Teaching and Learning Guide for: Thinking Beyond Place: The Responsibilities of a Relational Spatial Politics

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Thinking Beyond Place:The Responsibilities of a Relational Spatial Politics

Jonathan DarlingUniversity of Manchester

This guide accompanies the following article: Jonathan Darling, ‘Thinking Beyond Place: The Responsibilities of a Relational Spatial Politics’, GeographyCompass 3(5) (2009): 1938–1954, doi: 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2009.00262.x

Author’s Introduction

Accounts of space and place as relational constructions have become increasingly domi-nant within contemporary human geography as cities in particular are presented as sitessituated within networks and flows of connection and interaction. Such work has led to aseries of political assertions and subsequent contests. In particular, it is argued that a rela-tional account of place demands a focus on: responsibility both within place, to internalheterogeneity, and beyond place, to the links and connections that sustain place. In sucha politics, moments of negotiation and the articulation of multiple demands take centrestage. A number of geographers have begun to challenge such accounts of political prac-tice, arguing that politics remains both a territorially bound, and relationally connected,phenomena. This paper examines these debates over the constitution of place politics, inorder to suggest that they might help to develop geography’s sense of ethical engagementwith both distant, and proximate, strangers.

Author Recommends

1. Massey, D. (2007). World city. Cambridge: Polity.A clear and accessible account of how a city, in this case London, is constructedthrough an array of connections and relations both to difference within and beyondits limits. Massey begins to articulate an account of ‘politics beyond place’ here andclearly outlines the varied spatial scales wherein the responsibilities of place might bedrawn.

2. Malpass, A., Cloke, P., Barnett, C. and Clarke, N. (2007). Fairtrade urban-ism? The politics of place beyond place in the Bristol fair-trade city campaign.International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 31, pp. 633–645, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2007.00747.xMalpass et al. provide one of the best applications of Massey’s account of a ‘politicsbeyond place’, considering how a relational account of the city might be applied to theFairtrade cities movement. They consider issues of ethical consumption and relations ofdistance and proximity through interrogating the local–global narratives deployed to pro-mote an idea of fair trade relations within place.

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3. Massey, D. (2004). Geographies of responsibility. Geografiska Annaler 86 (B),pp. 5–18, doi: 10.1111/j.0435-3684.2004.00150.xThis is the paper in which Massey begins to consider the ethical implications of relationalthought, through posing a challenge to think politically, and responsibly, about the con-nections of place. Massey argues for a politics of connectivity, yet one which is sensitiveto the specificities, and responsibilities, of place, and in doing so begins to consider howsuch a politics might be developed in London, a charge she develops further in WorldCity. On the political implications of relational thought, see also the other papers in thisspecial issue of Geografiska Annaler.

4. Popke, E. J. (2007). Geography and ethics: spaces of cosmopolitan responsi-bility. Progress in Human Geography 31, pp. 509–518. doi: 10.1177/0309132507077090This paper provides an up-to-date review of recent work on ethics within geographywith a particular focus upon issues of cosmopolitan thought and responsibility to strangersboth proximate and distant. Popke provides a clear review of different approaches to thedemands of urban cosmopolitanism and argues for a localised, and open, engagement withdifferent geographical imaginations placing in question as a result many of our currentspatial certainties.

5. Smith, D. M. (1998). How far should we care? On the spatial scope of benefi-cence. Progress in Human Geography 22, pp. 15–38, doi: 10.1191/030913298670636601This is an agenda-setting paper for considering the role that distance and proximity playwithin ethical discussions and decisions. Smith considers the history of geography’s engage-ment with ethical theories and clearly examines the challenges posed by both partialist andimpartialist accounts of ethical action. Drawing on feminist accounts of an ethic of care,Smith suggests that geography has a key role to play in envisioning an account of ethicalthought and action, which is neither a parochial partiality nor a dispassionate impartial uni-versality, but which places the negotiations of demands for care as central.

6. Allen, J. (2008). Claiming connections: a distant world of sweatshops? In:Barnett, C., Robinson, J. and Rose, G. (eds) Geographies of globalisation: a demand-ing world. London: Sage ⁄Milton Keynes, The Open UniversityChapter one of this edited collection examines the spatial connections of contemporaryconsumption, in particular through the case of sweatshop labour exploitation. In a clearlywritten and accessible chapter, Allen considers how issues of exploitation are activelydistanced from consumers, while antisweatshop movements use a vocabulary of connec-tion and responsibility to make such issues proximate and demanding. Further chapters inthis collection on the demands of citizenship (chapter three) and international politics(chapter eight) are also recommended.

