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Theory Workshop: Re-configuring Space and Representation

Theoretical approaches, empiricial findings, conceptual reflections

Veranstaltungsdaten

Our research network dedicates itself to political, social, economic and cultural change in contemporary societies of the MENA region. In doing so, we understand re-configurations to be changes within systems of interaction and of their material and symbolic structuration. Following the “spatial turn” in social sciences and humanities, our research projects seek to examine the spatialization of social practice as well as the re-configurations of space and spatial representation.

Drawing on constructivist approaches to space, we consider regions such as the “Middle East and North Africa” to be historically constituted products of human actions, thus being fuzzy in boundaries, fluid with respect to scale, mobile in terms of interaction networks and subject to recurrent transformation. In the same vein, representations of space are often subject to change and contestation. Thus, we are particularly concerned with the dialectics of symbolic and material spatialization.

This workshop offers colleagues from the CNMS and Marburg University an opportunity to discuss and reflect on theoretical approaches as well as empirical research on the relationship of space, representations and change. At the same time, we seek not only to discuss the limits of “MENA” as a representation of social order (and lastly as an area of study), but also different approaches to space like “spaces of belonging” and “spaces of emotions” as well as the “blurring of scales”.

Kontakt:

Dr. Andrea Fischer-Tahir
Dr. Perrin Lachenal
PD Dr. Steffen Wippel