Grasping the Dynamism of Lifeworld
Author(s): Anne Buttimer
Source: Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Jun., 1976), pp.
277-292
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GRASPING
THE DYNAMISM
OF LIFEWORLD
ANNE BUTTIMER
ABSTRACT. Recent attemptsby geographersto explore the human experience
of space have focusedon overtbehaviorand itscognitivefoundations.The language
and styleof our descriptions,
however,oftenfail to speak in categoriesappropriate
fortheelucidationof livedexperience,and we need to evaluateour modes of knowingin thelightof modes of beingin the everydayworld.Phenomenologists
provide
some guidelinesforthistask. They pointto the preconsciouslygivenaspects of behaviorand perceptionresidingin the "lifeworld"-theculturallydefinedspatiotemporal settingor horizonof everydaylife.Scientific
procedureswhichseparate"subjects" and "objects," thoughtand action,people and environments
are inadequate
to investigatethislifeworld.The phenomenologicalapproach ideally should allow
lifeworldto reveal itselfin its own terms.In practice,however,phenomenological
descriptionsremainopaque to the functionaldynamismof spatial systems,just as
of space have neglectedmanyfacetsof humanexperience.
geographicaldescriptions
There are certainavenuesfordialoguebetweenthesetwo disciplinesin threemajor
Such a
researchareas: the sense of place, social space, and time-spacerhythms.
to
more
humanistic
a
foundation
could
contribute
for
human
dialogue
geography.
Let us thinkfora whileof a farmhouse
in theBlack science to read and hear its message. The huForest,whichwas builtsometwohundredyearsago manisticgeographer,attunedto the voices of
by thedwellingof peasants.Here theself-sufficiency
and philosopher,cannot affordto disof thepowerto let earthand heaven,divinities
and scientist
whichmayshedlighton thecommortalsenterin simpleonenessintothings,ordered missanything
the house. It placed thefarmon thewind-shelteredplexities of man's relationshipto the earth.
mountainslope lookingsouth,amongthe meadows Could the notion of "dwelling,"in the sense
close to the spring.It gave it thewide overhanging used by Heidigger,offera valuable perspective
shingleroofwhoseproperslope bearsup underthe
burdenof snow, and which,reachingdeep down, for geographytoday? To dwell implies more
shieldsthe chambersagainstthestormsof the long than to inhabit,to cultivate,or to organize
winternights.It did not forgetthe altarcornerbe- space. It means to live in a mannerwhich is
hind the communitytable; it made room in its attunedto the rhythms
of nature,to see one's
chamberfor the hallowedplaces of childbedand
in
human
historyand directed
life
as
anchored
the"treeof thedead"-for thatis whatthey,
call a
home whichis the
a
to
build
a
toward
future,
coffinthere: the Totenbaum-and in this way it
designedforthedifferent
underone roof everydaysymbolof a dialogue withone's ecogenerations
thecharacterof theirjourneythroughtime.A craft logical and social milieu.It has been easier to
which,itselfsprungfrom dwelling,still uses its describehow people mayhave livedin thetechtools and framesas things,builtthe farmhouse.'
'1r. WELLING": a nounor a verb?a build-
IJ ing or a craft?a landscape artifactor a
process?If an accountlike thiswere published
bya geographer,
woulditearnacclaimor scorn?
Strangeindeed sounds the language of poets
and philosophers;strangerstill the refusalof
Dr. Buttimeris AssociateProfessorof Geography
at Clark University
in Worcester,
MA 01610.
1 MartinHeidigger,"BuildingDwellingThinking,"
Poetry,Language and Thought(New York: Harper
and Row Publishers,1971), p. 160.
nologically less complex milieux of former
times,or to speculateromanticallyon how we
mightlive todayif thewastelandhad not come
to be, than to wrestle with the question of
whetheror how "dwelling"maybe possiblefor
man. Our heritageof intellectual
contemporary
constructsseems in many ways inadequate to
stylesof makinga home
describecontemporary
on theearth.
Humanizationof theearthcould be seen as a
process in which mankindhas soughtvarious
stylesof dwellingin space and time. Human
geographershave sketchedthis record in diverse metaphorswhich shed lighton its land-
ANNALS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN GEOGRAPHERS
? 1976 by the Associationof American Geographers. Printed in U.S.A.
277
Vol. 66, No. 2, June 1976
278
THE
DYNAMISM
OF LIFEWORLD
June
circulationnetworks, ferspromisefora more humanisticorientation
scape traces: settlements,
land use, and behavior patterns.Recentlywe withinthe discipline.
have explored the terrae incognitaeof mind
Neitherphenomenology
or existentialism
can
and image. Malaise lingers,however,over the provideready-madesolutionsto the epistemoconceptual and semanticriftwhich separates logical problemsfacingscience today, nor do
our understanding
of overtbehavior and of its theyofferclear operationalproceduresto guide
latentorigins.Withmanyothersocial scientists, the empiricalinvestigator.If they are underwe lack ideas and languages to describe and stood as perspectives,however, which point
explainthehumanexperienceof nature,space, toward the explorationof new facets of geographicenquiry,then our recognitionof them
and time.
