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Towards a Newer Analytical Frame for Theorizing Ethnic Enclaves in Urban Residential Spaces: A Critical Dialectic Approach in Relational-Spatiality
Abstract
This paper provides a critical reflection on the nature of ethnic enclaves and segregation by presenting an analytical frame that can be used to capture the contested nature of spatiality in these spaces. By underscoring the dynamics in which differences constitute distinct subject positions, this paper posits a relational orientation to studying spatiality that is based on complex relations among and between subjects and space. To date, few attempts have been made to present an analytical frame for the analysis of the spatiality of ethnic enclaves and segregation in which space becomes contested by different groups, occupants of space, and those external to space. This paper bridges this gap by synthesizing the relational approaches found in Bourdieusian field theory and Lefebvrian spatiality. This paper seeks to make three contributions. First, to provide an explicit theoretical anchor upon which relational and spatial theories converge since the underlying rationale for complementary is usually only implicitly evaluated. In detailing this convergence, the social constitution of reality and an emphasis on the duality between individuals and society as well as society and space are identified as a rationale for relational spatiality. Second, to demonstrate how a collective engagement with Bourdieu’s and Lefebvre’s approaches facilitates a recognition of spatiality as a polysemous social product and producer of social reality in addition to grounding this orientation as a critical dialectic engagement in which both the subjects and knowledge production cannot be neutral. Third, to present an analytical frame for the investigation of ethnic enclaves in and through which ethnic majorities, minorities, occupants of space, and those external to these enclaves constitute different views towards the same space.
... These contrasts that set the narratives of 12 Data on Lasnamäe were drawn in relation to representations of space, representational space, and spatial practice. For a similar methodological approach, see Shaharyar (2023) Lasnamäe apart from the national narrative were data-driven and then merged into the four themes analyzed below. These narratives were contrasted with other narratives that populate Lasnamäe to examine how hierarchies of space are framed and often contested. ...
This research investigates the relationship between the city and the state in framing the national belonging of space as arenas of inclusion and difference within the nation. It is argued that bringing Isin and Lefebvre into dialogue allows for a genealogical analysis of space as a social product imbued in and constituted by narratives of national inclusion (or exclusion). This research develops the concept of alterity-space as a distinct spatial category in which the constitution of citizenship is inscribed on socially produced space. This alterity-space refers to categories of difference as an internal other of space at odds with the space of the nation. Alterity-space as a concept invites reflection on how state engagement, competing symbolisms, narratives, and interactions produce spatiality and create mechanisms of othering that obscure other articulations of national belonging in space. This approach is illustrated through a genealogical examination of Lasnamäe, an urban district at the heart of Estonia’s capital. In the constitution of national, ecological, digital, and European identities, Lasnamäe is positioned as an alterity-space to Tallinn and Estonia. This positioning reflects how space itself becomes imbued as an immediate other at odds with Estonia’s past and future of national belonging.
Lefebvre famously had asked how "éspace" and "spacialité" contribute to the constitution of societal order. In this paper we want to propose an answer to this question by sketching a new social theory in the making. On this basis we address the recent societal transformations, as they are indicated by empirical research, in terms of the re-figuration of spaces. Finally, we want to provide some preliminary specifications of what we mean by the re-figuration of space with reference to the processes of polycontexturalization, mediatization and translocalization. By polycontexturalization we mean that increasingly there are arrangements of space and multiple references to hitherto different spatial scales and dimensions which take effect or are put into effect simultaneously. Individual and collective actors are confronted with the challenge of following different spatial logics at the same time. By mediatization we refer to the fact that the constitution of space takes place in mediated forms spurred by advances in digital communication technologies. Proactive and reflexive communicative acts on different scales and levels, at once digital and face-to-face, are thus made possible or become inevitable. As a result of mediatization and multiple processes of circulation involving human beings, things and technologies, polycontexturalization implies what has come to be called translocalization, i.e. a continual coupling of different locations in conjunction with an increase in relevance of the individual location.
