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Michel Foucault, Of Other Spaces (1967), Heterotopias

FUAL.NO OCUTIF

MichelFoucault.OfOtherSpaces(1967),Heterotopias.
This text, entitled "Des Espace Autres," and published by the French journal Architecture /Mouvement/ContinuitinOctober,1984,wasthebasisofalecturegivenbyMichelFoucault in March 1967. Although not reviewed for publication by the author and thus not part of the official corpus of his work, the manuscript was released into the public domain for an exhibitioninBerlinshortlybeforeMichelFoucault'sdeath.TranslatedfromtheFrenchbyJay Miskowiec.

Thegreatobsessionofthenineteenthcenturywas,asweknow,history:withitsthemesofdevelopment andofsuspension,ofcrisis,andcycle,themesoftheeveraccumulatingpast,withitsgreatpreponderance of dead men and the menacing glaciation of the world. The nineteenth century found its essential mythological resources in the second principle of thermaldynamics The present epoch will perhaps be abovealltheepochofspace.Weareintheepochofsimultaneity:weareintheepochofjuxtaposition,the epochofthenearandfar,ofthesidebyside,ofthedispersed.Weareatamoment.Ibelieve,whenour experience of the world is less that of a long life developing through time than that of a network that connectspointsandintersectswithitsownskein.Onecouldperhapssaythatcertainideologicalconflicts animatingpresentdaypolemicsopposethepiousdescendentsoftimeandthedeterminedinhabitantsof space. Structuralism, or at least which is grouped under this slightly too general name, is the effort to establish,betweenelementsthatcouldhavebeenconnectedonatemporalaxis,anensembleofrelations thatmakesthemappearasjuxtaposed,setoffagainstoneanother,implicatedbyeachotherthatmakes themappear,inshort,asasortofconfiguration.Actually,structuralismdoesnotentaildenialoftimeit doesinvolveacertainmannerofdealingwithwhatwecalltimeandwhatwecallhistory. Yetitisnecessarytonoticethatthespacewhichtodayappearstoformthehorizonofourconcerns,our theory,oursystems,isnotaninnovationspaceitselfhasahistoryinWesternexperience,anditisnot possible to disregard the fatal intersection of time with space. One could say, by way of retracing this historyofspaceveryroughly,thatintheMiddleAgestherewasahierarchicensembleofplaces:sacred placesandprofaneplates:protectedplacesandopen,exposedplaces:urbanplacesandruralplaces(all these concern the real life of men). In cosmological theory, there were the supercelestial places as opposedtothecelestial,andthecelestialplacewasinitsturnopposedtotheterrestrialplace.Therewere places where things had been put because they had been violently displaced, and then on the contrary placeswherethingsfoundtheirnaturalgroundandstability.Itwasthiscompletehierarchy,thisopposition, thisintersectionofplacesthatconstitutedwhatcouldveryroughlybecalledmedievalspace:thespaceof emplacement. This space of emplacement was opened up by Galileo. For the real scandal of Galileo's work lay not so muchinhisdiscovery,orrediscovery,thattheearthrevolvedaroundthesun,butinhisconstitutionofan infinite,andinfinitelyopenspace.InsuchaspacetheplaceoftheMiddleAgesturnedouttobedissolved. asitwereathing'splacewasnolongeranythingbutapointinitsmovement,justasthestabilityofa thing was only its movement indefinitely slowed down. In other words, starting with Galileo and the seventeenthcentury,extensionwassubstitutedforlocalization.
