS
[4] Blair, Erik (2009). A Further Education College as a
Heterotopia. Research in Post-Compulsory Education 14
(1): 93101. doi:10.1080/13596740902717465.
[5] Soja, Edward (1996). Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. Malden, Mass.:
Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 1-55786-675-9.
The geographer Edward Soja has worked with this concept in dialogue with the works of Henri Lefebvre concerning urban space in the book Thirdspace.[5]
[6] Franklin-Brown, Mary (2012). Reading the World: Encyclopedic Writing in the Scholastic Age. Chicago, Ill.: University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-26068-6.
Mary Franklin-Brown uses the concept of heterotopia in
an epistemological context to examine thirteenth century
encyclopedias as conceptual spaces where many possible
ways of knowing are brought together without attempting
to reconcile them.[6]
[7] Gordon, Joan (November 2003). Hybridity, Heterotopia, and Mateship in China Mivilles Perdido Street Station". Science Fiction Studies (SF-TH Inc., DePauw University) 30 (3): 456476. JSTOR 4241204.
Heterotopia in literature
The concept of heterotopia has had a signicant impact
on literature, especially science ction, fantasy and other
speculative genres. Many readers consider the worlds
of China Miville and other weird ction writers to be
heterotopias insofar as they are worlds of radical dierence transparent or of indierence to their inhabitants.[7]
Samuel Delanys 1976 novel Trouble on Triton is subtitled An Ambiguous Heterotopia and was written partly
in dialogue with Ursula K. Le Guins science ction
novel The Dispossessed, which is subtitled An Ambiguous
Utopia.[8][9]
References
[1] Foucault, Michel (1971). The Order of Things. New
York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-679-75335-3.
[2] Mead, Walter Russell (Winter 19951996). Trains,
Planes, and Automobiles: The End of the Postmodern
Moment. World Policy Journal 12 (4): 1331. JSTOR
40209444.
[3] Foucault, Michel (October 1984).
Des Espace
Autres. Architecture, Mouvement, Continuit 5: 46
49.; it has been translated into English twice, rst
as Foucault, Michel (Spring 1986).
trans.
Jay
Miskowiec.
Of Other Spaces.
Diacritics 16
(1): 2227. available online at http://foucault.info/
documents/heterotopia/foucault.heterotopia.en.html (accessed 10 August 2014); and second as Foucault, Michel
(1998). Dierent Spaces. In Faubion, James D.
Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology: Essential Works
of Foucault, 1954-1984, Volume 2. trans. Robert
Hurley. New York: The New Press. pp. 175
185. ISBN 978-1565843295.; ambiguities of the two
translations are discussed in Johnson, Peter (November
2006). Unravelling Foucaults 'Dierent Spaces". History of the Human Sciences (SAGE) 19 (4): 7590.
doi:10.1177/0952695106069669..
[8] Delany, Samuel R. (November 1990). On Triton and
Other Matters: An Interview with Samuel R. Delany.
Science Fiction Studies (SF-TH Inc., DePauw University)
17 (3): 295324. JSTOR 4240009.
[9] Chan, Edward K. (Summer 2001). "(Vulgar) Identity Politics in Outer Space: Delanys Triton and the Heterotopian
Narrative. Journal of Narrative Theory 31 (2): 180213.
JSTOR 30225762.
6 Further reading
Dehaene, Michiel; De Cauter, Lieven, eds. (2008).
Heterotopia and the City: Public Space in a Postcivil
Society. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-41542288-8.
Preucel, Robert W.; Matero, Frank G. (2008).
Placemaking on the Northern Rio Grande: A View
from Kuaua Pueblo. In Rubertone, Patricia E.
Archaeologies of Placemaking: Monuments, Memories, and Engagement in Native North America. Left
Coast Press. pp. 8199. ISBN 978-1598741551.
7 External links
Heterotopian Studies is a website launched May
2012 and devoted to exploring Foucaults ideas on
heterotopia.
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