This paper develops spatial dialectics as an analytical method capable of exposing and explaining the contradictions, dilemmas and tensions that cut through the spatialities of social movements. Despite scholarly recognition of internal divides in movements such as Occupy, there is greater need to conceptualise the inherently contradictory nature of social movements, in particular by reflecting on the role of spatiality. Building on recent work on multiple spatialities of activism, the paper shifts attention to contradiction as a key factor in spatial mobilisation, further arguing that the recent turn to assemblage thought is ill equipped for such a task. Dialectics is introduced via Bertell Ollman's influential account of its ontological and epistemological bases, before turning to Edward Soja's reading of Henri Lefebvre to incorporate spatiality. Spatial dialectics disrupts the linearity of thesis–antithesis–synthesis, placing contradictions not only within the historical unfolding of relations but also within co-dependent yet antagonistic moments of space, through Lefebvre's ‘trialetic’ of perceived, conceived and lived space. Building on ‘militant research’, which combined a seven-month ethnography, 43 in-depth interviews and analyses of representations of space, spatial dialectics is put to work through the analysis of three specific contradictions in Occupy London's spatial strategies: a global movement that became tied to the physical space of occupation; a prefigurative space engulfed by internal hierarchies; and a grassroots territorial strategy that was subsumed into logics of dominant territorial institutions. In each case, Occupy London's spatial strategies are explained in the context of unfolding contradictions in conceived, perceived and lived spaces and the subsequent dilemmas and shifts in spatial strategy this led to. In conclusion, the paper highlights broader lessons for social movements’ spatial praxis generated through the analysis of Occupy London.
Pierre Bourdieu’s “epistemic reflexivity” is the cornerstone of his intellectual enterprise, underpinning
his claims to provide distinctive and scientific knowledge of the social world. This article considers
what this notion offers for research and how it needs to be developed further to underpin
progress in social science. Many reflexive research practices are sociological, individualistic, and
narcissistic, and the article contrasts this to Bourdieu’s conception of reflexivity as epistemological,
collective, and objective. The author then illustrates how, despite Bourdieu’s intentions, this conception
when enacted tends toward the very pitfalls it is intended to avoid. Building on a developing
conceptualization of the relations of knowledge, the author identifies this problem as intrinsic
to Bourdieu’s framework, showing how it bypasses the significance of knowledge structures and so
provides the social but not the epistemological conditions for social scientific knowledge. Bourdieu’s
reflexivity objectifies objectification but needs development to help achieve objective knowledge.
The article concludes by introducing the notion of “epistemic capital” as a first step toward developing
a properly epistemic reflexivity and so realizing the potential of Bourdieu’s enterprise.
This paper studies Estonian national identity, as defined in terms of interethnic (de)mobilization and operationalized in terms of construing either strong or weak types of cultural and social boundaries between majority and minority ethnic groups. The first part discusses previous research on national identity in Estonia. The following theoretical part outlines a relational model to conceptualize and measure national identity in Estonia. The empirical part utilizes the relational model to carry out a demonstrative type of study of national identity among ethnic Estonians and Estonian Russians, who were interviewed in a survey within the research project ‘Integration Monitoring of Estonian Society 2017’. On the basis of the analysis recommendations for theoretical advancement in national identity and ethnic conflict studies, as well as for better targeted integration policies, will be drawn in the conclusions section.
This article examines how ethnic capital operates in ethnic affinity migration and external citizenship. Criticizing the “methodological nationalism”, inadequate theorization of the state, and “groupist” understanding of ethnicity that characterize existing scholarship on ethnic capital, I develop an alternative account drawing on Bourdieu. I highlight the importance of state power that consecrates ethnicity as a legitimate element in classifying non-citizens and determines the key criteria for coethnicity. The conversion of ethnicity into a migration-facilitating resource, however, is not monopolized by the state. I pay attention to how aspiring migrants, assisted by various intermediaries, challenge the state’s definition of ethnic group boundaries or deliberately cultivate specific ethnic markers, with varying implications for their ethnic self-understanding. Instead of treating ethnicity as what migrants are, I analyse what states, migrants, and intermediaries do with ethnicity – how they shape the valorization, conversion, and legitimization of ethnic capital in macro-political, meso-institutional, and micro-interactional contexts, with different agendas and asymmetrical power.
As an invitation to spatial sociology, this article introduces key concepts and contexts to situate the articles in this monograph issue of Current Sociology. Spatial sociology is presented here as broad in scope and usefulness, but specific as a relational approach to space. As both a category of analysis and a lens through which to address sociological research questions, the gains of relational spatial research are shown in this monograph issue through articles exploring bodies, borders, units and mobilities. Outlining some of the history of relational thinking and space, clarifying some misconceptions about spatial theory, and developing a heuristic of the uses of spatial sociology, this article’s main aim is to invite specialists and non-specialists alike to spatial sociology.
In this book, the author develops a relational concept of space that encompasses social structure, the material world of objects and bodies, and the symbolic dimension of the social world. Löw’s guiding principle is the assumption that space emerges in the interplay between objects, structures and actions. Based on a critical discussion of classic theories of space, Löw develops a new dynamic theory of space that accounts for the relational context in which space is constituted. This innovative view on the interdependency of material, social, and symbolic dimensions of space also permits a new perspective on architecture and urban development.
