Spaces, too, have a history. And history always takes place in spaces. But what do historians mean when they use the word "spaces"? And how can spaces be historically investigated?
Susanne Rau provides a survey of the history of Western concepts of space, opens up interdisciplinary approaches to the phenomenon of space in fields ranging from physics and geography to philosophy and sociology, and explains how historical spatial analysis can be methodologically and conceptually conceived and carried out in practice. The case studies presented in the book come from the fields of urban history, the history of trade, and global history including the history of cartography, but its analysis is equally relevant to other fields of inquiry.
This book offers the first comprehensive introduction to the theory and methodology of historical spatial analysis.
Acknowledgements
What Is Historical Research into Space? An Introduction
1. Historical and Systematic Approach
1.1. Prehistory
On the History of Western Concepts of Space
Space: On the German History of a Concept
Alternative Paths: Febvre—Braudel—Lefebvre
1.2 Concepts
Everyday and Scholarly Concepts of Space: Not a Contradiction
Conceptual History
Analytical Concepts
2. Disciplinary Approaches
2.1 Geography
2.2 Cultural Anthropology, Postcolonial Studies
2.3 Sociology
2.4 Spaces and Spatialities as a New Historiographical Topic
3. Spatial Analysis
3.1 Spatial Constitution and Configurations
Macrohistorical Processes
Spatial Types, Spatial Formations
Guiding Differences for Analysis
Global Spaces: Spatial Transformations in the Course of Processes of Globalization
The City: A Changing Spatial Configuration
Trade: Interactive Relationships That Create Spaces
3.2 Spatial Dynamics: Emergence—Transformation—Dissolution
3.3 The Subjective Construction of Spaces
Perceptions—Memories—Representations
Spaces of Imagination and Other Spaces
Spatial Stories—Spatial Media—Mental Maps
3.4 Spatial Practices—Uses of Space
4. Conclusion and Outlook
5. Appendix of Sources for the Historical Study of Space
Selected Bibliography
Glossary
Acknowledgments
Afterword to the Second Edition
Index of Persons and Topics
Biography
Susanne Rau is professor of spatial history and culture at the University of Erfurt, Germany, and distinguished visiting professor at the École normale supérieure de Lyon, France.
Michael Thomas Taylor works as a translator in Berlin. From 2007 to 2012 he taught as assistant professor of German at the University of Calgary (Canada), and from 2012 to 2017 as assistant, then associate professor of German and humanities at Reed College in Portland, Oregon (USA).
