Personal space

Space - defined as “the distance from other people or things that a person needs in order to remain comfortable” - is a rudimentary concept invoked at various times in an individual’s life. Often it is regarded as a form of punishment, enforced through “timeouts” in the vestigial stages of childhood and through a rather gruelling process called “grounding” during adolescence. However, as the years progress, the concept of space is suddenly deemed as a positive, fundamental part of personal…

"non-places" in contemporary society due to supermondernity. Auge attempts to improve quality of anthropological research, and on a larger scale, he also contributes to our understanding of space by introducing concepts and terms that can describe the new circumstances we live in. Through this book, we can understand the space that surrounds us in the present and how it is influenced by globalisation, urbanisation and capitalism. Marc Auge's writing drifts from one point to another therefore…

into focus the choices we, as humans, need to make about what is important versus what is not concerning the various borders in our lives. In the article, “A Very Bordered World,” Alexander Diener and Joshua Hagen explain that we all create these spaces that separate, but they…

woman kept her eyes trained on her cell-phone, scrolling through an endless feed of videos and tweeted thoughts. The man in the business suit held his body straight at the front of the small space, eyes trained on the door, waiting impatiently. The second woman, who had situated herself at the back of the space, leaned against the wall, trying to make herself as small as possible. She kept her eyes on the ground and her arms pinned at her sides. The teen stood right in front of the buttons,…

in-between, and every kind of definition has an in-between space. Especially if the definitions are two opposites, then the in-between space is more rich”. Indeed, this kind of “in-between space” doesn’t only exist between nature and architecture or between inside and outside, but also, it exists as a narrative space for the Dominican-American writer Julia Alvarez. In this paper, I would like to elaborate on the term, the “in-between space”, which was brought up by Kelli Lyon Johnson in her…

The modern age presents multiple channels for public action, dialogue and discussion. Furthermore, social and political thought argues that these spaces multiply the opportunities for dialect and action and encourage the process of individual thought and reflection. Spaces of action become spaces of remembrance, which hold vast opportunity to contribute to the project of mending frailty in human affairs. Yet the process of memorialisation is difficult, for the formation of memory can only occur…

was pleading my body to desire life. Finally my eyes opened and I realized I was alive. The soil, air and sound where all the same as before, except I could feel every living organism around me. The air made me feel as if my body was gravitating in space, my feet did not feel a hard dirty surface they felt lightweight clouds, and the chirping birds sang notes that only musicians can dream of. I had the same body but a different…

time have by discussing the history of the phrase “sense of place” and the contemporary American landscape. Overall, Jackson writes about the loss of meaning of a sense of place in America today and about his interpretation of the significance of space and place by focusing on the fact that our sense of time is becoming a collective identity, even in distinct environments. He also focuses on the European versus American sense of place, as well as our deep longing to move away from the accepted…

be comfortable while each particular space is occupied. Intimate space extends 18 inches in every direction, personal space extends from 1 ½ to 4 feet away and social space extends from 4 to 12 feet. Beyond 12 feet is public space, which is open to all. The smallest zone extends 18 inches from the body in every direction and is referred to as the intimate space. This space is reserved for family, close friends and pets. Anyone else entering this intimate space causes discomfort. As a…

Bridges once said, “Get back motherf*cker! You don’t know me like that!” and like Mr. Bridges, we all have our own sense of appropriate space when interacting with the people we encounter in our daily lives. Edward T. Hall, an American anthropologist, studied the phenomena of ‘personal space’ and devised a term for our interactions and reactions within this space, called ‘Proxemics’. Proxemics is defined by The Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “the study of the nature, degree, and effect of the…