Deterritorialization is a concept, most prominently in Deleuze and Guattari's work, describing the process of severing social, cultural, or economic phenomena from their original "territory"—a fixed place, context, or system of meaning and organization. It involves the movement or mutation of these phenomena into new territories and contexts, often driven by globalization, technology, and migration, leading to new cultural formations and identities. While often associated with positive outcomes like cultural fluidity and new forms of belonging, deterritorialization can also be a disruptive force leading to alienation or exploitation, followed by reterritorialization, where new structures or orders emerge.
Key Aspects of Deterritorialization
- It is fundamentally about something (a practice, idea, person, or capital) leaving its traditional, fixed context or geographic location.
- This process can separate people from their established cultures, support systems, and the meanings that sustain them.
- Modern forces like globalization and advanced communication technologies accelerate deterritorialization by connecting people across borders and facilitating the movement of goods and ideas, creating disembedded social relations.
- It enables the blending of cultural elements and the formation of hybrid identities, as seen in diasporic communities.
- Deleuze and Guattari used the figure of the "nomad" to represent this tendency toward deterritorialization and the capacity to escape fixed structures.
- The concept is complex and not inherently good or bad; its impact depends on the context and the intentions behind it.
Deterritorialization and Reterritorialization
- Deterritorialization: is the act of breaking free from a territory.
- Reterritorialization: is the subsequent process where the deterritorialized elements recombine to form new relationships and create a new territory or modify an existing one. For example, the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs involved the deterritorialization of Aztec beliefs, followed by their reterritorialization with Catholic structures.
Examples in Practice
- Reterritorialization is the process of creating new or re-establishing connections between culture, social practices, and place, often following a period of deterritorialization where these connections were disrupted. This concept, which describes the framing, naming, and claiming of space, can involve individuals or groups establishing a local identity by producing popular culture within their unique context, as seen with the adaptation of Indonesian Hip Hop. It can also refer to the aggregation of cultural beings and the formation of new territories, incorporating elements that go beyond traditional political boundaries.Key Aspects of Reterritorialization
- Reterritorialization acts as a counterbalance to deterritorialization. While deterritorialization involves the fracturing or freeing of cultural practices from their original social or geographic contexts, reterritorialization involves the re-establishment and re-framing of these practices within a new or existing space.
- It involves the processes of defining and claiming particular territories, whether cultural, social, or physical.
- A prominent example is the way global cultural forms, such as music genres, are adapted and made local by people within their own culture.
- Reterritorialization can be seen as the process of bringing together cultural beings in new configurations, often extending beyond the traditional scope of nation-states to encompass global or non-traditional political forms.
- While territorialization (the creation of boundaries and control over land) is often associated with states, the reterritorialization process is not limited to states and can be enacted by various entities.
ExamplesA composite is something made of two or more distinct parts, substances, or materials that have different properties, resulting in a new material or object with unique characteristics. The term can refer to a type of fiber-reinforced plastic, as seen in the composites industry where fibers like glass are combined with a plastic resin matrix; a natural composite like wood; or even a composite photograph in filmmaking. The concept also extends to composite numbers (numbers that can be divided by more than just one and themselves), dental composites (filling material), and composite indexes that average multiple factors.Composite Materials- A material made from two or more constituent materials with notably different chemical or physical properties, creating a new material with combined or enhanced properties.
- Typically involves a reinforcement (like fibers) and a matrix (often a plastic resin).
- Fiber-reinforced plastics: Widely used in industries such as aeronautics and construction.
- Reinforced concrete: A common composite in construction.
- Wood: A natural composite, combining fibers with a natural matrix.
- Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs): Combine metal with other materials.
- Fiber-reinforced plastics: Widely used in industries such as aeronautics and construction.
Other Uses of the Term