7. Castree, N. (2004). Differential geographies: place, indigenous rights and‘local’ resources. Political Geography 23, pp. 133–167, doi: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2003.09.010This paper provides a clear overview, and critique, of different areas of relational thoughtwithin geography. It examines the contradictions within relational accounts of spatialpractice and politics, suggesting a more nuanced take on sociospatial relations. Empiri-cally, Castree provides a detailed reading of the tensions and political negotiations of the

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global indigenous peoples’ movement, negotiations that he argues are shot through withdifferent spatial imaginaries.

8. Amin, A. and Thrift, N. (2002). Cities: reimagining the urban. Cambridge: Polity.This is a book that altered the ways in which geographers approach the city. Amin andThrift’s analysis of the interwoven nature of propinquity and flow within the city(chapter two) was one of the first examples of a relational approach being taken to theurban. The book also begins the process of teasing out many of the political implicationsof a more mobile account of urban life and spatiality.

Online Materials

1. Fairtrade Townshttp://www.fairtradetowns.orgThe website of the Fairtrade Foundation’s Fairtrade Towns initiative. The websiteincludes details on those towns and cities currently holding fairtrade status, how cities,and citizens, can become involved in the campaign and an array of resources for support-ing and starting local campaigns. Here there is a focus on how local actions within com-munities around consumption patterns and decisions can have widespread impacts onlivelihoods and communities across the globe.

2. SweatFree Communitieshttp://www.sweatfree.orgThe website of a community based social movement promoting local, place specific,action to challenge the exploitation of workers in sweatshops internationally. The move-ment focuses on activism to promote sweatfree procurement measures among localauthorities and organisations as a means to take responsibility for local consumption. Thewebsite thus contains details of their Sweatfree Cities initiative as a grassroots effort toencourage the adoption of sweatfree procurement on a city-wide basis.

3. National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaignshttp://www.ncadc.org.ukNCADC is a campaigning organisation focused on the rights of asylum seekers and refu-gees in the UK. In particular, the group assist in campaigns against deportations and lobbyfor the halting of unjust and inhuman deportation practices. Their website contains detailsof past and present campaigns, how UK residents can become involved in challengingdeportations, and focuses upon the ethical responsibility of citizens to do so.

Sample Syllabus

The series of discussion sessions detailed below are conceived as part of a wider courseon contemporary spatial and political theory. It is intended that such a course wouldreflect a mix of theoretically and empirically centred work. The aim of this section of thecourse would be to examine what political and ethical implications arise from relationalaccounts of space and place.

Week I: Introducing relational spatial thoughtThis session introduces this area of geographical thought by examining how space hasbeen conceived as a relational entity. The distinction between notions of place as a

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bounded container of social activity and identity and relational suggestions that places arethe articulation of bundles of connections is emphasised as the basis for differing politicalpositions and stances in relation to calls for ethical responsibility.

ReadingAmin, A. (2002). Spatialities of globlization. Environment and Planning A 34, pp. 385–399.Darling, J. (2009). Thinking beyond place: the responsibilities of a relational spatial poli-tics. Geography Compass 3, pp. 1938–1954.Harvey, D. (2006). Space as a keyword. In: Castree, N. and Gregory, D. (eds) DavidHarvey: a critical reader. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 270–294.Massey, D. (2005). For space. London: Sage.Murdoch, J. (2006). Post-structural geography: a guide to relational space. London: Sage.Thrift, N. (1996). Spatial formations. London: Sage.

Week II: The politics of placeRelational accounts of space and place are argued to construct a particular form of politi-cal engagement, one centred upon both dealing with the claims of proximate others andnegotiating the demands of more distant connections. A distinction is drawn herebetween inward focused ‘place-bound’ political projects, and more ‘progressive’ and‘outward looking’ ‘place-based’ political projects.

ReadingAmin, A. (2004). Regions unbound: towards a new politics of place. Geografiska Annaler86 (B), pp. 33–44.Amin, A. and Thrift, N. (2005). Citizens of the world: seeing the city as a site of interna-tional influence. Harvard International Review 27, pp. 14–17.Malpass, A., Cloke, P., Barnett, C. and Clarke, N. (2007). Fairtrade urbanism? The poli-tics of place beyond place in the Bristol Fairtrade City Campaign. International Journal ofUrban and Regional Research 31, pp. 633–645.Massey, D. (1999). Spaces of politics. In: Massey, D., Allen, J. and Sarre, P. (eds) Humangeography today. Cambridge: Polity, pp. 279–294.Massey, D. (2007). World city. Cambridge: Polity.May, J. (1996). Globalization and the politics of place: place and identity in an innerLondon neighbourhood. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 21, pp. 194–214.

