August 01, 2005
Rob Shields
Thinking Space: Exploring the Social Dimension
"Even when we enter a physical space, we enter a virtual space as well; we cannot experience or comprehend any space without the filter of memory and consciousness. It is also, according to Shields, difficult to 'imagine futures which are other than the way things are.' How can the sociologist help in this process? When the warp and weave of the fabric of our lives becomes visible to us, we are able to see more clearly the values, power structures, rituals, and myths at play even in the supposed 'empty' spaces in which we circulate and live our lives. Then, Shields argues, we have a better understanding of where we, as individuals and as communities, stand in relation to those competing discourses, values, and power systems and how we are defined by them. Armed with this understanding of the virtual spaces in which we exist, we can be empowered to engage, resist and alter them, and perhaps then imagine a future which is just a little bit different than the way things are today..." From Thinking Space: Exploring the Social Dimension by Anne Bailey, University of Alberta's Work of Arts magazine, pp.4-5. [blogged by Rob on Space and Culture]
Posted by jo at August 1, 2005 10:43 AM