Many Western scholars have argued that could be a valuable and timelydevelopment.
The effortto bringintellectualknowledgeinto
such an ambitiousquest belongs only to the
closerharmonywithlived experienceis already
poet, philosopher,or mystic.Social scientists, evidentin
ethnoscience,
humanisticpsychology,
shouldconfinethemselvesto par- psycholinguistics,
by definition,
and otherfields.3It seemsaptial,moreexplicitlylimited,tasks.Today, how- propriate,then,to scrutinizetheseperspectives
ever, the boundaries between disciplines are a littlemore carefully,and to assess, as far as
often traversed;scholars from diverse fields possible,theirmessageforgeographers.
face a common task: to bring our ways of
Each participantin a dialogue needs to beknowinginto closer harmonywithour ways of come aware of his own stance,and the stance
being in the world. Elaborate descriptionsof assumedby the other,so thatthe languagefor
(overt) behavior,"explained" in termsof dis- dialogue could emerge,i.e., be jointlycreated,
ciplinarymodels (or philosophicaldictum),re- or at least jointly accepted, by both particimain opaque and static; theyrecordfacetsof pants.4This essay beginswitha fairlysuccinct
and its definition
experienceas emanatingfroma past, but shed descriptionof phenomenology
littlelighton directionor meaning.In confront2 Yi-Fu Tuan, "'Environment'and 'World'," The
ing thisbasic dilemma,philosophersand social Professional
Geographer, Vol. 17, No. 5 (September,
scientistshave much to share. Each could dis- 1965), pp. 6-8; "Geography,Phenomenology,and
cover new facets of disciplinaryidentityand the Study of Human Nature," The Canadian Geogravalue. The rhetoricexchangedbetweenphiloso- pher, Vol. 15 (1971), pp. 181-92; Man and Nature,
Commissionon College GeographyResource Paper
phers and scientistsin the past appears awk- No. 10 (Washington,D.C.: Associationof American
wardly anachronisticin view of the common Geographers, 1971); Topophilia: A Study of Environtask we face: a concertedeffortto reconcile mental Perceptions,Attitudes,and Values (Englewood
Cliffs,N.J.: Prentice-Hall,1974); E. C. Relph,
heart and mind,knowledgeand action,in our "An Inquiryinto the RelationsbetweenPhenomenoleverydayworlds.
ogy and Geography," The Canadian Geographer,
Phenomenologists
have been themostarticu- Vol. 14 (1970), pp. 193-201; D. Mercer and J. M.
Phenomenology and Other Non-Positivistic
late spokesmenfor this endeavor.Challenging Powell,
Approaches in Geography, Publications in Geography
manyofthepremisesand proceduresofpositive (Clayton, Victoria, Australia: Monash University
science, theyhave posed a radical critiqueof Departmentof Geography,1972); and MarwynS.
and the separationof Samuels,"Scienceand Geography:An ExistentialAprationality,
reductionism,
praisal,"unpublisheddoctoraldissertation,
University
"subjects" and "objects" in empiricalresearch. of Washington,1971.
With existentialists,
theyherald the liberation 3 GibsonWinter,Elementsfora Social Ethic (New
"Studies
plea of lived experience,appealing for more York: Macmillan,1963); WilliamSturtevant,
Ethnoscience," Transcultural Studies in Cognition,
concretedescriptionsof space and time, and in
edited by A. Kimball Romney and Roy Goodwin
theirmeaningsin everydayhuman living.To D'Angrade, Special Issue of American Anthropologist,
the enthusiastforscientific
rigor,"lived experi- Vol. 66 (1964), pp. 92-124; A. J. Sutichand M. A.
ence" may appear as a phantomon thehorizon, Vich, editors, Readings in Humanistic Psychology
(New York: Free Press,Collier-Macmillan,
1969).
stillresistantto conquest; a presencenonethe- 4 One getsthe impressionfromrecentwritingthat
less whichthreatensto complicateif not divert thesocial scientistmayonlyenterthe discussionif he
language.This
thechartedcourseof objectivescience.To some is willingto use thephenomenologist's
mightnot only fail to yield mutual benefit,but it
geographers,however,one compellingoverall wouldbe inconsistent
withsome of thestatedpremises
of- of phenomenology.
imageof phenomenologyand existentialism
1976
279
ANNE BUTTIMER
oflifeworld.