Week III: Territorial challengesA number of areas of work have begun to challenge the political assumptions of relationalmodes of thought. In particular, work on geographical regions has suggested that the dis-tinctions between territorial, place-bound politics and a more relational, place-basedaccount are drawn too tightly. The critiques of relational thought posed here suggest thatthere need not be a privileging of a particular form of political spatiality at the expense ofall others.

ReadingCastree, N. (2004). Differential geographies: place, indigenous rights and ‘local’ resources.Political Geography 23, pp. 133–167.Jessop, B., Brenner, B. and Jones, M. (2008). Theorizing socio-spatial relations. Environ-ment and Planning D: Society and Space 26, pp. 389–401.Jones, M. (2009). Phase space: geography, relational thinking, and beyond. Progress inHuman Geography 33, pp. 487–506.



MacLeod, G. and Jones, M. (2007). Territorial, scalar, networked, connected: in whatsense a ‘regional world’? Regional Studies 41, pp. 1171–1191.

Week IV: Distant demands and ethical geographyResearch on ethics within geography has focused in part upon the demands that distantobligations pose, and on the role that distance might play in moral partiality. A relationalaccount of space begins to question some of the spatial assumptions that underpin suchwork, and argues for a more political sense of spatial implication and responsibility. Arelational account of responsibility is therefore seen to act as an intervention into discus-sions over moral partiality.ReadingBarnett, C. and Land, D. (2007). Geographies of generosity: beyond the ‘moral turn’.Geoforum 38, pp. 1065–1075.Corbridge, S. (1993). Marxisms, modernities, and moralities: development praxis and theclaims of distant strangers. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 11, pp. 449–472.Darling, J. (2009). Thinking beyond place: the responsibilities of a relational spatial poli-tics. Geography Compass 3, pp. 1938–1954.Massey, D. (2004). Geographies of responsibility. Geografiska Annaler 86 (B), pp. 5–18.Smith, D. M. (1998). How far should we care? On the spatial scope of beneficence.Progress in Human Geography 22, pp. 15–38.

Week V: Placing responsibilitiesThis session focuses upon examining how geographers have begun to put ideas of therelational responsibilities of place into action. There has been a focus here on both tracingresponsibilities temporally, through issues such as reparations for slavery and indigenousland rights movements and, spatially, through the example of sweatshop campaigns.

ReadingAllen, J. (2008). Claiming connections: a distant world of sweatshops? In: Barnett, C.,Robinson, J. and Rose, G. (eds) Geographies of globalisation: a demanding world. London:Sage ⁄Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 7–54.Gatens, M. and Lloyd, G. (1999). Collective imaginings: Spinoza, past and present. London:Routledge.Pile, S. (2008). A haunted world: the unsettling demands of a globalised past. In: Barnett,C., Robinson, J. and Rose, G. (eds) Geographies of globalisation: a demanding world.London: Sage ⁄Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 237–287.Young, I. M. (2004). Responsibility and global labor justice. The Journal of Political Philos-ophy 12, pp. 365–388.

Week VI: Negotiating spatial grammarsThis final session looks towards how these varied stands of political negotiation anddemand might be taken forward through recent work within geography on the spatialitiesof social movements. Here, a relational account of space is taken as simply one form ofpolitical articulation and is seen to interact with other political scales and practices.Responsibility, it is argued, arises from pursuing socially just policies and politics throughthe intersection of different spatial articulations.

ReadingAllen, J. and Cochrane, A. (2007). Beyond the territorial fix: regional assemblages, poli-tics and power. Regional Studies 41, pp. 1161–1176.

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Beaumont, J. and Nicholls, W. (2007). Between relationality and territoriality: investigat-ing the geographies of justice movements in The Netherlands and the United States.Environment and Planning A 39, pp. 2554–2574.Massey, D. (2008). Geographies of solidarities. In: Clark, N., Massey, D. and Sarre, P.(eds) Material geographies: a world in the making. London: Sage ⁄ Milton Keynes, The OpenUniversity, pp. 311–362.Nicholls, W. (2009). Place, networks, space: theorising the geographies of social move-ments Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 34, pp. 78–93.Popke, E. J. (2007). Geography and ethics: spaces of cosmopolitan responsibility. Progressin Human Geography 31, pp. 509–518.

Focus Questions

1. Where do the responsibilities of a given place begin and end?2. Who should decide upon these responsibilities?3. What challenges does a campaign such as the Fairtrade Towns movement pose to our

sense of responsibility towards others?4. In what ways might geographical distance impact on our accounts of responsibility?

What examples are there of this?5. Is a relational account of place illustrative of a cosmopolitan outlook?



Documents

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Thinking Beyond Place: The Responsibilities of a Relational Spatial Politics