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Today the site has been substituted for extension which itself had replaced emplacement. The site is definedbyrelationsofproximitybetweenpointsorelementsformally,wecandescribetheserelationsas series,trees,orgrids.Moreover,theimportanceofthesiteasaproblemincontemporarytechnicalworkis wellknown:thestorageofdataoroftheintermediateresultsofacalculationinthememoryofamachine, thecirculationofdiscreteelementswitharandomoutput(automobiletrafficisasimplecase,orindeed thesoundsonatelephoneline)theidentificationofmarkedorcodedelementsinsideasetthatmaybe randomlydistributed,ormaybearrangedaccordingtosingleortomultipleclassifications. In a still more concrete manner, the problem of siting or placement arises for mankind in terms of demography.Thisproblemofthehumansiteorlivingspaceisnotsimplythatofknowingwhetherthere willbeenoughspaceformenintheworldaproblemthatiscertainlyquiteimportantbutalsothatof knowing what relations of propinquity, what type of storage, circulation, marking, and classification of humanelementsshouldbeadoptedinagivensituationinordertoachieveagivenend.Ourepochisonein whichspacetakesforustheformofrelationsamongsites. InanycaseIbelievethattheanxietyofourerahastodofundamentallywithspace,nodoubtagreatdeal morethanwithtime.Timeprobablyappearstousonlyasoneofthevariousdistributiveoperationsthat arepossiblefortheelementsthatarespreadoutinspace, Now, despite all the techniques for appropriating space, despite the whole network of knowledge that enables us to delimit or to formalize it, contemporary space is perhaps still not entirely desanctified (apparentlyunliketime,itwouldseem,whichwasdetachedfromthesacredinthenineteenthcentury).To besureacertaintheoreticaldesanctificationofspace(theonesignaledbyGalileo'swork)hasoccurred, butwemaystillnothavereachedthepointofapracticaldesanctificationofspace.Andperhapsourlifeis stillgovernedbyacertainnumberofoppositionsthatremaininviolable,thatourinstitutionsandpractices have not yet dared to break down. These are oppositions that we regard as simple givens: for example betweenprivatespaceandpublicspace,betweenfamilyspaceandsocialspace,betweenculturalspace andusefulspace,betweenthespaceofleisureandthatofwork.Allthesearestillnurturedbythehidden presenceofthesacred. Bachelard'smonumentalworkandthedescriptionsofphenomenologistshavetaughtusthatwedonotlive inahomogeneousandemptyspace,butonthecontraryinaspacethoroughlyimbuedwithquantitiesand perhapsthoroughlyfantasmaticaswell.Thespaceofourprimaryperception,thespaceofourdreamsand that of our passions hold within themselves qualities that seem intrinsic: there is a light, ethereal, transparentspace,oragainadark,rough,encumberedspaceaspacefromabove,ofsummits,oronthe contraryaspacefrombelowofmudoragainaspacethatcanbeflowinglikesparklingwater,orspace thatisfixed,congealed,likestoneorcrystal.Yettheseanalyses,whilefundamentalforreflectioninour time,primarilyconcerninternalspace.Ishouldliketospeaknowofexternalspace. Thespaceinwhichwelive,whichdrawsusoutofourselves,inwhichtheerosionofourlives.ourtimeand ourhistoryoccurs,thespacethatclawsandgnawsatus,isalso,initself,aheterogeneousspace.Inother words,wedonotliveinakindofvoid,insideofwhichwecouldplaceindividualsandthings.Wedonotlive inside a void that could be colored with diverse shades of light, we live inside a set of relations that delineatessiteswhichareirreducibletooneanotherandabsolutelynotsuperimposableononeanother. Ofcourseonemightattempttodescribethesedifferentsitesbylookingforthesetofrelationsbywhicha given site can be defined. For example, describing the set of relations that define the sites of transportation, streets, trains (a train is an extraordinary bundle of relations because it is something throughwhichonegoes,itisalsosomethingbymeansofwhichonecangofromonepointtoanother,and thenitisalsosomethingthatgoesby).Onecoulddescribe,viatheclusterofrelationsthatallowsthemto