Nextit outlinesthreemajorstances
assumed by geographyand related disciplines
on the human experienceof "world" to highlightkey conceptualissues whichphenomenology may help to elucidate.Two notionsfrom
phenomenology,
"body subject" and "intersubjectivity,"and one from contemporarygeography,the idea of "time-spacerhythms,"are
potentialbases for a dialogue betweenthe two
fields.The idea of body subjectfocuseson the
direct relationshipsbetween the human body
and its world.5The idea of intersubjectivity
endeavorsto construethedialoguebetweenperson
and milieuin termsof socioculturalheritageand
the social roles assumed in the everydaylifeworld.6The idea of time-spacerhythms
is proposed as one perspectivewhichcould yieldinsightinto the dynamicwholenessof lifeworld
experience.7
These ideas, and some personalreflections,suggestguidelinesfor developing a
moreexperientially
groundedtypeof humanistic thoughtwithingeography.
enology" was the analysis and interpretation
of consciousness, particularlythe conscious
cognitionof directexperience.9One endeavors
to peel offsuccessivelayers of a priorijudgein ormentand to transcendall preconceptions
der to arrive at a consciousnessof pure essences. Such transcendentalreflectionshould
probe to the foundationsof all scientificenquiry;it shouldbecome,in fact,the fundamental attitudefrom which all scientificenquiry
should spring.Phenomenologistshave argued
thatconventionalscientific
proceduresare never
self-conscious;theyspringfroma "naturalistic
attitude"which observes, classifies,and "explains" phenomenawithinthe frameworkof a
prioripostulates.'0Such naturalthinkingpresupposes thatthereis an externalworldawaiting the knower,and it never stops to examine
whetherknowledgeis really possible at all."'
The phenomenologicalattitude,by contrast,
demandsa returnto the evidence,to the facts
themselvesas theyare givenafresh,and a scrutinyof the act of consciousnessitself.In the
PHENOMENOLOGY AND LIFEWORLD
scientific
or "naturalistic"mode of knowing,an
Phenomenologyis not easy to define.The individualmaybecome so engrossedin the obvarietyof descriptionsreflectthe fundamental jects of his concern thathe overlookshimself
differencesamong phenomenologiststhem- and the perspectiveshe bringsto the studyof
selves, and the fluidityof its boundarieswith theseobjects. The phenomenologicalnotionof
otherfields.8A core concernof "pure phenom- intentionality
suggeststhat each individualis
the focus of his own world,yethe may be ob5 M. Merleau-Ponty,
Phenomenology of Perception, liviousof himselfas the creativecenterof that
translatedby Colin Smith (New York: Humanities world. He is, in a sense, an "alienated conPress, 1962); The Structureof Behavior, translatedby
A. L. Fisch (Boston: Beacon Press, 1963); The Pri- sciousness."112There is no absolutelytranscendentstandpointavailable to man fromwhichhe
mnacyof Perception and Other Essays, edited by J. M.
Edie (Evanston, Illinois: NorthwesternUniversity mightview himselfand his world in relation.
Press,1964); and D. Seamon,"The Phenomenological Each knowershouldrecognizehimselfas an inInvestigation
of Lived Space," Monadnock,Vol. 49 tentionalsubject,i.e., as a knower who uses
(1975), pp. 38-45.
words-intendedmeanings-to renderhis intu6 Gabriel Marcel, Man Against Mass Society (ChiAn indicago: Requery, 1950); A. Schutz, On Phenomenology itionsobjective and communicable.13
and Social Relations (Chicago: Universityof Chicago
Press, 1970); and his The Structuresof the Lifeworld,
Husserl, Ideas: General Introduction to Pure Phe-
edited by T. Luckmann(Evanston,Illinois: North- nomenology(New York: Macmillan, 1913); MerwesternUniversity
leau-Ponty,op. cit., footnote5; M. Natanson,"The
Press,1973).
7 T. Hagerstrand,
"Whatabout People in Regional Lebenswelt," Review of Existential Psychology and
Science?", Papers of the Regional Science Association, Psychiatry,Vol. 4 (1964), pp. 126-240; and N.
Vol. 24 (1970), pp. 7-21; and "The Domain of Hu- Lawrenceand D. O'Connor,eds., Readingsin Exis-
man Geography,"New Directions in Geography,edited
by R. Chorley (New York: CambridgeUniversity
Press, 1974), pp. 67-87.
8 At least threedistinct
positionsare evidentamong
phenomenologists,
rangingfromthe "pure phenomenology"of Husserlthroughthe existentialphenomenologyof Merleau-Ponty,
Marcel, and Schutz to the
hermeneutical
of Ricoeur; Edmund
phenomenology
Husserl, "Philosophyas Rigorous Science," in Q.
tential Phenomenology
Prentice-Hall,1967).
(Englewood
9 Edmund Husserl, The Idea
Cliffs, N.J.:
of Phenomenology
(The Hague: Nijhoff,1907); and P. Petit,On the
Idea of Phenomenology (Dublin: Scepter Publications,
1969).
10 Husserl,op. cit.,footnote9, pp. 13-14.
11Husserl,op. cit.,footnote9, p. 17.
12 Petit,op. cit.,footnote9, p. 49.
13 Husserl(1913), op. cit.,footnote
Lauer, ed., Phenomenology and the Crisis of Philos8; and Husserl,
ophy(New York: Harper,l911), pp. 71-147; Edmund op. cit.,footnote9.
