Nomadology
From Geography
Nomadology is, according to Deleuze and Guattari the opposite of a state-centric, settled point of view which they connect to history. They see nomadology as an alternative way of interpreting human civilization. It is a dynamic process where the actor is constantly changing because of the dynamics that are implied in nomadic actions. Nomadology has to do with the becoming “the constitutive between-two”, the process of becoming (Deleuze in Doel, 2000, p. 131). A Nomad travels and his travel never ends. He goes on, he is always in between. He is thus never bound to one place. Doel uses the rhizome to illustrate the idea: Rhizomes represent the fractal surfaces without unity. They have certain characteristics which illustrate nicely what is typical of nomads as well: They do not fix or extend point-folds, but instead are (dis-)connectable, reversible, displaceable, distributional, compositional, immanent, contingent and spectral (Doel, 2000, p. 131). In this context Deleuze and Guattari speak of smooth space (Doel, 2000, p. 130). Through the act of deterritorialization the human being is free, moving around and constantly becoming something else. The body is not settled and not restricted by territorializations of power.
To make it more concrete we can have a look at the definition of a nomad by Deleuze and Guatarri: “The nomad has a territory; he follows customary paths; he goes from one point to another; he is not ignorant of points (water points, dwelling points, assembly points, etc.). The water point is reached only in order to be left behind; every point is a relay and exists only as a relay. A path is always between two points, but then-between has taken on all the consistency and enjoys both autonomy and a direction of its own. But the nomad goes from point to point only as a consequence and as a factual necessity; in principle, points for him are relays along a trajectory"(Deleuze & Guatarri, 2010, p. 43-44).
References
Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. (1986). Nomadology, The war machine.
Deleuze, G. & Guatarri, F. (2010). Nomadology: The war machine. Wormwood Distribution: Seattle.
Doel, M.A. (2000). Un-glunking geography. Spatial science after Dr. Seuss and Gilles Deleuze. In Crang, M. & Thrift, N. (Eds), Thinking Space. Routledge Taylor &Francis Group: London.
Gregory, D., Johnston, R., Pratt, G., Watts, M., & Whatmore, S (2009). The Dictionary of Human Geography. Oxford: Blackwell.
Contributors
Published by fabian Busch (s0816639)
Edited by JensLubben 22:27, 16 December 2011 (CET)
Edited by Janna Voelpel, s3015041JannaVolpel 12:39, 7 May 2012 (CEST)
Page enhances by JensLubben 22:27, 16 December 2011 (CET)
