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Rejecting static and reductionist understandings of subjectivity, this book asks how people find their place in the world. Mapping the Subject is an inter-disciplinary exploration of subjectivity, which focuses on the importance of space in the constitution of acting, thinking, feeling individuals. The authors develop their arguments through detailed case studies and clear theoretical expositions. Themes discussed are organised into four parts: constructing the subject, sexuality and subjectivity, the limits of identity, and the politics of the subject. There is, here, a commitment to mapping the subject - a subject which is in some ways fluid, in other ways fixed; which is located in constantly unfolding power, knowledge and social relationships. This book is, moreover, about new maps for the subject.
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MAPPING THE SUBJECT The human subject is difficult to map for numerous reasons. How do you map something that does not have precise boundaries, that is a set of different, intersecting and sometimes conflicting positions, that is always on the move and only partially locatable in space and time? The essays collected in this book untangle these difficulties in new and exciting ways through revealing case study material and sophisticated theoretical expositions. Mapping the Subject contains a wide-ranging review of the literature on subjectivity across the social and human sciences. Essays are subdivided under four main headings: constructing the subject, sexuality and subjectivity, the limits of identity and the politics of the subject. Part I establishes the idea that the subject is constructed and makes this clear through detailed histories of the subject. In Part II, in their research on the place of sexuality in subjectivity and subjectivity in sexuality, the authors show that sexuality cannot be assumed to be natural. Authors continually come up against the limits to subjectivity. Part III, therefore, takes issue with the idea of a singular, self-contained identity, and asks how is it possible to make sense of ourselves when the boundaries which seemingly tell us who ‘we’ really are appear incoherent, or fragmented, or fuzzy, or somehow unreal, or fluid or on the move. Power relations and the effects of power are consistent themes which run throughout this book, so in the fourth and final part, authors make space for a politicised subject, dealing explicitly with relations of power, whether organised around ‘gender’, ‘race’, ‘class’ or other kinds of difference. The authors gathered in this collection take up the challenge to consider the place of the subject anew. There is a commitment to mapping the subject—a subject which is in some ways detachable, reversible and changeable; in other ways fixed, solid and dependable; located in, with and by power, knowledge and social relationships. This book is, moreover, about new maps for the subject: it seeks new spaces, new politics, new possibilities. Steve Pile is Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Open University. Nigel Thrift is Profressor of Geography at the University of Bristol.
MAPPING THE SUBJECT geographies of cultural transformation Edited by
STEVE PILE and NIGEL THRIFT
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1995 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Editorial matter © 1995 Steve Pile and Nigel Thrift Individual contributions © 1995 respective contributor Collection © Routledge All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any e