Practising Spatial Theories Notes
Inhoud
Lecture 1 – Introduction – Francesco Colona – 27 January 2025.............................2
Seminar 1 – Reading lab: Reading theory to practice theory – Alana Osbourne –
29 January 2025..................................................................................................... 4
Workshop 1 – Analytical Writing. Part 1: Prewriting Activities – Griet Coupé – 3
February 2025........................................................................................................ 5
Workshop 2 – Analytical Writing. Part 2: Revising strategies – Griet Coupé – 5
February 2025........................................................................................................ 8
Lecture 2 – Introduction to Structuration Theory: From Giddens to Bourdieu – Joris
Schapendonk – 10 February 2025........................................................................11
Seminar 2 – Coaching Session Structuration – Joris Schapendonk – 13 February
2025..................................................................................................................... 19
Lecture 3 – Chomsky/Foucault: On Human Nature – Olivier Thomas Kramsch – 17
February 2025...................................................................................................... 20
Seminar 3 – On Human Nature – Olivier Thomas Kramsch – 19 February 2025. . .22
Lecture 4 – Materiality, Agency and Politics – Francesco Colona – 24 February
2025..................................................................................................................... 23
Seminar 4 – Materiality & Lithium – Francesco Colona – 26 February 2025.........26
Lecture 5 – Feminist and Queer Theory - Alana Osbourne – 10 March 2025........30
Seminar 5 – Feminist Theories Workshop - Alana Osbourne – 12 March 2025.....34
,Lecture 1 – Introduction – Francesco Colona
– 27 January 2025
“The most practical is having some set of theories.”
Theory can be:
- Framing
- Guiding
- Explaining
- Predicting
- Interpreting
- Synthesising
Are interdependent.
Strong vs. weak theory
Strong theory: grand generalizations, totalizing and teleological (says
something about the end goal)
o “This is how it works!”
Weak theory: localized purview, limited claim and openness to doubt and
contingency
o “This is how it might be working, in this specific context But it could
be otherwise.”
o “Theory in this vein operates more like a flashlight rather than the
sun.”
Problem of the label: “criticism that the term weak “sits at the central a dense
array of slurs by which marginal subjects have been kept marginal””.
- Strength in weakness
o Welcomes uncertainty and inconclusiveness that are a reality of the
social world and useful, for instance, to represent underrepresented.
- Weakness in strength
o Totalizing generalizations do not pay attention to diversity of people
in the social world.
Label is just a way to make sense of things.
Theory is a practical skill: theorizing
- Different disciplines different ways of doing theory
- Practical type of knowledge
- Cannot theorize without knowing how to use concepts, analogies, different
ways to explain
- therefore you need to know concepts first!
- You cannot theorize without observation.
o Otherwise you may also lose track of reality.
o Theory to form your observation, observation to make theory again.
Dualisms of the course:
- Empirics vs. theory
, o Learning objective 2: to use and apply each theoretical approach
discussed during the course to analyse an empirical case study
o Example gentrification
Observation of phenomenon of gentrification, different
theoretical explanations (supply-side and demand-side) for
empirical case, this you can check again with empirics
Use of word gentrification for naming a phenomenon.
Different ways how people interpret the concept.
o Social theory as a filter.
Not all theory (filters) can do the same thing: some highlight
structural factors, other individual ones
No theory/filter is ever neutral
Always politics or personal view involved
Some filter theories are better or more useful to look at
certain phenomena, other and others???
Therefore no theory/filter can highlight everything all at once
- Structure vs. agency
o Learning objective 1: to understand and summarize the key
concepts: ideas associated with the theories and texts that we
discussed in class, with a focus on issues of agency vs. structure.
o Agency tends to be associated with human creativity and social
action (and individual will or choices)
E.g. economic rationality
o Structure with patterned relations, with constraints upon action
E.g. Karl Marx: system oppression leads to revolution
o Analytical primacy: agency or structure? It means giving priority
to, emphasising, one aspect (agency or structure) in the way we
look at the social world and spatial phenomena. It means that one
theory explains or describe social changes and spatial phenomena,
by focusing mainly on agency and action or – alternatively – on
social structure.
o Example gentrification
Supply-side gentrification with broader dynamics explains
gentrification as a structural phenomenon while demand-side
gentrification explains it as a agency phenomenon.
o Not real things out there, theoretical concepts
Social theory’s concepts and ways to look at the world and
explain it
You can agree or disagree
, Seminar 1 – Reading lab: Reading theory to
practice theory – Alana Osbourne – 29
January 2025
Reading/watching a film is learning about someone’s view of world.
Reading theory is the same, it is reading about how something works / could
work. It’s political.
How to read theory?
Different ways. Just reading, writing down important facts, color coding, looking
at diagrams.
Texts are made of islands.
Have a structure with
different elements. Goal to
tell a story.
- Introduction
- Key concepts
- Point
- Conclusion
Three-act structure
1. Set-up
2. Confrontation
3. Resolution
It helps to know who the author is. Helps to understand the text, from which
perspective it was written. In which debate is he/she. What is he/she trying to say
to who?
Evaluation of the text from Cresswell, T. (2024). Geographic thought: a critical
introduction. Chapter 1:
Introduction
- You see geography everywhere in everyday life. It deals with some of the
most important ideas and matters here. It’s profound.
- All geographic inquiry is shaped by theory and philosophy.
- Theory can give understanding.
- Without theory life would be chaos.
- Theory can change the world.
- Can be difficult to communicate your ideas. People maybe think on
different levels. Ideas have to be clearly expressed, to be shared.
- Academics can be mean to each other. Criticize each other views.
Further questions:
- What does the author mean with ‘change’ things
- How is geography influenced by philosophy?
