‘In Place/Out of Place: Geography, Ideology and Transgression’ is written by Tim Cresswell, a cultural geography professor at Royal Holloway in London. Cresswell has been writing about place since as long as he has been a geographer (Cresswell, T., n.d), producing key literature in human geography e.g. ’Place: An Introduction’ (2014). However, the majority of his work is orientated more towards mobility; ‘On the move: Mobility in the modern western world.’ (2006), 'Geographies of mobilities: Practices, spaces, subjects.’ (2011), ‘Towards a politics of mobility.’ (2010).
‘In Place/Out of Place’ has been met with a mixed response. David Sibley (1997) labelled it a “welcome contribution to the rather meagre literature on these issues in human geography” and Simon Rycroft (1998) found Cresswell’s theoretical approach “refreshing”. However, Stephen Haymes (1997) sees Cresswell’s theorising of the role of place in the construction of resistance as “limited” and thinks Cresswell missed the importance of place in the fashioning of social movements. Rycroft (1998) suggests that Cresswell relies too heavily on his source material of popular newspapers and is reluctant to explore their limitations. Despite some criticism, the overall reception of Cresswell’s book is very positive, as it is clearly a significant contribution to the social space conversation.
The intended audience of ‘In Place/Out of Place’ is not made clear by Cresswell. Nevertheless, in the strong theoretical content, yet ease of accessibility in his writing, we can assume a wide intended audience. The story-like writing of the case studies, which make up the bulk of Cresswell’s book, allow for even those with limited knowledge to gain understanding. However, these same case studies could retract from the usefulness of Cresswell’s writing to academics. Cresswell writes within both the spheres of critical theory (Bronner, S.E., 2009) and the geographies of place (Cresswell, T., 2014), adding to the wide literature already around critical theory with a “discussion of the role of the geographic environment—the power of place” (p.11) in society and ideology. Cresswell’s whole book centres on the “out of place” metaphor, using his overarching themes of “geography, ideology and transgression” to expose the unseen power that binds much of society’s behaviour and ideology together. Naturally, while exploring this area, Cresswell also very much writes within the sphere of imaginative geographies (Driver, F., 2014), as he sees himself exploring “the geography of common sense.” (p.149)
Cresswell makes multiple arguments around place/space, ideology and transgression, however there are three main arguments he poses. The first one is that “value and meaning are not inherent in any space or place” (p.9). Moreover, places are given meanings by those in power, those meanings are then interacted with by each person who uses that space, either in a reproduction or a transgression of the meaning. Within this overarching argument, Cresswell explores themes of ‘normality’, ’belonging’, ‘other’, ’right and wrong’, ’inclusion and exclusion’ and the idea of ‘power’ and who holds it. It’s unsurprising that these themes are explored in critical theory literature, yet Cresswell’s arguments bring a lesser explored, spacial dimension to them. The second main argument Cresswell makes is about ‘transgression’. He argues that transgression “serves to foreground the mapping of ideology onto space and place” (p.9) and furthermore, the transgression of a place’s meaning is in fact how we observe or notice the perceived normality of that place. Cresswell shows how those ‘not in power’, can use transgression to challenge the exclusion of a place and, he argues, even begin to transform social perception of those places (p.175-176). Another theme that courses through his writing is that of the media's portrayal of the ideologies of place and transgression, and how often, the dominant media portrayal is to take the side of those in power and paint a picture of transgressors as “wrong” or “out of place” (p.143-144)
The third main argument that Cresswell expounds is that geography, and in particular “place” are crucial in understanding societal ideologies, arguing "expectations about behaviour in place are important components in the construction, maintenance, and evolution of ideological values.” (p. 4) To Cresswell, place and space are different; place carries meaning and is therefore the “social space” (p.3), he argues ideologies need a framework to be held within, and that framework is often place.
