View source for Non-representational theory

'''Non-representational theory''' is the study of a specific [[Theory|theory]] focused on [[Social:Human geography|human geography]]. It is the work of Nigel Thrift (Warwick University).<ref>Thrift, N. 2000. "Non-representational theory" in RJ Johnston, D Gregory, G Pratt and M Watts (eds) The Dictionary of Human Geography (Blackwell, Oxford)</ref><ref>Thrift, N. 2007. ''Non-representational theory: Space, Politics, Affect'' (Routledge, London)</ref>  The theory is based on using [[Social:Social theory|social theory]], conducting [[Earth:Geography|geographical]] research, and the 'embodied experience.'<ref>McCormack, D.P., 2017. The circumstances of post‐phenomenological life worlds. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42(1), pp.2-13.</ref>
== Definition ==
Instead of studying and representing social relationships, non-representational theory focuses upon practices&nbsp;– how human and nonhuman formations are enacted or performed&nbsp;– not simply on what is produced.<ref name="Thrift, Nigel pp 124">Thrift, Nigel; 1997; 'The still point: expressive embodiment and dance', in Pile, S and Keith, M (eds.), ''Geographies of Resistance''; (Routledge) pp 124–151</ref> "First, it valorizes those processes  that operate before … conscious, reflective thought … [and] second, it insists on the  necessity of not prioritizing representations  as the primary epistemological vehicles through which knowledge is extracted from the world".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=McCormack|first1=Derek|date=2005|title=Diagramming Practice and Performance|url=http://www.envplan.com/abstract.cgi?id=d51j|journal=Society and Planning|volume=23|pages=119–147|doi=10.1068/d51j|s2cid=14878136|accessdate=1 January 2015}}</ref> Recent studies have examined a wide range of activities including dance,<ref name="Thrift, Nigel pp 124"/><ref>Derek, McCormack; 2003; 'Geographies for Moving Bodies: Thinking, Dancing, Spaces'; (Sage)</ref> musical performance,<ref>Morton, Frances; 2005; 'Performing ethnography: Irish traditional music sessions and new methodological spaces' (Taylor and Frances)</ref> walking,<ref>Wylie, John; 2005' A single day's walking: narrating self and landscape on the South West Coast Path' (Transactions of the British Geographers)</ref> gardening,<ref>Crouch, David; 2003; 'Performances and constitutions of natures: a consideration of the performance of lay geographies'</ref> rave,<ref>Saldanha; 2005; 'Trance and visibility at dawn: racial dynamics in Goa's rave scene' 2005</ref> listening to music<ref>Anderson; 2004; 'A Principle of Hope: Recorded Music, Listening Practices and the Immanence of Utopia'</ref> and children's play.<ref>Harker; 'Playing and affective time-spaces'</ref>

==Post-structuralist origins==
This is a post-structuralist theory inspired in part by the ideas of the [[Physicist|physicist]]-[[Biography:Philosopher|philosopher]] [[Biography:Niels Bohr|Niels Bohr]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bohr |first1=Niels |title=The Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr, Vol II, Essays 1932 – 1957, On Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge |date=1963 |publisher=Ox Bow Press |location=Woodbridge, Conn. |isbn=0918024528 |pages=101}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Barad |first1=Karen |title=Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning |date=2007 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, NC |isbn=9780822339175 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barad |first1=Karen |title=Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/345321# |journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society |year=2003 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=801–831 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |doi=10.1086/345321 |s2cid=16424758 |accessdate=25 March 2020}}</ref> and thinkers such as [[Biography:Michel Foucault|Michel Foucault]], [[Biography:Gilles Deleuze|Gilles Deleuze]], [[Biography:Félix Guattari|Félix Guattari]], [[Biography:Bruno Latour|Bruno Latour]], [[Biography:Michel Serres|Michel Serres]] and [[Biography:Karen Barad|Karen Barad]], and by [[Philosophy:Phenomenology|phenomenonologists]] such as [[Biography:Martin Heidegger|Martin Heidegger]] and [[Biography:Maurice Merleau-Ponty|Maurice Merleau-Ponty]].<ref name="Smith, Richard G. pp 67 - 84">Smith, Richard G., 2003; "Baudrillard's nonrepresentational theory: burn the signs and journey without maps" in ''Environment and Planning D: Society and Space'' 21; pp 67–84</ref> More recently it considers views from political science (including ideas about [[Social:Radical democracy|radical democracy]]) and anthropological discussions of the material dimensions of human life.{{Citation needed|date=December 2017}} It parallels the conception of "hybrid geographies" developed by Sarah Whatmore.<ref>Whatmore, S. 2002. ''Hybrid Geographies'' (Sage)</ref>

==Criticism==
Critics have suggested that Thrift's use of the term "non-representational theory" is problematic, and that other non-representational theories could be developed. Richard G. Smith said that Baudrillard's work could be considered a "non-representational theory", for example,<ref name="Smith, Richard G. pp 67 - 84"/> which has fostered some debate.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}} In 2005, Hayden Lorimer (Glasgow University) said that the term "more-than-representational" was preferable.<ref>Lorimer, H., 2005; "Cultural geography: the busyness of being 'more-than-representational'", ''Progress in Human Geography'' 29, 1 (2005) pp. 83–94</ref>

==References==
<references />

Macpherson, H. (2010), Non‐Representational Approaches to Body–Landscape Relations. Geography Compass, 4: 1-13. doi:10.1111/j.1749-8198.2009.00276.x

{{Human geography}}

[[Category:Enactive cognition]]

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