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bedefined,thesitesoftemporaryrelaxationcafes,cinemas,beaches.Likewiseonecoulddescribe,viaits networkofrelations,theclosedorsemiclosedsitesofrestthehouse,thebedroom,thebed,elcetera. But among all these sites, I am interested in certain ones that have the curious property of being in relationwithalltheothersites,butinsuchawayastosuspect,neutralize,orinvertthesetofrelations that they happen to designate, mirror, or reflect. These spaces, as it were, which are linked with all the others,whichhowevercontradictalltheothersites,areoftwomaintypes. HETEROTOPIAS Firsttherearetheutopias.Utopiasaresiteswithnorealplace.Theyaresitesthathaveageneralrelation ofdirectorinvertedanalogywiththerealspaceofSociety.Theypresentsocietyitselfinaperfectedform, orelsesocietyturnedupsidedown,butinanycasetheseutopiasarefundamentallyunrealspaces. Therearealso,probablyineveryculture,ineverycivilization,realplacesplacesthatdoexistandthat areformedintheveryfoundingofsocietywhicharesomethinglikecountersites,akindofeffectively enacted utopia in which the real sites, all the other real sites that can be found within the culture, are simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted. Places of this kind are outside of all places, even thoughitmaybepossibletoindicatetheirlocationinreality.Becausetheseplacesareabsolutelydifferent from all the sites that they reflect and speak about, I shall call them, by way of contrast to utopias, heterotopias.Ibelievethatbetweenutopiasandthesequiteothersites,theseheterotopias,theremight beasortofmixed,jointexperience,whichwouldbethemirror.Themirroris,afterall,autopia,sinceitis aplacelessplace.Inthemirror,IseemyselftherewhereIamnot,inanunreal,virtualspacethatopens upbehindthesurfaceIamoverthere,therewhereIamnot,asortofshadowthatgivesmyownvisibility tomyself,thatenablesmetoseemyselftherewhereIamabsent:suchistheutopiaofthemirror.Butit isalsoaheterotopiainsofarasthemirrordoesexistinreality,whereitexertsasortofcounteractionon thepositionthatIoccupy.FromthestandpointofthemirrorIdiscovermyabsencefromtheplacewhereI amsinceIseemyselfoverthere.Startingfromthisgazethatis,asitwere,directedtowardme,fromthe groundofthisvirtualspacethatisontheothersideoftheglass,IcomebacktowardmyselfIbeginagain todirectmyeyestowardmyselfandtoreconstitutemyselftherewhereIam.Themirrorfunctionsasa heterotopiainthisrespect:itmakesthisplacethatIoccupyatthemomentwhenIlookatmyselfinthe glassatonceabsolutelyreal,connectedwithallthespacethatsurroundsit,andabsolutelyunreal,sincein ordertobeperceivedithastopassthroughthisvirtualpointwhichisoverthere. As for the heterotopias as such, how can they be described? What meaning do they have? We might imagineasortofsystematicdescriptionIdonotsayasciencebecausethetermistoogalvanizednow thatwould,inagivensociety,takeasitsobjectthestudy,analysis,description,and'reading'(assome liketosaynowadays)ofthesedifferentspaces,oftheseotherplaces.Asasortofsimultaneouslymythic andrealcontestationofthespaceinwhichwelive,thisdescriptioncouldbecalledheterotopology. Its first principle is that there is probably not a single culture in the world that fails to constitute heterotopias. That is a constant of every human group. But the heterotopias obviously take quite varied forms,andperhapsnooneabsolutelyuniversalformofheterotopiawouldbefound.Wecanhoweverclass themintwomaincategories. In the socalled primitive societies, there is a certain form of heterotopia that I would call crisis heterotopias, i.e., there are privileged or sacred or forbidden places, reserved for individuals who are, in relation to society and to the human environment in which they live, in a state of crisis: adolescents, menstruating women, pregnant women. the elderly, etc. In out society, these crisis heterotopias are persistentlydisappearing,thoughafewremnantscanstillbefound.Forexample,theboardingschool,in itsnineteenthcenturyform,ormilitaryserviceforyoungmen,havecertainlyplayedsucharole,asthe
