Trajectories

From Geography

Trajectories is a term elaborated by Michel de Certeau. It refers to the paths that are produced by consumers through their signifying practices. These trajectories follow their own logic (de Certeau, 1984, p. xviii). Trajectories suggest a movement in space. This space in which people move is constructed, ordered and functionalized. The path that people must follow when they choose their trajectory, can contain unforeseeable and unreadable obstacles. These trajectories are composed with the languages of everyday life such as the vocabularies of the media. Also they are subordinated to the prescribed orderly forms such as time schedules. Because of this, trajectories do not take into account other interests and desires that are not determined nor captured by the system in which they appear.

In a trajectory, sudden connections and shift can be made. It is the unity of a diachronic succession of points through which the trajectory passes. This spatial transformation shows that space is practised place. The memory of human beings mediates this transformation (Crang, 2000, p. 150).

In his work, de Certeau makes a reference to the ´wandering lines´ of autistic children. These children were studies by the French educationist Fernand Deligny. What is relevant about this study, is the way in which the children used the vocabulary of an existing language from a whole new view. The autisitc children had a very self-willed trajectory (Gevers, n.d.).

As earlier mentioned, trajectories were intended to suggest a movement. Beside this, they can also cause a flattening out. When you speak of a trajectory, this means you speak about the points in space through which the trajectory passes. For example point A and point B, and not the figure that these points form in space. Because of this, information could get lost. To avoid this reduction, Certeau made a distinction between tactics and strategies. Strategies are produced by institutions with power. Tactics are everyday practices conducted by ordinary human beings (de Certeau, 1984, p. xix).

References:

de Certeau, M.(1984). Introduction in the practice of everyday life. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Crang, M. (2000). Relics, places and unwritten geographies in the work of Michel de Certeau (1925-86). London: Routledge.

Gevers, I. (n.d.). DeCenter, Centrum voor Neuro-Diverse Culturen. Retrieved on 5 October 2011, on [1]

Published by Inge Schoenmakers & Lotte Brouwer.

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