GIS-Based Approach for the Analysis of Geographical Education Paths

This paper presents a new geospatial approach, and a proposal to study the geographic educational path of individuals or social groups identified by researchers using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and spatial statistics. A scheme of research proceedings has been proposed, including obtaining data from various sources (including surveys and other sources, e.g., from the university and OpenStreetMap), their proper preparation and categorisation into one geodatabase on the GIS system, followed by visualisation and the calculation of statistics. The whole research procedure was carried out in GIS. The results can be useful for detecting patterns of educational paths in different countries and social groups, and comparing them. Indirectly, they can be used to study mobility, and to indicate the spatial range of studied schools. The study was carried out among a group of students of geoinformation at the University of Lodz. Visualization and analysis of their geographical educational path showed that most of them attended schools close to where they lived, indicating low mobility during their education. The results obtained may be relevant to the “spatial turn” in education research.

Mapowanie teorii. Geobiografia teorii literatury fantastycznej w Polsce — propozycja badawcza i dwa studia przypadku

In the article the project of mapping the theories of fantastic literature in Poland is going to be presented. Methodology proposals have been completed by microanalyses of selected examples. It is of our conviction that the advancement of theoretical studies on the fantastic allows for introducing some arrangements, specifically in terms of reconstructing the mechanisms and conditions for building up the knowledge. We make use of the emergence theory focusing on repeatedness of accidental occurrences in, for instance, transferring and grounding notions or quite opposite in disqualifying particular scientific concepts and aiming at the strength of personal (biographical, geographical) conditions and idiosyncrasy in forming critical discourses on the fantastic phenomenon. The theory frame of the project is set up mainly by the concepts resulted from the spatial turn in the humanities. The arrangements of occurrences and cases made in the Polish theory of the fantastic are in reference to the concept of cultural geography, cultural mobility, migration studies and biographical materialism. It is proposed to benefit from derived therefrom the methods for data development, one of them the map. It is postulated also to identify the, so called, “lineages”, that is the theoretical and literary approaches to the fantastic,viewed in terms of long-term structures [longue durée] (it is mentioned in the article aimed at the study of the case dealing with the reception of literary works and theoretical studies of S. Grabiński via A. Hutnikiewicz). In turn, the study on cultural mobility (adaptation, reinterpretation, transferring, translation of particular approaches and concepts in the fantastic theory) will demonstrate the directions, speed and potentials in spreading the theory, for instance foreign ones in Poland and Polish abroad, respectively (it is emphasized in the study on the case of the reception of the T. Todorov via S. Lem fantastic theory). Finally it is of great interest to look into nomadic biographies (geographically and intellectually) of Polish fantastic literature theorists. It is proposed to reinforce in the studies not only the issue of human factor but also the material (artefacts, places) and the institutional (e.g. journals, universities) ones in determining communicative memory of particular theories of fantastic literature.

Uma Lisboa só dele(s). Processos artivistas de recriação de paisagens sonoras contemporâneas

Este artigo expõe a trajetória de um músico português - Tó Trips – e da sua última banda – os Dead Combo – no intuito de fundir um percurso musical com uma paisagem sonora na linha da concetualização de Schafer (2012). Socorrendo-nos, em termos metodológicos, de uma história de vida e de materiais documentais, iremos estabelecer uma sincronia entre cidade, sons, criação musical e intervenção artística. Os Dead Combo e Tó Trips são, no quadro deste artigo, os (re)criadores ativos de Lisboa, permitindo, simultaneamente, estabelecer algumas asserções sobre o valor do som e da música como carburantes de identidades coletivas e individuais; e a potenciação da construção de imaginários simbólicos e afetivos face a um espaço urbano na senda de Frith (1996). Num processo que alguns designam como spatial turn (STAHL, 2004) nas últimas décadas, iremos evidenciar que a globalização parece ter renovado a ênfase no local, encorajando reconstruções identitárias através do surgimento de novas expressões artísticas de vínculo à cidade e, portanto, de uma re-imaginação da cidade, partindo de uma produção artística territorialmente ancorada, vivida e sentida. E tal ênfase parece revestir-se de uma urgência crítica nestes tempos distópicos.

