Territory and territorial stigmatisation: On the production,consequences and contestation of spatial disrepute

Abstract

Territorial stigmatisation emerged over the past decade as the prevailing concept for understanding the phenomenon of disreputable places and the processes by which they are produced. Following the work of Loïc Wacquant, several studies have articulated its centrality to the neoliberal restructuring of capital and the state. Departing from Wacquant, several have also examined the various forms of resistance to territorial stigmatisation. In reviewing this literature, this paper argues and outlines how territory – paradoxically under-theorised in the literature to date – can clarify the production of territorial stigmatisation, the obfuscations and legitimations it performs, and resistance and contestation.