The structure of Cresswell’s ‘In Place/Out of place’ is essentially the detailed unfolding of 3 “heretical geography” case studies to demonstrate the arguments he is making, interposed between more theoretical chapters that introduce and conclude the book. In the first case study Cresswell examines the attitude towards graffiti in New York during the 1970s and how graffiti was “legitimised” (p.51) in art galleries, yet seen as an “epidemic” (p.40) elsewhere in the city. The second case study follows the story of England’s “hippie convoy” during the late 20th Century, their exclusion from Stonehenge and subsequently the English countryside as a whole. In this case study Cresswell explains “geographical orthodoxy” (p.95), arguing that there is an ideology of what is ‘normal’ in a particular place and that the transgressive actions of the ‘hippies’ exposed this ideology. In the final case study Cresswell tells the interesting story of the ‘Greenham women’ who protested outside the US air base in Greenham Common. Cresswell draws heavily on the media's representation of the women as out of place, covering areas from their clothes (p.113) to their sexuality (p.115) and carnivalesque (p.121) attitude.
In all three case studies, Cresswell portrays the governmental, political power that’s behind the domineering ideology of the place, and the movement or actions of “transgressors” seeking to challenge and change the meaning of the place. As I’ve alluded to, Cresswell’s research methods lean very heavily on the media, and newspapers in particular e.g. The Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, New York Times, Wall Street Journal. Occasionally he also uses collections of images as sources e.g. M. Cooper and H. Chalfant’s “Subway Art” (1984) or Pollard’s ‘Pastoral Interlude’ (1988). In his more theoretical chapters Cresswell cites supporting literature like Therborn (1999) and Bourdieu (1977), and in his introduction he refers to a couple stories for illustration, but for the most part, his sources are newspapers. To interpret these sources Cresswell uses a form of discourse analysis, a hermeneutical approach where he ‘reads between the lines’ and not only observes the content, but analyses the angle and perspective from which the material is produced from. Cresswell himself explains how he’s coming to his conclusions of the ideologies present around certain places by analysing reactions to transgression in that place: “My approach is to examine situations where things appear to be wrong” (p.10). This in itself is a research and examining approach that we can observe occurring throughout the book.
Throughout his book, Cresswell has a ‘conclusion’ section for almost every chapter, as he comes to many conclusions from each narrative. From analysing graffiti in New York he proposes much about the nature of place in conjunction with meaning, suggesting “Places are the result of tensions between different meanings and they are also active players in these tensions.” (p.59) He also concludes that place has no ‘natural’ meaning; differing discourses produce different meanings, and the dominant meanings, the ones seen as ‘normal’ are those constructed by the powerful: “the meaning of a place is the subject of particular discourses of power, which express themselves as discourses of normality” (p.60) And so Cresswell concludes that chapter with the question he feels we’re all left asking: “Whose world is it?” (p.61)
From his chapter on the ‘hippy’ transgression at Stonehenge, Cresswell adds to his previous conclusions re-emphasising there is a “normality” to society that can be transgressed - which is seen as “deviance”, and there can be different meanings associated with a place according to different peoples, however, the ‘state’ and media’s meaning will be seen as normal. He adds to this by raising interesting questions around how the druids were allowed to use Stonehenge in a similar way to the ‘hippies’, concluding, the issue may have been more with the ‘hippie’ lifestyle: “mobility as a way of life” (p.95). Cresswell ends this chapter reiterating his method of looking at ‘deviance’ to observe the ‘normal’ and “reactions to transgression” to define orthodoxy, stating, “These definition processes mobilize common-sense understandings of space and place as powerful ideological tools.” (p.96)
From his final case study on the Greenham Women, Cresswell concludes again that meaning is subjective to different people, e.g. the women think the missile military base is out of place in the English countryside, while the press and therefore the majority of the public think the women are out of place being away from their homes. Again, he points to the use of transgression as an effective form of protest and even as a transforming element to place. And in this narrative Cresswell leads the reader to dwell upon more than only the ideologies of place, but ideologies of women in general - exposing wrong perceptions about women; from a woman’s place in the home, to attitudes towards menstruation.
