The anthill and the beam: A response to Elden

Abstract

Is it possible to get away from the distinction between physical space and lived space, where the former is conceived as material, objective, and measurable, and the latter is conceived as historical, subjective, and symbolic? In other words, is it possible to get out of the division of labour between physical geography and human geography? Such a proposition is different from wanting to ‘reconcile’ or ‘bring together’ the two branches of geography. In this response to Stuart Elden’s (2021) article, ‘Terrain, Politics, History’, my proposal is that a distinction must be made elsewhere between terrestrial space – which does not mean physical – and extraterrestrial space – which does not mean subjective.