This chapter explores the relationship between the process and product of participatory design. It argues that there is an unhelpful dichotomy that pushes the thinking and practice of participatory design through two separate schools of thought: planning versus design. This chapter suggests that advancements in overcoming such challenge can be reached by perceiving design through the lens of the capability approach. The concept of ‘capability space’ is proposed to explore the process and product components of freedom associated to participatory design. The chapter then elaborates on a series of normative values based on concepts from radical democracy and social production of space literature that aims at supporting the application of the concept of capability space. Design is embedded in the processes of deepening democratic practices by revealing power relations and navigating through dissensus.
Aquest article introdueix unes conceptualitzacions específiques de l’espai i el poder i els relliga sota la idea de «geometries de poder». A continuació, el text explora el desenvolupament d’aquesta idea en el context de la revolució bolivariana a Veneçuela i reprèn el significat d’aquest compromís per a la pràctica política. Finalment, també es comenta breument com el mateix concepte ha estat enriquit per aquest ús polític actiu que se’n fa.
The dualism between society and nature and the processes by which nature is being socially constructed has become an area of increasing concern and interest to geographers in recent years. In this article, the abstract and concrete inter-relationships between nature and society will be problematized, drawing on the work of LackoÄ, Wittgenstein, Harre´ , Bourdieu and Lefebvre, among others. A number of concepts that will enable us to work across the boundaries conceived to exist between the physical, the mental and the social and thus of great importance for the analysis of the social construction of nature will be proposed.
Since the early 1990s, Henri Lefebvre's theory of the social production of space has become widely used by Anglophone academics to understand contemporary urban processes in the Western world. This article argues that care must be taken in transporting Lefbevre's theoretical framework from one context to another. When applied in places like U.S. cities, it must be contextualized in relation to significant sociospatial processes, especially race. It is also argued that when the racialized geographies of U.S. cities are taken into account, Lefebvre's work—with its focus on the role representation plays in the production of space—aids our understanding of contemporary urban processes. The article develops this argument through an engagement with the racialized public spaces in and around downtown Lexington, Kentucky. The killing of an African-American teenager by a White police officer and the ensuing violence and commentary, especially two editorial cartoons, provide the opportunity to contextualize Lefebvre's theory. Furthermore, the case allows us to understand the role racialized representations of space play into the construction of urban geographies. The paper concludes by emphasizing the role of the body in Lefebvre's understanding of space and suggests that his twin notions of “the right to the city” and “the right to difference” hold out hope for the grassroots development of antiracist urban public spaces.
The constitution of space: The structuration of spaces through the simultaneity of effect and perception
To trace relational spatiality as an explicit theoretical framework, see Martina Löw,
"The constitution of space: The structuration of spaces through the simultaneity of
effect and perception," European Journal of Social Theory 11, no. 1 (2008): 25-49;
- Martina Löw
Martina Löw, "The intrinsic logic of cities: Towards a new theory on urbanism,"
Urban Research & Practice 5, no. 3 (2012): 303-315;
For a critique of how Martina Löw's orientation cannot account for difference in and among subjects and a short reply, see Martina Löw and Gunter Weidenhaus
For a critique of how Martina Löw's orientation cannot account for difference in
and among subjects and a short reply, see Martina Löw and Gunter Weidenhaus,
"Borders that relate: Conceptualizing boundaries in relational space," Current Sociology 65, no. 4 (2017): 553-570.
This paper is inspired by the interpretation of Lizardo's work on Bourdieu. For a detailed explanation of the relationship between field and habitus in structuring the field, see Omar Lizardo
This paper is inspired by the interpretation of Lizardo's work on Bourdieu. For a
detailed explanation of the relationship between field and habitus in structuring
the field, see Omar Lizardo, "The cognitive origins of Bourdieu's habitus," Journal
for the Theory of Social Behaviour 34, no. 4 (2004): 375-401.
For empirical investigations using these relational ideas of different subject positions and their manifold relations in ethnic enclaves as well as segregation and inter-ethnic dynamics, see Andreas Wimmer
For empirical investigations using these relational ideas of different subject positions and their manifold relations in ethnic enclaves as well as segregation and
inter-ethnic dynamics, see Andreas Wimmer, "The making and unmaking of ethnic boundaries: A multilevel process theory," American Journal of Sociology 113,
no. 4 (2008): 970-1022;
this article draws heavily on the ideas presented in Mark Gottdiener
In theorizing how Lefebvre relates to Marxist dialectics and spatial theory, this article draws heavily on the ideas presented in Mark Gottdiener, "A Marx for our time:
Henri Lefebvre and the production of space," Sociological Theory 11, no. 1 (1993):
129-134; Eric Sheppard, "Geographic Dialectics?" Environment and Planning A
40, no. 11 (2008): 2603-2612.
