History, Space and Place

Spaces, too, have a history. And history always takes place in spaces. But what do historians mean when they use the word "spaces"? And how can spaces be historically investigated?

Susanne Rau provides a survey of the history of Western concepts of space, opens up interdisciplinary approaches to the phenomenon of space in fields ranging from physics and geography to philosophy and sociology, and explains how historical spatial analysis can be methodologically and conceptually conceived and carried out in practice. The case studies presented in the book come from the fields of urban history, the history of trade, and global history including the history of cartography, but its analysis is equally relevant to other fields of inquiry.

This book offers the first comprehensive introduction to the theory and methodology of historical spatial analysis.

Supported by Open Access funds of the University of Erfurt

Acknowledgements

What Is Historical Research into Space? An Introduction

1. Historical and Systematic Approach

1.1. Prehistory

On the History of Western Concepts of Space

Space: On the German History of a Concept

Alternative Paths: Febvre—Braudel—Lefebvre

1.2 Concepts

Everyday and Scholarly Concepts of Space: Not a Contradiction

Conceptual History

Analytical Concepts

2. Disciplinary Approaches

2.1 Geography

2.2 Cultural Anthropology, Postcolonial Studies

2.3 Sociology

2.4 Spaces and Spatialities as a New Historiographical Topic

3. Spatial Analysis

3.1 Spatial Constitution and Configurations

Macrohistorical Processes

Spatial Types, Spatial Formations

Guiding Differences for Analysis

Global Spaces: Spatial Transformations in the Course of Processes of Globalization

The City: A Changing Spatial Configuration

Trade: Interactive Relationships That Create Spaces

3.2 Spatial Dynamics: Emergence—Transformation—Dissolution

3.3 The Subjective Construction of Spaces

Perceptions—Memories—Representations

Spaces of Imagination and Other Spaces

Spatial Stories—Spatial Media—Mental Maps

3.4 Spatial Practices—Uses of Space

4. Conclusion and Outlook

5. Appendix of Sources for the Historical Study of Space

Selected Bibliography

Glossary

Acknowledgments

Afterword to the Second Edition

Index of Persons and Topics

Susanne Rau is professor of spatial history and culture at the University of Erfurt, Germany, and distinguished visiting professor at the École normale supérieure de Lyon, France.

Michael Thomas Taylor works as a translator in Berlin. From 2007 to 2012 he taught as assistant professor of German at the University of Calgary (Canada), and from 2012 to 2017 as assistant, then associate professor of German and humanities at Reed College in Portland, Oregon (USA).