As theorists have begun using geographical concepts and metaphors to think about the complex and differentiated world, it is important to reflect on their work, and its impact on our thoughts on space. This revealing book explores the work of a wide range of prolific social theorists. Included contributions from an impressive range of renowned geographical writers, each examine the work of one writer - ranging from early this century to contemporary writers. Among the writers discussed are Georg Simmel, Mikhail Bakhtin, Gilles Deleuze, Helene Cixous, Henri Lefebvre, Jacques Lacan, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault and Franz Fanon. Ideal for those interested in the 'spatial turn' in social and cultural theory, this fascinating book asks what role space plays in the work of such theorists, what difference (if any) it makes to their concepts, and what difference such an appreciation makes to the way we might think about space.

Introduction Part 1 - Ur-texts and starting points 1. Walter Benjamin's urban thought: a critical analysis Mike Savage 2. On Georg Simmel: proximity, distance and movement John Allen 3. Mikhail Bakhtin: dialogics of space Julian Holloway and James Kneale 4. Wittgenstein and the fabric of everyday life Michael R. Curry Part 2 - Reformulated spaces: decolonisation, the wake of '68 5. Un-glunking geography: spatial science after Dr Seuss and Gilles Deleuze Marcus A. Doel 6. Relics, places and unwritten geographies in the work of Michel de Certeau (1925-86) Mike Crang 7. Helene Cixous Pam Shurmer-Smith 8. Henri Lefebvre: a socialist in space Andy Merrifield 9. Jacques Lacan's two-dimensional subjectivity Virginia Blum and Heidi Nast 10. Foucault's geography Chris Philo 11. Pierre Bourdieu Joe Painter 12. The troubled spaces of Frantz Fanon Steve Pile Part 3 - Refiguring spaces in the present 13. Some new instructions for travellers: the geography of Bruno Latour and Michel Serres Nick Bingham and Nigel Thrift 14. Edward Said's imaginative geographies Derek Gregory 15. 'Alternative' film or 'other' film? In and against the West with Trinh Minh-ha Alastair Bonnett 16. Thinking geopolitical space: the spatiality of war, speed and vision in the work of Paul Virilio Tim Luke and Gearoid O Tuathail Index