280
THE DYNAMISM
OF LIFEWORLD
June
vidual could do thisin Husserl'sfamousprinci- ical and social world, and that this "world"
ple of reduction, which demands that the situationinfluencesthemeaningsand intentionknowerreturnto the self and to the absolutely alityof his consciousness.Existentialphenomevidentdata. Phenomenologysets out to dem- enologistshave triedto use thephenomenologionstratethe inadequacy of all naturalisticthe- cal methodto penetratethislivedworldcontext
ories of knowledge,and triesto examinewhat withinwhichexperienceis construed.Theyhave
knowledgeis about-to clarifythe "essence of recognized,too, that lived experienceinvolves
cognition."'14In generalterms,then,phenome- more than cognitiveunderstanding,
and have
nologycould be definedas a philosophicalmode explored the vast varietyof preconscious,orof reflectionon conscious experience,and an ganic, and sensoryfoundationswhich precede
attemptto explainthisin termsof meaningand intellectualknowledgeper se.18
Thereare difficulties,
however,in relatingthe
significance.
There are volumes of critique,nuance, and notionof "lived world"to geographiclanguage
elaboration on this extremelyelusive goal. and endeavor. In theirquest for universalsin
There are also fundamental
have fodilemmas,not least human experience,phenomenologists
among which are the claims for becoming a cused almostexclusivelyon individuals,and sosuperscienceof essences on the one hand, and cial experienceand interactionhave been contherepeatedinsistenceon the uniquenessof in- struedprimarilyin the contextof interpersonal
dividual(subjective) experienceon theother.'5 ratherthan intergrouprelations.In describing
Confusing,too, are the cross currentsbetween the human experienceof "world," space, and
phenomenologyand existentialism,
forexisten- time, too, there tends to be an emphasis on
tialistsin many ways underminethe idealistic human subjects as the primaryinitiatorsand
premisesof pure phenomenology.'6
of experience."World" and milieu
Existential- determinants
ists have been more concernedwithissues of have been construedby manyas passive, as a
life-anxiety,fanaticism,
despair,fearand hope stageupon which,and over againstwhich,sub-than withproblemsof knowledgeand mind. jects createtheirlifeprojects.Geographersare
Most disclaimthe possibilityof generalization, aware of theactiverole of milieu-physical and
are harshlycriticalof rationality,
and enjoy,it cultural-in shapingexperience,and hencetheir
seems, the quagmireof ambiguitywhich sur- use of the terms"space" and "world" is differroundshumanexistence.'7Existentialphenom- ent.Finally,social scientistswho have adopted
enologistshave trod a windingand poorly lit a phenomenologicalapproach have tended to
passage as theyhave endeavoredto adapt the disentangle,to separate out, and to categorize
phenomenological
methodto elucidatethelived distincttypesand levels of experiencein space
world. The social scientistis drawnto the ac- and time. The everydayworld,however,precountsof theseexplorerswhenhe endeavorsto sentsitselfin dynamicunity,and it is experidiscoverthemessageof phenomenology.
Tradi- enced in a holisticway untilthoughtbeginsto
tional phenomenologists
have recognizedthat reflecton it.
It is in the spiritof the phenomenological
man,thecognizingbeing,is anchoredin a physpurpose, then, ratherthan in the practice of
14 Husserl,op. cit.,footnote9, p. 18.
phenomenologicalprocedures,that one finds
15 Husserl"solved"thisproblemwiththeTranscendirection.There shouldbe no inevitableconflict
dental Ego, whose "subjectivity"could eventually
between
ways of being and ways of knowing.
reach perfectobjectivity,
based on the intuitionof
essences.Many contemporary
phenomenologists
have Phenomenologyinvitesus to explore some of
abandonedthisposition.
theunifying
conditionsand forcesin thehuman
16 StephenStrasser,
"Phenomenologies
and Psychol- experienceof world.Assumingthatsuch unifyogies," Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiagiven
try,Vol. 1 (1965), pp. 80-105; M. Warnock, Existen- ing conditionsmay residein the routinely
tialism(New York: OxfordUniversity
Press, 1970); facetsof everydaylife (lebenswelt),thisnotion
and H. Spiegelberg,The Phenomenological Movement: offersa good beginningfor a dialogue between
A Historical Introduction (The Hague: M. Nijhoff,
geographyand phenomenology.
1960).
17
Soren Kierkegaard, Concluding UnscientificPost-
script,translatedby D. F. Swenson(Princeton,N.J.:
PrincetonUniversityPress, 1941); and Jean Paul
Sartre, Search for a Method, translated by H. E.
Barnes (New York: A. A. Knopf,Inc., 1963).
18 Merleau-Ponty,
op. cit., footnote5 (1962); and
J. A. Kokelmans,"Merleau-Ponty's
View on Space
Perception and Space," Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry,Vol. 4 (1964), pp. 69-105.