Cresswell’s overall conclusions are weaved throughout his book, however in his concluding chapters he tries to condense them down into “two principle lessons” about how “place is implicated in the creation and maintenance of ideological beliefs” and “the uses and limits of transgression as a way of challenging and transforming these beliefs.” (p.150) Firstly, he concludes that place is a fundamental form of ‘classification’ through which ‘differentiation’ occurs. Place provides the concrete to the abstract link that ideology seeks, and provides a ‘natural’ screen to the construction of ideologies that make place what it is. And hence, is “implicated in the creation and maintenance of ideological beliefs” (p.150). Finally, Cresswell explores a little more around transgression and how its power is limited, as it needs something to ‘transgress’ against, however when it has this power, Cresswell believes transgression can bring about social transformation understood as “spatial transformation.” (p.176)
I’m very impressed with how Cresswell manages to keep what could have been a very abstract book, relevant and accessible. We are so often captivated by stories, and Cresswell’s story-telling style of writing in the middle three chapters make ‘In Place/Out of Place’ an easy read. The three case studies also allow the reader to have a second hand experience of the arguments Cresswell makes, and the strong rooting of his arguments in places and contexts gives Cresswell’s theoretical writing plenty of weight. Furthermore, each case study builds on the previous one, reinforcing conclusions and furthering insight into the ‘creation of place’. However, Cresswell’s research methods must be called into question. Instead of a bibliography, Cresswell has ‘notes’, most of which refer to popular American or English newspapers. Using media as a large source of information leaves Cresswell open to criticism as to how biased these sources can be. Moreover, it is almost ironic seeing as how Cresswell calls the media’s representations into question throughout his case studies, yet devotes little time communicating any caveats to his own use of media. Nevertheless, these sources do allow the reader to gain a good understanding of the representations being upheld of these three narratives as they happened. I agree with Natalie Oswin (2020) that Cresswell could go into far more detail around the oppression experienced by minorities through space. Beyond a couple short stories in his introduction, Cresswell has little to say about how race has been a large factor in exclusion in place, and with racism still being so present in society it would have been fitting to see Cresswell write from that angle in one of his case studies.
However, overall I think Cresswell’s book is a brilliant contribution of geographical critical theory to the sphere of human geography, bringing ‘place' into the middle of the exclusion conversation and providing an in depth, accessible explanation of society’s tendency to see things as “out of place”. If you are in any way involved in human geography, I strongly encourage you to read this book, if it does not widen your perspective on the ideologies and processes present behind ‘place’, I would be very surprised. Furthermore, I think every reader of ‘In Place/Out of Place’ will come away more aware of their own prejudices and constructed ideologies towards what is ‘normal’ or ‘out of place’ in our own spheres of life. A well-written and captivating, yet theoretical book.
Bibliography:
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice (No. 16). Cambridge university press.
Bronner, S.E. (2009). Critical theory. The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, pp. 1-6.
Cooper, M. and Chalfant, H. (1984). Subway Art. New York: Henry Holt.
Cresswell, T. (2006). On the move: Mobility in the modern western world. Taylor & Francis.
Cresswell, T. (2010). Towards a politics of mobility. Environment and planning D: society and space, 28(1), pp.17-31.
Cresswell, T. (2014). Place: an introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
Cresswell, T. and Merriman, P. eds. (2011). Geographies of mobilities: Practices, spaces, subjects. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd..
Cresswell, T. (n.d). Professor Tim Cresswell - Research - Royal Holloway, University of London. [online] Pure.royalholloway.ac.uk. Available at: <https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/ persons/tim-cresswell(7d41a2c8-6df1-413f-9b67-892b73b00697).html> [Accessed 15 March 2021].
Driver, F. (2014). ‘Imaginative Geographies’, in Cloke, P., Crang, P. and Goodwin, M. Introducing Human Geographies. 3rd ed. Abingdon: Routledge. pp.234-237
Haymes, S. (1997). In Place/Out of Place: Geography, Ideology, and Transgression. Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), 51(2), pp.138-141.
Oswin, N. (2020) ‘An other geography’, Dialogues in Human Geography, 10(1), doi: 10.1177/2043820619890433. pp. 9–18.
Pollard, I. (1988). Pastoral Interlude. [Photographs].
Rycroft, S. (1998). Book Review: In place/out of place: geography, ideology and transgression. Ecumene, 5(1), pp.111-112.
Sibley, D. (1997). Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 22(1), pp.136-137. Therborn, G. (1999). The ideology of power and the power of ideology (Vol. 24). Verso.
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