Emplacing the spatial turn in peace and conflict studies
| Published date | 01 December 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0010836720954488 |
| Author | Nicole George,Morgan Brigg |
| Date | 01 December 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836720954488
Cooperation and Conflict
2020, Vol. 55(4) 409 –420
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0010836720954488
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Emplacing the spatial turn
in peace and conflict studies
Morgan Brigg and Nicole George
Abstract
This introduction provides an overview for the following collection of articles that engage with,
and aim to extend, recent scholarship emphasising space as a category of analysis in peace and
conflict studies. Attempts to ‘spatialise’ this field of enquiry have emphasised the ways actors
and ideas travel and transform across scale (from the personal to the local, regional and global)
and how agents, actors and identities constitute, and are constituted by, space and place in
dynamics of conflict and peace. Attention to space has increased appreciation of the complex
nature of nature of war- and peace-‘scapes’, and reflects upon space as material and symbolic,
given meaning through peoples’ embodied activity and interactions. The articles in this issue
engage with the foundations of the spatial turn and build upon innovations in spatial analysis of
peace and conflict by focussing on the idea of ‘emplacement’ and emplaced security as critical
to peacebuilding efforts and processes of conflict transition. To do so, we consider place in a
relational sense, focussing on attachment, affective connection and narratives of place-identity
as these are connected with conflict management, security, governance and political ordering.
Keywords
Conflict, peacebuilding, security, space, scale
This special issue brings together articles that engage with, and aim to extend, recent
scholarship emphasising space as an analytical frame in peace and conflict studies. The
nascent spatial turn in peace and conflict studies has been inspired by critical scholarship
developed in philosophy and geography (e.g. Lefebvre, 1991; Massey, 1994; Soja, 1989)
that has encouraged, at its most straightforward, appreciation of space as more than sim-
ply territorial, or as a ‘container’ for social and political action (Björkdahl and Buckley-
Zistel, 2016: 18). This has opened the way for understanding space as constituted socially,
politically and discursively, as well as consideration of how space and place shape, and
are shaped by, human agency.
In the field of peace and conflict studies, these conceptual innovations have encour-
aged renewed scrutiny of the interplay of global and local influences in conflict settings,
and in efforts to bring about peace. Attempts to ‘spatialise’ peace and conflict studies
Corresponding author:
Nicole George, School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland, Brisbane,
QLD 4072, Australia.
Email: n.george2@uq.edu.au
954488CAC0010.1177/0010836720954488Cooperation and ConflictBrigg and George
research-article2020
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