Deterritorialization

Abstract

This entry explores the philosophical concept of deterritorialization advanced by Deleuze and Guattari. It shows how they applied it to religion, anthropology, and art. It then explores how the concept has been used in a wide range of fields, specifically in Internet and online communication. The premise is that deterritorialization, in its etymological sense of removal and separation from the terrestrial planet we call earth, or from specific geographical territories, is very salient in the age of the Internet and the virtual, dematerialized world of cyberspace. The Internet is an innovative assemblage of technologies that triggered the convergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and led to the deterritorialization of governmentalities and huge swathes of economic, political, social, and cultural life from real space to cyberspace. The United States, Russia, and China have deterritorialized their governmentalities and politico‐cultural and economic ideologies from physical space to the dematerialized realms and platforms of cyberspace.