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Deconstructing Context: Exposing Derrida
Author(s) -
Barnett Clive
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
transactions of the institute of british geographers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.196
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1475-5661
pISSN - 0020-2754
DOI - 10.1111/j.0020-2754.1999.00277.x
Subject(s) - deconstruction (building) , context (archaeology) , interpretation (philosophy) , epistemology , spatialization , theme (computing) , normative , sociology , textuality , identity (music) , value (mathematics) , subject (documents) , aesthetics , philosophy , linguistics , history , computer science , anthropology , archaeology , ecology , machine learning , biology , library science , operating system
Deconstruction has become a theme in various strands of geographical research. It has not, however, been the subject of much explicit commentary. This paper elaborates on some basic themes concerning the relationship between deconstruction and conceptualizations of context, with particular reference to issues of textual interpretation. The double displacement of textuality characteristic of deconstruction is discussed, followed by a consideration of the themes of ‘writing’ and ‘iterability’ as distinctive figures for an alternative spatialization of concepts of context. It is argued that deconstruction informs a questioning of the normative assumptions underwriting the value and empirical identity of context.