Fixed spatial representations inevitably distort the fluid practical spaces they depict

Evidence

Since any system of representation is itself a fixed spatial construct, it automatically converts the fluid, confused, but nonetheless objective spaces and time of work and social repro­ duction into a fixed schema. ‘Just as the map replaces the discon­ tinuous patchy space of practical paths by the homogeneous, con­ tinuous space of geometry, so the calendar substitutes a linear, homo­ geneous, continuous time for practical time, which is made up of incommensurable islands of duration each with its own rhythm.’ The analyst, Bourdieu continues, may win ‘the privilege of totalization’ and secure ‘the means for apprehending the logic of the system which a partial or discrete view would miss,’ but there is also ‘every likelihood that he will overlook the change in status to which he is subjecting practice and its product,’ and consequently ‘insist on trying to answer questions which are not and cannot be questions for practice.’ By treating certain idealized conceptions of space and time as real, Enlightenment thinkers ran the danger of confining the free flow of human experience and practice to rationalized con­ figurations. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1608

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sets up the core distinction between geometric/homogeneous representation and incommensurable practical space-time, foundational for the book’s periodization argument.
• XREF: Connects to de Certeau’s map/tour distinction and Bourdieu’s critique of objectivism — useful against the rival periodization account’s treatment of representation. — connects to: All systems of representation spatialize and thereby distort lived experience — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 1293; Spatial order operates by presenting space as neutral containers that can be filled; Cognitive mapping cancels out its own intended transcendence by re-spatializing. (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• All systems of representation spatialize and thereby distort lived experience #expands (0.92) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1293
• Writing about fluid urban phenomena necessarily distorts their shifting character #exemplifies (0.88) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 693
• Cognitive mapping cancels out its own intended transcendence by re-spatializing. #expands (0.82)
• Spatial mapping incapacity cripples political as much as urban experience. #expands (0.78)
• Spatial order operates by presenting space as neutral containers that can be filled #complicates (0.75)
• Maps can construct territory rather than merely represent it #qualifies (0.75) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 661