1976
ANNE BUTTIMER
281
itself. Sauer advocated a naive approach to
landscape description,and was skepticalabout
the use of a priorimodels.22Gran6 noted the
sensesin the perception
importanceof different
and cognitionof environment.23
Subjectiveexperience,fantasy,and tasteinfluencethe characterof places.24Rarely,however,has a geographermade a phenomenologicalinvestigation
of
his own perceptions.Recent research on the
cognitive,organic, and symbolicfoundations
and correlatesof particularkindsof perception
has reliedon psychologicalor ethologicalmodels; thisresearchcould be describedas "scientific"in phenomenological
language.25
The queslives."20
In everydaylife,one does notreflectupon,or tion, then,is whetheror how phenomenology
criticallyexamine,such horizons:thenotionof may help in elucidatingthe human experience
lifeworldconnotesessentiallythe prereflective,of space. Two pointsdeserveattention.Conceptaken-for-granted
dimensionsof experience,the tually,it is helpfulto considerthe distinction
unquestionedmeanings,and routinizeddeter- betweenlived space and representational
space,
it is instructiveto conminantsof behavior.To bringthese precogni- and methodologically,
tive "givens" into consciousnesscould elicit a sider the phenomenologicalattemptto tranheightenedself-awarenessand identityand en- scend the dualism between "subjective" and
able one to empathizewiththe worldsof other "objective"modes of understanding
experience.
people. More insightintothenatureof lifeworld
is necessaryin orderto appreciatethealienating Lived and RepresentationalSpace
Positivistshave arguedthatscientific
notions
influencesof technologyand science on lived
of space are ultimately
groundedin experience.
experience.2'
The use of Euclidean geometricconcepts has
THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE
OF SPACE
been identified
in spatialperceptionamongchildren.26
Most
conventional
geographicproceGeographers,heirsto a longtraditionof condures
assume
a
Newtonian
concept
of space as
cernforthevarietiesof humanexperience,may
a
container
in
which
physical
objects
and events
findmuch phenomenologicaldiscourseon lifeworld"deja vu." Onlyin relativelyrecenttimes
22 Carl 0. Sauer, The Morphology of Landscape,
have we engagedin modes of analysisand conUniversityof CaliforniaPublicationsin Geography,
ceptualizationwhichare so harshlycriticizedin Vol. 2, No. 2 (Berkeley: Universityof California
phenomenology.Many geographershave re- Press,1925), pp. 19-54.
23 J. G. Granb, Reine Geographie: Eine methodoloflectedon theexperientialmeaningof earthocgische Studie beleuchtet mit Beispielen aus Finnland
cupance,althoughnot the act of consciousness und Estland,Acta GeographicaNo. 3 (Helsingfors:
"World" to the phenomenologist
is the contextwithinwhichconsciousnessis revealed.It is
but . . .
not "a mereworldof factsand affairs,
a worldof values, a worldof goods, a practical
world."'9 It is anchoredin a past and directed
towarda future;it is a sharedhorizon,though
each individualmay construeit in a uniquely
personalway. Once aware of lifeworldin personal experience,an individualshouldthenaim
to graspthesharedworldhorizonsof otherpeople and of societyas a whole.Broadlyspeaking,
lebensweltcould be definedas the "all encompassinghorizonof our individualand collective
19Husserl,op. cit.,footnote
9, p. 93.
20 J. Lyons, "Edmund Husserl," Revised International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 7
(1968), p. 31; Husserl'streatment
of lebenswelt appears mostclearlyin his laterworks,e.g., The Crisis
of European Philosophy (The Hague: Nijhoff,1964).
21 Two essentialfeaturesof lifeworldare recognized by phenomenologists:
its physical(time space)
character,and its social (intersubjective)
nature.The
firstwas explored explicitlyby Merleau-Pontyand
Scheler,and the secondby Schutzand Marcel; Merleau-Ponty,
op. cit.,footnote5 (1962); Max Scheler,
Man's Place in Nature, translatedin 1970 by Hans
Meyerhoff
(New York: The Noonday Press, 1928);
Schutz,op. cit.,footnote6; and Marcel,op. cit.,footnote6. I willconsidertheworkof Merleau-Ponty
and
Schutz.
FinnishGeographicalSociety,1929).
24 D. Lowenthal, "Geography, Experience, and
Imagination:Towardsa GeographicalEpistemology,"
Annals,AssociationofAmericanGeographers,
Vol. 51
(1961), pp. 241-60; and Tuan, op. cit.,footnote2.
25 M. J. Bowden,"The Perceptionof the Western
Interiorof the UnitedStates,1800-1870: A Problem
in HistoricalGeography,"
Proceedings,
Associationof
AmericanGeographers,Vol. 1 (1969), pp. 16-21;
D. Lowenthal,"EnvironmentalPerceptionand Behavior," Environment and Behavior, Vol. 4, No. 2
(September,1972); and D. Stea and R. Downs,
"CognitiveRepresentations
of Man's Spatial Environ-
ment," Environment and Behavior, Vol. 2, No.
1
(March, 1970).
26 D. Harvey, Explanation in Geography (New
York: St. Martin'sPress,1969); and Relph,op. cit.,
footnote2.