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first manifestations of sexual virility were in fact supposed to take place "elsewhere" than at home. For girls, there was, until the middle of the twentieth century, a tradition called the "honeymoon trip" which wasanancestraltheme.Theyoungwoman'sdefloweringcouldtakeplace"nowhere"and,atthemoment of its occurrence the train or honeymoon hotel was indeed the place of this nowhere, this heterotopia withoutgeographicalmarkers. Buttheseheterotopiasofcrisisaredisappearingtodayandarebeingreplaced,Ibelieve,bywhatwemight call heterotopias of deviation: those in which individuals whose behavior is deviant in relation to the requiredmeanornormareplaced.Casesofthisareresthomesandpsychiatrichospitals,andofcourse prisons,andoneshouldperhapsaddretirementhomesthatare,asitwere,ontheborderlinebetweenthe heterotopia of crisis and the heterotopia of deviation since, after all, old age is a crisis, but is also a deviationsinceinoursocietywhereleisureistherule,idlenessisasortofdeviation. Thesecondprincipleofthisdescriptionofheterotopiasisthatasociety,asitshistoryunfolds,canmake an existing heterotopia function in a very different fashion for each heterotopia has a precise and determined function within a society and the same heterotopia can, according to the synchrony of the cultureinwhichitoccurs,haveonefunctionoranother. As an example I shall take the strange heterotopia of the cemetery. The cemetery is certainly a place unlikeordinaryculturalspaces.Itisaspacethatishoweverconnectedwithallthesitesofthecity,state or society or village, etc., since each individual, each family has relatives in the cemetery. In western culturethecemeteryhaspracticallyalwaysexisted.Butithasundergoneimportantchanges.Untiltheend oftheeighteenthcentury,thecemeterywasplacedattheheartofthecity,nexttothechurch.Initthere was a hierarchy of possible tombs. There was the charnel house in which bodies lost the last traces of individuality,therewereafewindividualtombsandthentherewerethetombsinsidethechurch.These lattertombswerethemselvesoftwotypes,eithersimplytombstoneswithaninscription,ormausoleums withstatues.Thiscemeteryhousedinsidethesacredspaceofthechurchhastakenonaquitedifferent castinmoderncivilizations,andcuriously,itisinatimewhencivilizationhasbecome'atheistic,'asone saysverycrudely,thatwesternculturehasestablishedwhatistermedthecultofthedead. Basicallyitwasquitenaturalthat,inatimeofrealbeliefintheresurrectionofbodiesandtheimmortality of the soul, overriding importance was not accorded to the body's remains. On the contrary, from the momentwhenpeoplearenolongersurethattheyhaveasoulorthatthebodywillregainlife,itisperhaps necessary to give much more attention to the dead body, which is ultimately the only trace of our existenceintheworldandinlanguage.Inanycase,itisfromthebeginningofthenineteenthcenturythat everyonehasarighttoherorhisownlittleboxforherorhisownlittlepersonaldecay,butontheother hand,itisonlyfromthatstartofthenineteenthcenturythatcemeteriesbegantobelocatedattheoutside border of cities. In correlation with the individualization of death and the bourgeois appropriation of the cemetery,therearisesanobsessionwithdeathasan'illness.'Thedead,itissupposed,bringillnessesto the living, and it is the presence and proximity of the dead right beside the houses, next to the church, almost in the middle of the street, it is this proximity that propagates death itself. This major theme of illnessspreadbythecontagioninthecemeteriespersisteduntiltheendoftheeighteenthcentury,until, during the nineteenth century, the shift of cemeteries toward the suburbs was initiated. The cemeteries then came to constitute, no longer the sacred and immortal heart of the city, but the other city, where eachfamilypossessesitsdarkrestingplace. Thirdprinciple. The heterotopia is capable of juxtaposing in a single real place several spaces, several sitesthatareinthemselvesincompatible.Thusitisthatthetheaterbringsontotherectangleofthestage, oneaftertheother,awholeseriesofplacesthatareforeigntooneanotherthusitisthatthecinemaisa
