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E-book Empty Spaces : Perspectives on Emptiness in Modern History

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Penilaian

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Emptiness is a challenging concept: slippery in definition and elastic in meaning. It implies a total lack of content: people, buildings, objects or markings on a map. In the abstract, emptiness equals nothingness, a perfect void. Yet when one thinks of places on the globe that one might associate with being empty – the Gobi or Sahara deserts, the depths of the Pacific ocean – it is quickly evident that none is truly devoid of everything. The most cursory survey of these two expanses would reveal an array of contents: mineral deposits, complex eco-systems, transitory forms of life, migrants and long-standing patterns of circulation and movement. Even the ultimate vacuum – the cosmos – is full of planets, stars, asteroids, debris and space junk. Yet these contents do not necessarily contradict a palpable identification of emptiness. In this sense, emptiness is inherently relational, defined as much by what does not fill or is expected to fill a space as by what is in fact there.Emptiness is therefore less the result of site-specific quantitative assessment and more something perceived through comparison with other places. Empty sites appear emptier than elsewhere, containing fewer people, fewer signs of life, fewer traces of human activity. As a state, emptiness necessarily invokes what is not present; it is in some ways a condition of absence. It thus follows that as emptiness is a matter of perception, it is a highly subjective phenomenon, dependent to a large extent on who is doing the observing and what the subject expects to find. What is devoid of objects or meaning to one person or group might very well be ‘full’ to another. Taking this one step further, emptiness is thus deeply rooted in how places are imagined and, as will be shown in this volume, a potent tool in the articulation of power between individuals and collectives. With this in mind, emptiness cannot be accepted at face value; it is by no means an objective state. As Brian Harley suggests in the epigraph above, absences – in his case, literally blank spaces on early modern European maps – must be subject to historical investigation and critical analysis.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

114 JAM e

Penerbit

London : University of London Press., 2019

Deskripsi Fisik

230 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781909646520

Klasifikasi

114

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Space

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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