282
THE DYNAMISM
OF LIFEWORLD
June
are assigned a place. This representational aggregatehuman experience,the "intersubjecspace is an attemptto describeand analyzethe tive" or phenomenologicalmode would enexperienceof space throughscientific,
logical, deavor to elicit a dialogue betweenindividual
and mathematicalcategories. Time becomes persons and the "subjectivity"of theirworld.
atomizedinto unitsof equal durationto facili- Generalizations (the "third person mode")
tategeneralization
and theory:space is a three- should derive froma more basic relationship
dimensionalgrid with coordinates stretching betweenthe actors (firstand second persons)
endlesslyalongeach ofits axes, each coordinate withinthe drama of the lifeworld.
How does thisapproach differ
point equal in its position,and equal lengths
fromconvenrepresenting
equal distances.No point is pre- tionalscientific
methodsof investigating
experiferredto any other,but alternativezero-points ence? The essentialdifference
lies in thedistinccan be chosenby simpletransformations
in the tionbetweenbehaviorand experience,whichis
gridsystems.Thus, lived experienceis objecti- clarifiedin the phenomenologicalcritique of
fied. In the phenomenologicalview, however, two issues: the relationof body and mind,and
space is a dynamiccontinuumin whichthe ex- the relationof person and world.Both are experiencerlives and moves and searches for emplifiedin Merleau-Ponty'scritiqueof permeaning. It is a "lived horizon along which ception. "Our experienceof the world is not
thingsand personsare perceivedand valued."27 firstas science described it," he wrote, "we
Describingspace merelyin termsofitsgeometry need to get behind such explanationsin order
is an inadequateapproachto theunderstanding to describehumanbehavior."29
One must shrinkfrom models inspiredby
of humanexperience:28
physics,
or the human mind, and consistently
For us, space cannotbe reducedto geometricrelations: relationswhichwe establishas if,reducedto returnto directexperience.The primarydata
the simplerole of spectatorsor scientists,
we were forperceptionare takenfromthedirectcontacts
ourselvesoutsidespace. We live and act in space, betweenbody and world. Neitherof the two
and our personallives,as well as the social life of main currentsof thoughtin Westernsciencehumanity,
unfoldsin space.Lifespreadsoutin space
and idealism-has satisfactorily
exwithouthavinga geometricextensionin theproper empiricism
sense of the word.We have need of expansion,of plained experience and perception.The emin orderto live.Space is as indispensable piricistapproachhas failedbecause it attempts
perspective,
as timein thedevelopment
of life.
to explain the human experienceof world as
science explains the physical world. Neither
Ways of KnowingExperience
has theidealistpositionyieldedan explanatory
Parallelingthese distinctionsbetween inner account of experience.In claimingthat con(personal) experienceand outer behavior in sciousness constitutesthe meaning of world,
space is thedistinction
oftenmade betweensub- one has to assume, among other things,that
jective and objectivemodes of knowing.Phe- perceptioncoincideswithunderstanding,
which
nomenologytries to transcendthis Cartesian in experienceis not alwaysso.
dualism, and proposes a mode of knowing
The empiricist
is an observerof a worldfrom
whichrecognizesthevalidityofbothmodes,but which he can separate himself,whereas the
is identicalwithneither.Its initial criterionis idealistsees worldas an objectof consciousness.
thecreationof a climatewhichmakesit psycho- Both implysome absolutetruthexternalto the
logically safe for the other person, event, or knower,or an absolute consciousness.Neither
phenomenonto revealits internalframeof ref- leaves room for the finitenessof human exisei ence: it seeks to encounter,ratherthanmas- tence, and this is the crucial task. Merleauter,the object to be known.Whereas the sub- Ponty suggestedthat we mightapproach the
jectivemode concentrateson unique individual precognitive
givensof experience,definednotin
experience,and the objectivemode seeks gen- termsof our knowledgeof them,but by our beeralizationand testablepropositionsconcerning haviorin relationto them.He identified
thisas
the
of
which
takes
in an
study
perception,
place
27 C. G. Schrag,Experienceand Being (Evanston,
or
one
which
is in
already
patterned
world,
Illinois:Northwestern
University
Press,1969), p. 55.
28 Eugene Minkowski, Lived Time: Phenomenological and Psychopathological Studies (Evanston, Illi-
nois: Northwestern
University
Press,1933), p. 400.
29 Merleau-Ponty
(1962), op. cit., footnote5, pp.
3-22.
1976
ANNE BUTTIMER
283
processof becoming.30
One mustrejectany sci- stampedby humanintention,value, and mementificcause-effectmodels of subject and ob- ory.Second, studiesof social space have invesject,and conceptualizetherelationship
between tigatedtheexperienceof worldwhichis filtered
bodysubjectand worldas reciprocally
determin- throughsocial referencesystemsand interaction
ing one another.Focusing on the relationship networks.