The idea that space can be treated as a field that is political and contested is articulated in Stuart Elden
The idea that space can be treated as a field that is political and contested is articulated in Stuart Elden, "There is a politics of space because space is political: Henri
Lefebvre and the production of space," Radical Philosophy Review 10, no. 2 (2007):
101-116; Lefebvre, Production, 33-34 and 38-46.
Thirdings, Representations, Reflections
- Jenny Bauer
Jenny Bauer, "Thirdings, Representations, Reflections," in Perspectives on Henri
Lefebvre: Theory, Practices and (Re)Readings, Jenny Bauer and Robert Fischer (Eds.)
(Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2019): 207-224.
Note that, in empirical exemplification, emphasis is placed on politically contested dynamics, representations, and discourses in the production of space in order to underscore the means by which different orientations to a space emerge
Note that, in empirical exemplification, emphasis is placed on politically contested
dynamics, representations, and discourses in the production of space in order
to underscore the means by which different orientations to a space emerge. See
Husik Ghulyan, "Lefebvre's production of space in the context of Turkey: A comprehensive literature survey," SAGE Open 9, no. 3 (2019): https://doi.org/10.1177
/2158244019870537.
For a detailed discussion on how antinomies and dualism between objectivity and subjectivity can be overcome in the works of Bourdieu, see Omar Lizardo
- Levi-Strauss
- Bourdieu Giddens
- Sewell
For a detailed discussion on how antinomies and dualism between objectivity and
subjectivity can be overcome in the works of Bourdieu, see Omar Lizardo, "Beyond
the antinomies of structure: Levi-Strauss, Giddens, Bourdieu, and Sewell," Theory
and Society 39, no. 6 (2010): 651-688.
Such epistemic insight calls into question the notion of objective reality from subjective prior positions. For a detailed discussion on how this epistemic insight goes to the roots of social science theory, see Timothy Rutzou
For instance, this epistemic orientation problematizes the links between realism,
rationalism, and relationalism. Such epistemic insight calls into question the notion of objective reality from subjective prior positions. For a detailed discussion on
how this epistemic insight goes to the roots of social science theory, see Timothy
Rutzou, "Re-imagining social science," Journal of Critical Realism 15, no. 4 (2016):
327-341.
For empirical exemplifications that implicitly rely on these theoretical foundations, see Kafui A. Attoh
For empirical exemplifications that implicitly rely on these theoretical foundations, see Kafui A. Attoh, "What kind of right is the right to the city?" Progress in
Human Geography 35, no. 5 (2011): 669-685; Doreen Massey, Space, Place and
Gender (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).
For an empirical case that implicitly holds this theoretical orientation towards conceived space, see Mark Purcell
For an empirical case that implicitly holds this theoretical orientation towards conceived space, see Mark Purcell, "Excavating Lefebvre: The right to the city and its
urban politics of the inhabitant," GeoJournal 58, no. 2 (2002): 99-108.
For a theoretical engagement on how Lefebvre effects the symbolic and semiotic studies of space, see Pentti Määttänen
For a theoretical engagement on how Lefebvre effects the symbolic and semiotic
studies of space, see Pentti Määttänen, "Semiotics of space: Peirce and Lefebvre,"
Semiotica 166 (2007): 453-461. For an empirical instance, see Andrzej Zieleniec,
"The right to write the city: Lefebvre and graffiti," Environnement Urbain 10 (2016):
https://doi.org/10.7202/1040597ar.
For a detailed discussion on the need for a newer relational vocabulary to theorize cities, agency, and citizenship, see Engin Isin
For a detailed discussion on the need for a newer relational vocabulary to theorize
cities, agency, and citizenship, see Engin Isin, ''Citizenship in flux: The figure of the
activist citizen'', Subjectivity 29, 367-388 (2009).
The production of space in metropolitan regions: A Lefebvrian analysis of governance and spatial change
See, for instance, the contexts in which these studies move beyond focusing on
only one element of the spatial triad: Michael Buser, "The production of space in
metropolitan regions: A Lefebvrian analysis of governance and spatial change,"
Planning Theory 11, no. 3 (2012): 279-298;