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veryoddrectangularroom,attheendofwhich,onatwodimensionalscreen,oneseestheprojectionofa threedimensional space, but perhaps the oldest example of these heterotopias that take the form of contradictorysitesisthegarden.WemustnotforgetthatintheOrientthegarden,anastonishingcreation thatisnowathousandyearsold,hadverydeepandseeminglysuperimposedmeanings.Thetraditional garden of the Persians was a sacred space that was supposed to bring together inside its rectangle four partsrepresentingthefourpartsoftheworld,withaspacestillmoresacredthantheothersthatwerelike an umbilicus, the navel of the world at its center (the basin and water fountain were there) and all the vegetationofthegardenwassupposedtocometogetherinthisspace,inthissortofmicrocosm.Asfor carpets, they were originally reproductions of gardens (the garden is a rug onto which the whole world comestoenactitssymbolicperfection,andtherugisasortofgardenthatcanmoveacrossspace).The gardenisthesmallestparceloftheworldandthenitisthetotalityoftheworld.Thegardenhasbeena sortofhappy,universalizingheterotopiasincethebeginningsofantiquity(ourmodernzoologicalgardens springfromthatsource). Fourthprinciple. Heterotopias are most often linked to slices in time which is to say that they open ontowhatmightbetermed,forthesakeofsymmetry,heterochronies.Theheterotopiabeginstofunction atfullcapacitywhenmenarriveatasortofabsolutebreakwiththeirtraditionaltime.Thissituationshows usthatthecemeteryisindeedahighlyheterotopicplacesince,fortheindividual,thecemeterybeginswith this strange heterochrony, the loss of life, and with this quasieternity in which her permanent lot is dissolutionanddisappearance. From a general standpoint, in a society like ours heterotopias and heterochronies are structured and distributedinarelativelycomplexfashion.Firstofall,thereareheterotopiasofindefinitelyaccumulating time,forexamplemuseumsandlibraries,Museumsandlibrarieshavebecomeheterotopiasinwhichtime neverstopsbuildingupandtoppingitsownsummit,whereasintheseventeenthcentury,evenattheend ofthecentury,museumsandlibrariesweretheexpressionofanindividualchoice.Bycontrast,theideaof accumulatingeverything,ofestablishingasortofgeneralarchive,thewilltoencloseinoneplacealltimes, allepochs,allforms,alltastes,theideaofconstitutingaplaceofalltimesthatisitselfoutsideoftimeand inaccessible to its ravages, the project of organizing in this way a sort of perpetual and indefinite accumulationoftimeinanimmobileplace,thiswholeideabelongstoourmodernity.Themuseumandthe libraryareheterotopiasthatarepropertowesterncultureofthenineteenthcentury. Opposite these heterotopias that are linked to the accumulation of time, there are those linked, on the contrary, to time in its most flowing, transitory, precarious aspect, to time in the mode of the festival. Theseheterotopiasarenotorientedtowardtheeternal,theyareratherabsolutelytemporal[chroniques]. Such,forexample,arethefairgrounds,these'marvelousemptysitesontheoutskirtsofcitiesthatteem onceortwiceayearwithstands,displays,heterocliteobjects,wrestlers,snakewomen,fortunetellers,and soforth.Quiterecently,anewkindoftemporalheterotopiahasbeeninvented:vacationvillages,suchas those Polynesian villages that offer a compact three weeks of primitive and eternal nudity to the inhabitants of the cities. You see, moreover, that through the two forms of heterotopias that come together here, the heterotopia of the festival and that of the eternity of accumulating time, the huts of Djerbaareinasenserelativesoflibrariesandmuseums.fortherediscoveryofPolynesianlifeabolishes timeyettheexperienceisjustasmuchthe,,rediscoveryoftime,itisasiftheentirehistoryofhumanity reachingbacktoitsoriginwereaccessibleinasortofimmediateknowledge, Fifthprinciple.Heterotopiasalwayspresupposeasystemofopeningandclosingthatbothisolatesthem and makes them penetrable. In general, the heterotopic site is not freely accessible like a public place. Eithertheentryiscompulsory,asinthecaseofenteringabarracksoraprison,orelsetheindividualhas to submit to rites and purifications. To get in one must have a certain permission and make certain
