Spaces of Contention

Spatial organization interacts significantly with contentious politics, but figures uncertainly in current theories of the subject. A review of writing on the subject permits a rough distinction among bare space analyses using location and time-distance for non-spatial effects, textured space analyses introducing location and time-distance as explicit causes and effects, and place analyses treating interaction among location, time-distance, and representations of spaces as explicit causes and effects. Drawing chiefly on examples from England and France between 1750 and 1900, observations on four varieties of space-contention interaction—the geography of policing, safe spaces, spatial claim making, and control of places as stakes of contention—illustrate the promise of place analyses for new investigations. An ample bibliography displays the range of resources available to students of contention.