Deterritorialization

Steve Spence
Updated: 04 September 2019

Introduction

These slides are tied to our second reading of Arjun Appadurai's “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy” (L&B 100-103).

 

The scapes now follow “nonisomorphic” paths

Isomorphic means “being of identical or similar form, shape, or structure,” according to Merriam Webster.

Here's Appadurai's quote:

“First, people, machinery, money, images, and ideas now follow increasingly nonisomorphic paths...” (99).

Thus, he's saying that if you traced these various flows on a map, you would see that they now travel in many different directions. The volume and speed of each flow differs dramatically as well.

This is new. In past eras, international flows traveled along the same routes and connected the same places, and they increased and decreased in parallel.

Deterritorialization

Oxford Dictionaries defines deterritorialization as "The severance of social, political, or cultural practices from their native places and populations." Appadurai would add that cultural identities as well as practices are becoming deterritorialized.

Example: Imagine that you have a paper map of the world and an ink pen. Now place a dot on the map to represent the location of every person in the world who thinks of Jamaican culture as a key part of their identity. Significant clusters would soon become evident in many diverse places, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and in U.S. cities like New York, Buffalo, and Miami. Think about how different this map looks today than it would have 100 years ago.

You have just mapped the deterritorialization of "Jamaican-ness" as a core identity.

Deterritorialization and Jamaica, continued

It's also worth noting the mediascapes and ideoscapes play important roles in this trend, since both reggae music and the Rastafari religion are now significant transnational phenomena.

Deterritorialization and media (Appadurai 100)

At the same time, deterritorialization creates new markets for film companies, art impresarios, and travel agencies, which thrive on the need of the deterritorialized population for contact with its homeland.

Economics shapes but doesn't determine global cultures

Appadurai is not an economic determinist.

In the final full paragraph on page 102, Appadurai begins an extended discussion of links between the cultural and the economic. He wants to complicate the traditional Marxist notion that economics is the foundation that determines everything else, including cultural identities.

But he does argue that economic forces increasingly challenge the authority of states (local and national governments). The problems posed to the nation-state by both economics and deterritorialization are central to pages 101-02.

Following his argument requires understanding several key terms that social scientists use differently than the words' meanings in everyday language. These terms are

  • nation
  • state
  • nation-state
  • agency

 

'

Nation = a group of people

For social scientists like Appadurai, a nation is a group of people linked by a common culture and heritage. Usually these people speak the same language. The Finns speak Finnish, for example, and the Japanese people speak Japanese.

Note that you don't need to control territory in order to be a nation. The Kurds speak Kurdish and are linked by a common cultural and heritage. In other words, they are a nation.

But there is no Kurdistan. Instead, the Kurdish people are officially citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, or Turkey.

State = a government

For social scientists like Appadurai, a state is a government. It's an organization that has sovereignty (i.e. control) over a defined area of land.

Sometimes a state's power is contested. ISIS, for example, claimed control of territory in the countries of Iraq and Syria. It called itself the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant."

Pop Quiz

Which of the following is a state, by this definition?

  • City of Atlanta
  • State of Georgia
  • United States of America

Answer: All of the above.

Nation-State = both

The hyphenated term nation-state combines the meanings of each separate term. It designates a group of people linked by culture and heritage (a nation) who are self-governing (a state). Finland is the land controlled by and for the Finnish people, for example, and Japan belongs to the Japanese.

For decades it has been broadly accepted that all nations should aspire to the status of nation-states. The leaders of established nation-states often tried to shape the borders of new countries in order to limit their territory to the homelands of a single national group.

But this is one of Appadurai's key points: In our globalizing present, real-life nation-states are under severe strain. Global communication and transportation networks are causing a widespread deterritorialization of identities. As a result, nation-states increasingly struggle to command the loyalties and control the behaviors of citizens and residents within "their" territories.

Agency

Appadurai also uses the term agency, which is a key concept in cultural and media studies. Understanding what Appadurai and other authors mean by it is crucial to understanding their arguments.

As used in cultural studies (including this class), agency refers to the ability to make choices and take action that make a real difference in the world.

Thomas Anderson in The Matrix = No Agency

The Matrix's vat The Matrix's vat 2

Fetishes hide a lack of agency

In his sections on the global economy, Appadurai argues that today various fetishisms mask the real conditions under which we all live. In fact, "the real seat of agency" in the global economy is neither the consumer nor the nation-state, but instead the transnational corporation: "the producer and the many forces that constitute production" (102).

Other Key Points

Appadurai's discussion of mediascapes makes the important point that the lines between realistic (e.g. news reporting) and fictional (e.g. cinematic) media are increasingly blurred.

The Enlightenment world view and its "master term" democracy is a globally influential ideoscape. Appadurai notes, however, that such keywords mean many different things to many different people, and thus can cause translation problems (99).