Post-phenomenology/post-phenomenological geographies

Lea, J. J. (2009) Post-phenomenology/post-phenomenological geographies. In: Kitchin, R. and Thrift, N. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Elsevier, Oxford, pp. 373-378. ISBN 9780080449104 doi: 10.1016/B978-008044910-4.00726-4

Abstract/Summary

Post-phenomenological geographies are an emergent (and as yet relatively fragmentary) body of work. This work does not reflect a turn away from phenomenological theories; rather it reflects a critical engagement which rereads them through the post-structuralist theories of such authors as Deleuze, Derrida, and Levinas. This rereading, combined with a disciplinary context of a turn to practice and the ‘more than human’, has resulted in post-phenomenological geographies which extend the boundaries of the phenomenological focus upon the experiencing subject (in place). Thus, the interest is in the ways in which inhuman, nonhuman, and more-than-human forces contribute to processes of subject formation, place making, and inhabiting the world. These geographies have thus far been played out through critical explorations of the realms of the experiencing subject and landscape. This more-than-human focus has tested conventional human geographical methods, requiring innovative use of technologies such as video to document research, the use of experiential research methods, and also experimentation with the form of narrating these experiential methods.