Third,space has been studiedin terms
between body and world raises a numberof of ecological processes and functionalorganiphilosophical and methodological questions. zation, its objectivelymeasurablecharacteras
Much of the body's behaviorbecomes unintel- context,ratherthan expression,of human exligibleif one treatsit as pure subject (i.e., sep- perience.In thesethreemajor avenues geograaratefromenvironment).The precisenatureof phershave grappledwithtensionsbetweensubphysicaland psychicforceswithinthe person jectiveand objectiveways of knowing,between
can neverbe preciselydetermined,
but one can individualand collectiveperspectives,and bedescribethe way in whichtheyshare his exis- tween the temporal and spatial facets of extentialrelationshipto the world.If the body is perience. Some conceptual issues involved in
treatedas a milieuunto itself,e.g., as roughly theseorientations
mayhelp to clarifyour probequivalentto the psyche,thenone can onlyun- lems and the questionswe pose to thephenomcoverthe contentsof consciousnessratherthan enologist.
experience.3
The Sense of Place
If one considersthebody as object,as in beThe coincidenceof social and spatial identihaviorism,one failsto recognizetheimportance
of the psyche. The crucial fallacy in each of ficationwithina regionwas exemplifiedparticthese approaches is the attemptto make the ularly in early twentiethcenturystudies of
boundbody yieldknowledge,but thebody is designed Frenchpays.3 Althoughphysiographic
primarilyfor action ratherthan knowledge.32 aries were emphasized,the patternof living
betweenpersonand worldcan- (genre de vie) shaped and was shaped by the
The relationship
notbe fullydescribedin termsof causal connec- sense of place. Technological and economic
thebody is not an object.Simi- changesin genresde vie opened people's horitions;therefore
larly,awarenessof the body is not a thought; zons toward wider interactionnetworks,but
thereforeits inherenceis never wholly clear. did not always underminethe sense of place;
We cannotknowthebody at all exceptthrough even technologicallysophisticatedand urban
populationshave territorial
In
identification.34
thelifewe live in it in the world.
Scientific
proceduresfailto provideadequate recentyearsmuchresearchhas focussedon terand proxemicbehavior,and muchindescriptionsof experiencebecause of theirim- ritoriality
has
sight
been
gleaned into the organic,cogniplicit separationof body and mind withinthe
tive,
affective,
and symbolic foundationsof
humanperson. Similarly,if one separatesperwithplace.
son and world, the wholeness of experience identification
Phenomenologistshave corroboratedmany
escapes. Person (body, mind, emotion,will)
and world are jointlyengagedin the processes of these resultsin theiressays on lived space
and patternsobservablein overt behavior. Is and existentialspace.A5Each personis seen to
thisstancetranslatableinto a languageand set
33 P. Vidal de la Blache, "La Personnalite
Ge'ograofproceduresamenableto geographicaldescrip- phiquede la France (Manchester:ManchesterUnivertion?At least threegeneralavenues of enquiry sityPress,1941); and A. Buttimer,
Societyand Milieu
could be identified.
First,space has been con- in the French Geographic Tradition, Association of
Geographers,
Monograph6 (Chicago: Rand
strued as a mosaic of special places, each American
McNally,1971).
30 Merleau-Ponty
(1962),
op. cit., footnote5, pp.
52-63.
31 A. Rabil, Merleau-Ponty: Existentialist of the
Social World(New York: ColumbiaUniversity
Press,
1967), p. 21.
32 Merleau-Ponty
illustratedthe notion of "body
subject"in his treatment
of perception(op. cit.,footnote 5, 1962), referring
particularly
to sensorymotor
behavior(pp. 103-47), sexuality(154-71), and language (174-99); Rabil, op. cit.,footnote31, p. 21.
34 S. M. Lymanand M. B. Scott,"Territoriality:
A
NeglectedSociologicalDimension,"Social Problems,
Vol. 15 (1967), pp. 236-49; H. J. Gans, The Urban
Villagers(New York: Free Press, 1962); E. T. Hall,
The Hidden Dimension (New York: Doubleday,
1966); and S. I. Keller, The Urban Neighborhood
(New York: RandomHouse, 1968).
35 Otto Bollnow,"Lived Space," in Lawrence and
O'Connor,op. cit.,footnote8, pp. 178-86; C. Norberg-
Schulz, Existence, Space, and Architecture(New York:
PraegerPress,1971); and Seamon,op. cit.,footnote5.
284
THE DYNAMISM
have a "naturalplace" whichis consideredto
be the"zero pointof his personalreference
system."36This naturalplace is set withina "membered spatial surrounding,"a series of places
which fuse to formmeaningfulregions,each
withits appropriatestructure
and orientationto
otherregions.37Each person is surroundedby
concentric"layers" of lived space, fromroom
to home,neighborhood,
city,region,and nation.