Inhoud
Lecture 1 – Introduction – Francesco Colona – 27 January 2025.............................2
Seminar 1 – Reading lab: Reading theory to practice theory – Alana Osbourne –
29 January 2025..................................................................................................... 4
Workshop 1 – Analytical Writing. Part 1: Prewriting Activities – Griet Coupé – 3
February 2025........................................................................................................ 5
Workshop 2 – Analytical Writing. Part 2: Revising strategies – Griet Coupé – 5
February 2025........................................................................................................ 8
Lecture 2 – Introduction to Structuration Theory: From Giddens to Bourdieu – Joris
Schapendonk – 10 February 2025........................................................................11
Seminar 2 – Coaching Session Structuration – Joris Schapendonk – 13 February
2025..................................................................................................................... 19
Lecture 3 – Chomsky/Foucault: On Human Nature – Olivier Thomas Kramsch – 17
February 2025...................................................................................................... 20
Seminar 3 – On Human Nature – Olivier Thomas Kramsch – 19 February 2025. . .22
Lecture 4 – Materiality, Agency and Politics – Francesco Colona – 24 February
2025..................................................................................................................... 23
Seminar 4 – Materiality & Lithium – Francesco Colona – 26 February 2025.........26
Lecture 5 – Feminist and Queer Theory - Alana Osbourne – 10 March 2025........30
Seminar 5 – Feminist Theories Workshop - Alana Osbourne – 12 March 2025.....34
,Lecture 1 – Introduction – Francesco Colona
– 27 January 2025
“The most practical is having some set of theories.”
Theory can be:
- Framing
- Guiding
- Explaining
- Predicting
- Interpreting
- Synthesising
Are interdependent.
Strong vs. weak theory
Strong theory: grand generalizations, totalizing and teleological (says
something about the end goal)
o “This is how it works!”
Weak theory: localized purview, limited claim and openness to doubt and
contingency
o “This is how it might be working, in this specific context But it could
be otherwise.”
o “Theory in this vein operates more like a flashlight rather than the
sun.”
Problem of the label: “criticism that the term weak “sits at the central a dense
array of slurs by which marginal subjects have been kept marginal””.
- Strength in weakness
o Welcomes uncertainty and inconclusiveness that are a reality of the
social world and useful, for instance, to represent underrepresented.
- Weakness in strength
o Totalizing generalizations do not pay attention to diversity of people
in the social world.
Label is just a way to make sense of things.
Theory is a practical skill: theorizing
- Different disciplines different ways of doing theory
- Practical type of knowledge
- Cannot theorize without knowing how to use concepts, analogies, different
ways to explain
- therefore you need to know concepts first!
- You cannot theorize without observation.
o Otherwise you may also lose track of reality.
o Theory to form your observation, observation to make theory again.
Dualisms of the course:
- Empirics vs. theory
, o Learning objective 2: to use and apply each theoretical approach
discussed during the course to analyse an empirical case study
o Example gentrification
Observation of phenomenon of gentrification, different
theoretical explanations (supply-side and demand-side) for
empirical case, this you can check again with empirics
Use of word gentrification for naming a phenomenon.
Different ways how people interpret the concept.
o Social theory as a filter.
Not all theory (filters) can do the same thing: some highlight
structural factors, other individual ones
No theory/filter is ever neutral
Always politics or personal view involved
Some filter theories are better or more useful to look at
certain phenomena, other and others???
Therefore no theory/filter can highlight everything all at once
- Structure vs. agency
o Learning objective 1: to understand and summarize the key
concepts: ideas associated with the theories and texts that we
discussed in class, with a focus on issues of agency vs. structure.
o Agency tends to be associated with human creativity and social
action (and individual will or choices)
E.g. economic rationality
o Structure with patterned relations, with constraints upon action
E.g. Karl Marx: system oppression leads to revolution
o Analytical primacy: agency or structure? It means giving priority
to, emphasising, one aspect (agency or structure) in the way we
look at the social world and spatial phenomena. It means that one
theory explains or describe social changes and spatial phenomena,
by focusing mainly on agency and action or – alternatively – on
social structure.
o Example gentrification
Supply-side gentrification with broader dynamics explains
gentrification as a structural phenomenon while demand-side
gentrification explains it as a agency phenomenon.
o Not real things out there, theoretical concepts
Social theory’s concepts and ways to look at the world and
explain it
You can agree or disagree
, Seminar 1 – Reading lab: Reading theory to
practice theory – Alana Osbourne – 29
January 2025
Reading/watching a film is learning about someone’s view of world.
Reading theory is the same, it is reading about how something works / could
work. It’s political.
How to read theory?
Different ways. Just reading, writing down important facts, color coding, looking
at diagrams.
Texts are made of islands.
Have a structure with
different elements. Goal to
tell a story.
- Introduction
- Key concepts
- Point
- Conclusion
Three-act structure
1. Set-up
2. Confrontation
3. Resolution
It helps to know who the author is. Helps to understand the text, from which
perspective it was written. In which debate is he/she. What is he/she trying to say
to who?
Evaluation of the text from Cresswell, T. (2024). Geographic thought: a critical
introduction. Chapter 1:
Introduction
- You see geography everywhere in everyday life. It deals with some of the
most important ideas and matters here. It’s profound.
- All geographic inquiry is shaped by theory and philosophy.
- Theory can give understanding.
- Without theory life would be chaos.
- Theory can change the world.
- Can be difficult to communicate your ideas. People maybe think on
different levels. Ideas have to be clearly expressed, to be shared.
- Academics can be mean to each other. Criticize each other views.
Further questions:
- What does the author mean with ‘change’ things
- How is geography influenced by philosophy?
