Displacement as Heterotopic Space

The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Jordan

Bibliographic Data

ID3948472
AuthorsFilippo Dionigi (0000-0001-8619-9177, University of Bristol, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume29
Issue1
Pages203-229
Publication date2024-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeopolitics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14650045.2022.2151904
OpenAlexW4313404695
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited55

The idea of a sovereign territorial order dominates representations of space in International Relations through ubiquitous dichotomies such as international/domestic, inside/outside, and citizen/foreigner. Yet, phenomena of forced displacement question the perceptiveness of these binaries justifying an enquiry into the possibility of different accounts of the type of space that displacement constitutes. This essay revisits critically the Foucauldian concept of heterotopic space and proposes its redefinition. It then uses the revised concept for the reconstruction of the Syrian displacement crisis in Jordan. The objective is to show the validity of heterotopic space as a concept to represent the site that states, refugees, and international organisations constitute through their interactions in displacement response. The argument is that interpreting displacement as heterotopic space allows for a more credible representation of this phenomenon that supplants the assumptions of sovereign territoriality. This leads to an interpretation of displacement as an ‘other-space’ in its own capacity, thus offering an account that differs from displacement as liminality or as an exception to the territorial order

Economics · International relations · Law and economics · Liminality · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Refugee · Refugee crisis · Sociology · Sovereign state · Sovereignty · China's Global Influence and Migration · Computer Science · Law · Middle East Politics and Society · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology

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