A Truant Proximity: Presence and Absence in the Space of Modernity

Abstract

Jameson described postmodernism as a change in Western urban populations' ‘cognitive maps' of the world. But this seemed to suggest a totalising change in our space-time regimes or ‘social spatialisations’ which does not fit with everyday experiences of contemporary life. There is a continuity of most aspects of social spatialisation (which, denying locality and regionalism, once unified the empire of Western modernity). Yet, even small shifts may have notable impacts. If “space makes a difference” (Sayer), it is more important than ever to go on to specify what is different about space and spatiality today. Only changes in the spatialisation of presence and absence (a dialectic which was at the heart of modernity) can be empirically demonstrated. The distinction between modernity and postmodernity must be argued on this basis. After a survey of ‘what remains the same’, postmodern spatial differences, and why they matter are approached via a meditation on our relation to Others who bring the far-off and exotic into the cosy, local world of our everyday lives. The collapse of presence and absence, correlated with an everyday synthesis of proximity and remoteness; near and far; past, future, and present suggest the erasure of a set of cultural oppositions which structured the social imaginary, representations, and practices. Modernist, spatialised oppositions such as public-private, insider-outsider, and subject-object are changed, affecting the nature of the public sphere, forcing new ethical perspectives on community membership, and new understanding of our relationship to Others and to the environment.