Introduction – Ricœur and the Problem of Space. Perspectives on a Ricœurian “Spatial Turn”

Introduction to special issue "Ricoeur and the Problem of Space"

Our Land, Our People: A Reflection of Tibetan Buddhist Space in Contemporary Art

This article illustrates how a contemporary Tibetan artist disrupts expectations in the creation of his political art. Utilizing Robert Smithson’s dialogic of site and non-site, Tenzing Rigdol’s 2011 site-specific installation Our Land, Our People is interpreted as a reenactment of a culturally specific historical practice of moving space. This approach shares important similarities to historical cases in which physical spaces were relocated to and within Tibet, allowing for the application of 20th century theories arising in the spatial turn to contemporary Tibetan art.

Spatial turn in the prose opus of Amir Brka - mnemotopes of the town of Tesanj

So far, recent literary criticism has paid attention exclusively to the poetry of Amir Brka. This work deals with prose creation, with constant emphasis on the compatibility of poetry and prose, and then prose and opinion journalism, for which the city of Tesanj is the motif backbone. The methodology of the work is based on mnemonics, under the hypothesis that Amir Brka, through a polyvalent opus, deconstructing the “dejected” space of the Bosnian town, reconstructed the timeless and all-spatial mnemotope of the city. In this way, Brka symbolically made a spatial turn in Bosnian literature, especially through the works Monograph of the City, Black Notebook and the book Jerej, which are, each in its own way, a fight against wrong ideologies and inputs that the text and book based on truth are the only credible mnemotopes.

A sour cherry orchard. An excursion through Chekhovian green spaces

The cherry orchard marks the end of Anton Chekhov’s life, consecrating him as the author who defined the threshold of the new epoch. In this article, I construe the garden as the motif linking Chekhov’s sensitivity to the general spirit of his era, revealing his poetics to the global stage as the distinctive mark of a historical and socioeconomic shift. On this path, I will clarify how the subtle difference between sour cherries and sweet cherries becomes a symbol of Chekhov’s dramatic construction, and how his poetics are built on nuances and subtle shifts in meanings, representing the irrevocable fading of a culture. A philological reflection combined with an attentive reading of Chekhov’s letters, Stanislavsky’s memoirs and scenic sketches reveal the author’s interest in the relationship between man and nature as well as the need to read his work from a more spatial-oriented standpoint. Chekhov clearly anticipates the so-called ‘spatial turn’, approaching space not through the description of a specific landscape or dramaturgical setting, but from a phenomenological point of view, leading him to profound reflections on the relationship between physical planning and socio-political development, as later conceptualised by key social thinkers such as Henry Lefebvre and Edward Soja. Chekhov’s dramaturgical construction and symbology are the result of this awareness and endless passion for nature in all its forms.

„Władcy Gorców” — aktorzy regionalni współtworzący genius loci kulturowej przestrzeni gorczańskiej

The article is the result of mapping the cultural space of Gorce. Using the tools of cultural map-ping and spatial turn, the Gorce mnemotoposes were analyzed and a map of the cultural spheres of the influence of regional actors on the creation of local genius loci was developed. The research focused on the presence of memory sites related to the World War II period and the participants of partisan actions in the Gorce region. The memory of Władysław Orkan, Józef Tischner and Tomasz Chlipała aka “Bulanda” also plays an important role in shaping the cultural landscape of Gorce.

Durkheim and the Sociality of Space

This chapter explores the topic of space in Émile Durkheim’s writings. It shows that spatial formations play a key role in his theory of modernity. He assigns to social morphology the task of systematically investigating the material substratum of societies. Of major concern in this regard is how different types of societies relate to space in distinctive ways. His sociological approach encompasses both an epistemological and a social-theoretic perspective on “space.” In effect, it can be argued that Durkheim is not primarily concerned with a society’s dependence on space, but rather with how space is shaped socially. Space is not an abstract category of thought, but the collectively produced foundation for all social activity. Contrary to many subsequent conceptions of space, Durkheim does not differentiate between physical and social space, arguing that physical space is inherently shaped by social practices of classification and division. It is this theoretical notion which, in light of the renewed attention given to materiality and space by proponents of the material and the spatial turn, makes his work seem surprisingly contemporary.