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The space between us: Opening remarks on the concept of dwelling

Harrison, P.

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Abstract

Somewhat surprisingly the concept of dwelling remains largely unconsidered within contemporary geographical thought. Despite signs of a renewed interest in the term it remains all but bereft of a sustained critical appraisal and as a consequence firmly tied to the name and writing of Martin Heidegger. The aim of this paper is to begin to open the concept up beyond this attachment and to provide a rationale for its reassessment. Through a double reading of dwelling, once via Heidegger and again via Emmanuel Levinas, I offer a twofold consideration of how the concept can be assembled, orientated, and organised. Where Heidegger organises and articulates the concept around an enclosed figure being-at-home-in-the-world for Levinas dwelling gains its significance from a constitutive openness to the incoming of the other. These are two accounts, then, which differ radically in their apprehension of the concept and in the unfolding of its implications but which agree on the central importance of the concept in the determination, figuring, and phrasing of subjectivity, sociality, and signification. Ultimately, what emerges from these opening remarks is a depiction of two attempts to make thought respond to and reckon with the event of space: two attempts to bring to thought the space between us.

Citation

Harrison, P. (2007). The space between us: Opening remarks on the concept of dwelling. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 25(4), 625-647. https://doi.org/10.1068/d365t

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2007
Deposit Date Feb 13, 2008
Journal Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
Print ISSN 0263-7758
Electronic ISSN 1472-3433
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 25
Issue 4
Pages 625-647
DOI https://doi.org/10.1068/d365t
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1563912
Publisher URL http://www.envplan.com.ezphost.dur.ac.uk/abstract.cgi?id=d365t



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