Heterotopia

Laura Cechanowicz

Foucault's heterotopias are places marked by the real and the unreal, potential sites of resistance which reflect and contest a multitude of sites. As Foucault writes, "... places that do exist and that are formed in the very founding of society - which are something like counter-sites, a kind of effectively enacted utopia in which the real sites, all the other real sites that can be found within a culture, are simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted.  Places of this kind are outside of all places, even though it may be possible to indicate their location in reality" (Foucault 24).

In elaborating heterotopias, Foucault expands several principles and examples. He first establishes that it is likely all cultures fabricate heterotopias, with each culture producing their own unique iteration. Within this constant, Foucault argues there are two variations: crisis heterotopias reserved for people suffering crises, and the more modern heterotopias of deviation housing those who do not fit into the norms of society. His second principle outlines not only the specific nature of heterotopias in their time, but also that they may be redefined and utilized through time as desired. Thirdly, and this principle directly engages the cinematic screen, heterotopias are capable of juxtaposing 'several incompatible sites' in one place (25). The fourth principle involves the relationship between heterotopias and heterochronies, linking the heterotopia to slices in time or breaks in time, yet placing it outside of time: as in the museum. Additionally, the heterotopia functions with a system of 'opening and closing that both isolates them and makes them impenetrable' (26). Finally, the heterotopia is defined by having a function in relation to all other space, with that function divided one of two ways. The first states, "Either their role is to create a space of illusion that exposes every real space, all the sites inside of which human life is partitioned, as still more illusory... Or else, on the contrary, their role is to create a space that is other" (27).

Foucault's elaboration of heterotopias may leave the steadiest mind spinning, however, this may be due to his unusual positioning between structuralism and post-structuralism. While Foucault frequently maps histories and modes of thinking, arguably a structuralist project, his histories also leave certain holes, lending themselves to a post-structuralist reading that seems to negate the very process of mapping patterns. While considering heterotopias, it may seem that all enviornments may be identified as heterotopias, or conversely, that no spaces are heterotopias. It is perhaps precisely in this indeterminacy that the term is productive, here I refer specifically to Kracauer's notions of contingency and indeterminacy. Foucault's concept of heterotopias may, in itself, be rather heterotopic, both absolutely real and absolutely unreal (24). In unpacking different versions of Foucault's heterotopic spaces, we may find the systems of categorization productive in unveiling the nature of place and space in any particular space. I consider heterotopias to be contested spaces ripe for dissection, rich in contradiction and functioning similarly to the aleph, the idea Soja elaborates while describing thirdspace (1986). It is the indeterminacy of the term that allows it to be a focal center for a wide range of places, sparking analysis into the special nature of charged space.

Useful resources:

http://www.heterotopiastudies.com/

Citations:

Foucault, Michel. "Texts/Contexts: Of Other Spaces." Diacritics, Vol. 16, No. 1. 1986, 22-27.

Soja, Edward W. Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1996. Michel Foucault, 1986.