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gestures. Moreover, there are even heterotopias that are entirely consecrated to these activities of purificationpurificationthatispartlyreligiousandpartlyhygienic,suchasthehamminoftheMoslems,or elsepurificationthatappearstobepurelyhygienic,asinScandinaviansaunas. There are others, on the contrary, that seem to be pure and simple openings, but that generally hide curiousexclusions.Everyonecanenterintothewheterotopicsites,butinfactthatisonlyanillusionwe thinkweenterwhereweare,bytheveryfactthatweenter,excluded.Iamthinkingforexample,ofthe famousbedroomsthatexistedonthegreatfarmsofBrazilandelsewhereinSouthAmerica.Theentrydoor didnotleadintothecentralroomwherethefamilylived,andeveryindividualortravelerwhocamebyhad therighttoopethisdoor,toenterintothebedroomandtosleepthereforanight.Nowthesebedrooms weresuchthattheindividualwhowentintothemneverhadaccesstothefamily'squarterthevisitorwas absolutely the guest in transit, was not really the invited guest. This type of heterotopia, which has practicallydisappearedfromourcivilizations,couldperhapsbefoundinthefamousAmericanmotelrooms where a man goes with his car and his mistress and where illicit sex is both absolutely sheltered and absolutelyhidden,keptisolatedwithouthoweverbeingallowedoutintheopen. Sixthprinciple.Thelasttraitofheterotopiasisthattheyhaveafunctioninrelationtoallthespacethat remains.Thisfunctionunfoldsbetweentwoextremepoles.Eithertheirroleistocreateaspaceofillusion thatexposeseveryrealspace,allthesitesinsideofwhichhumanlifeispartitioned,asstillmoreillusory (perhapsthatistherolethatwasplayedbythosefamousbrothelsofwhichwearenowdeprived).Orelse, onthecontrary,theirroleistocreateaspacethatisother,anotherrealspace,asperfect,asmeticulous, aswellarrangedasoursismessy,illconstructed,andjumbled.Thislattertypewouldbetheheterotopia, notofillusion,butofcompensation,andIwonderifcertaincolonieshavenotfunctionedsomewhatinthis manner.Incertaincases,theyhaveplayed,onthelevelofthegeneralorganizationofterrestrialspace, the role of heterotopias. I am thinking, for example, of the first wave of colonization in the seventeenth century,ofthePuritansocietiesthattheEnglishhadfoundedinAmericaandthatwereabsolutelyperfect otherplaces.IamalsothinkingofthoseextraordinaryJesuitcoloniesthatwerefoundedinSouthAmerica: marvelous,absolutelyregulatedcoloniesinwhichhumanperfectionwaseffectivelyachieved.TheJesuits ofParaguayestablishedcoloniesinwhichexistencewasregulatedateveryturn.Thevillagewaslaidout accordingtoarigorousplanaroundarectangularplaceatthefootofwhichwasthechurchononeside, therewastheschoolontheother,thecemetery,andthen,infrontofthechurch,anavenuesetoutthat anothercrossedatfightangleseachfamilyhaditslittlecabinalongthesetwoaxesandthusthesignof Christwasexactlyreproduced.ChristianitymarkedthespaceandgeographyoftheAmericanworldwithits fundamentalsign. Thedailylifeofindividualswasregulated,notbythewhistle,butbythebell.Everyonewasawakenedat thesametime,everyonebeganworkatthesametimemealswereatnoonandfiveo'clock,thencame bedtime, and at midnight came what was called the marital wakeup, that is, at the chime of the churchbell,eachpersoncarriedouther/hisduty. Brothels and colonies are two extreme types of heterotopia, and if we think, after all, that the boat is a floatingpieceofspace,aplacewithoutaplace,thatexistsbyitself,thatisclosedinonitselfandatthe same time is given over to the infinity of the sea and that, from port to port, from tack to tack, from brotheltobrothel,itgoesasfarasthecoloniesinsearchofthemostprecioustreasurestheyconcealin theirgardens,youwillunderstandwhytheboathasnotonlybeenforourcivilization,fromthesixteenth centuryuntilthepresent,thegreatinstrumentofeconomicdevelopment(Ihavenotbeenspeakingofthat today),buthasbeensimultaneouslythegreatestreserveoftheimagination.Theshipistheheterotopia parexcellence.Incivilizationswithoutboats,dreamsdryup,espionagetakestheplaceofadventure,and thepolicetaketheplaceofpirates.
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