The uses of space in early modern history

• Main Author: WILLIAMSON, Fiona
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2016
• Subjects: Cultural History
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/258
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The last few years have seen an outpouring of scholarly work exploring space and place in early modern society. Paul Stock’s cogently argued introductory chapter makes a convincing case for yet another collection on the theme. He does this not by elucidating how much remains to be explored, but by elaborating on the historical and historiographical importance of spatial studies. This situates the collection within a wide historiographical tradition whilst simultaneously highlighting the volume’s main themes: the relationship between ideas and activity, materiality and representation, and agency and causation. Crucially, Stock critiques current use of the phrase ‘the spatial turn’as problematic, as it treats ‘thinking with space’as a chronologically and culturally limited methodology. Better, he suggests, that space be read as a fundamental component of any historical study or period. He then considers the myriad ways …