Introduction
The term “heterotopia” is sometimes used to refer to strange or ambivalent places – places that defy the normal logic of ordering. Routinely, many spaces and places in a given culture or society tend to be understood as ordered by a certain overarching logic. Oftentimes, this logic is quite straightforward for a culturally competent observer. For example, a suburban big box store in the USA is a shopping place par excellence: there are few things that a visitor to a Walmart could do except buying stuff and transporting it to the trunk of their car. Correspondingly, Walmart employees are expected to perform their assigned duties, while the rest of their lives should take place elsewhere (e.g., “at home”). The social and cultural logic of space prescribes the physical features of anthropogenic environment, regulates the appropriate behaviors, and guides adequate feelings and thoughts pertaining to the location.
Numerous debates in contemporary critical geography and urban...
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Online Resources
Peter Johnson maintains a website specifically on Foucault’s ideas on heterotopia. http://www.heterotopiastudies.com/
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Kharlamov, N.A. (2014). Heterotopia, Overview. In: Teo, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_584
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