of places and non-places

I have been recently reading work from Marc Augé, an anthropologist from France who is known for his concept of supermodernity, places and non-places.

As a philosopher, modernity and postmodernity are well known terms. However, I have never heard of supermodernity and decided to read and write about this concept. And this is how this page was born.

What defines supermodernity, is the excess of three dimensions of our lives. There is an excess of time, an excess of space, and an excess of individualism.

These excesses result in one thing: we have to actively pursue meaning and give meaning to impulses we receive, because there is so much to give meaning to.

The excess of time exists because of media, movie, photography and everything that allows us to glance at the future, past or present. Social media increasingly allows us to interact with the past.

The excess of space is twofold: for starters, we experience an excess of space because of the greatly improved infrastructure. The world has become smaller, due to our ability to to perceive and communicate with the whole world. This became increasingly clear during COVID-19, when all work-related events were held through video-calls. And second of all, the world has grown. Our ability to travel to space, to see near the edges of our galaxy, or to reason about the Big Bang and beyond.

The rise in individualism has to do with the first two dimensions: now, more than ever it has become important to hermeneutically decide how you relate to impulses. Once again, because there is an excess of time and space.

This allows Augé to define the anthropological place, and by extension, the non-place. An anthropological place is a space that allows the subject to LIVE history, to engage socially and to derive their identity from it: “People want them to be places of identity, of relations and of history” (p.53).

The non-place is it’s counterpart: a space which does not allow the living of history, sociability and derivation of identity.

Augé gives a few examples. For instance, the airport is a great example of a space which does not naturally create possibilities of social interactions, of identity or history to be written.

The reader must note that whether something is a place or a non-place is purely subjective. A pilot might derive – at least part of – his identity to the airport. And he might have meaningful relations with co-workers or clients. On the other hand, a tourist might perceive the airport purely as a means to an end.

I am curious however, whether we can find objective standards in these subjective places or non-places. Can we actively create places? And how do we achieve this? Can we make non-places more meaningful? Are there gray areas, that are between places and non-places?

That might be the subject of my next blog.

Sources

Augé, M., (1995). Non-places: introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity. London: Verso.