In addition,theremay be "privilegedplaces,"
qualitativelydifferent
fromall others,such as a
"man'sbirthplace,or thescenesof his firstlove,
or certainplaces in the firstforeigncityhe visited in youth."38
In many respectsgeographyand phenomenologyhave arrivedat similarconclusionsabout
the experienceof place. The routes of their
investigations
are different,
however,and hence
theyoffervaluable criticalinsightto one another.The phenomenologist
notesthata social
scientistusing a priori disciplinarymodels to
investigateexperience may fail to tap direct
experience.The social scientistmay object to
the tendencyin phenomenologyto universalize
about human experiencefrom individual accounts.A geographerwould be justifiably
skeptical about some of the generalizationswhich
have been propoundedabout lived space. The
ideal persondescribedby phenomenologists
appears to be rural (at least "local") at heart;
nonplace-basedsocial networksdo notseriously
influencehis knowledgeof space, or his attractionsor repulsionsfromplaces. Surelya person
could be psychologicallypresent in distant
spaces and milieux: places inhabitedby loved
ones, or milieuxrenderedvividthroughliterary
or visual media.39Does "home" always coincide with residence?Could a person be "at
home" in several places, or in no place?40
OF LIFEWORLD
June
Could the gestaltor coherentpatternof one's
lifespace notemergefrommobilityas a kindof
topologicalsurfacepunctuatedby specificanchoringpoints?4'
A more serious objection could be raised
concerningthe implicit assumptionin some
phenomenologicalwritingthatthe humanperson is in charge,and.thatspace and milieuare
silent,or simplya kind of screenonto whicha
person may project his intentions."Space becomes a horizonof existenceitself.It is a horizon to be conquered,defended,explored,utilized and masteredin such a way as to be made
concordantwithhumanpurposes."It responds
to humaninitiative,mood, and memory.42
Some phenomenologicalstudydoes emphasize the dialogical natureof people's relationship to place. Eliade's distinctionsbetween
sacred and profanespace, Bachelard's illustrations of poetic modes of construingnature,
place, and time, and Heidigger's notion of
"dwelling"give an overall impressionof ambiguity.43
Phenomenologists
affirm
theoretically
that environments("world") play a dynamic
role in humanexperience,but oftenin practice
theyimplicitlysubsumesuch dynamismwithin
a dialogue in which human agents ascribe
variables studied, to satisfactionwith residence.
Several respondents,
of course,disclaimedhaving a
homeground,somenamedareas whichwereremoved
fromtheirpresentresidences,
and someappearedquite
satisfied
withlifein thearea whiledenyinga senseof
"at homeness."The relationshipbetweeninteraction
networks,images, and "home area" showed some
evidenceof residents'
attempts
to createa "membered
spatial surrounding"
throughservices,clubs, school,
and church.Unlikethesymmetrical
stablepatternsof
homeand centerpostulatedby Bollnowand Schrag,I
founda greatvarietyof patterns.
Mostperceivedhome
areas were symmetrically
disposedvis-h-visthe residence,manywere only partiallybounded,and some
weresimplylinearextensionsalong pathwaysused in
36 Bollnow,op. cit., footnote35, p. 180; and G.
movement
patterns.
Ratherthansettledstablepatterns
Bachelard, The Poetics of Space (Boston: Beacon of home and neighborhood,
my respondents
revealed
Press,1958), pp. 6-7.
varyingprocesseswhichonlysometimesled towarda
37 Bollnow,op. cit., footnote35, p. 180.
sense of belonging.What became overwhelmingly
38 MirceaEliade, The Sacredand theProfane(New
clear in open-endedresponsesto the question,"When
York: PraegerPublishers,1957), p. 24.
returning
home,at whatpointin the journeydo you
39 Rowles has discoveredthatelderlypeople some- feel you are approachingyour home?" was the salitimes vicariouslyparticipatein geographicallydis- ence of noncognitive,
bodily,and emotionallybased
placed milieux inhabitedby childrenand relatives perceptionsof space.
41M. W. Webber,"Culture,Territoriality
whomtheymay neverhave visited.
and the
40 This questionis based on evidencefroma study Elastic Mile," Regional Science Association: Papers,
in Glasgow some years ago. It was executedwithin Vol. 13 (1964), pp. 59-69.
42 C. G. Schrag,Experienceand Being (Evanston,
the framework
of positivistprocedures,but I did try
to exploresenseof place, home,and satisfaction
with Illinois: Northwestern
University
Press,1969), p. 63.
43 Eliade, op. cit.,footnote38; Bachelard,op. cit.,
life among selectedhousewives.The presenceof a
"homearea" was mostsignificantly
related,of all the footnote36; and Heidigger,op. cit.,footnote1.
1976
ANNE BUTTIMER
285
meaningand significance.Geographerswould are seen to coincidewitha social world rather
be moreinclinedto ascribea dynamismof their thanwitha particulararea. The underlying
conown to such externalconditionsas ecosystems, ception is of mobile man, place-transcending,
linkagepatterns,and economies.
whose horizons are set by his social worlds.
Overridingthesedifferences
in styleand ori- Assumptionsare made about the relationships
entationemergesthe sense of lifeworldas pre- between individualsand groups, the internal
consciouslygivenfacetsof everydayplace ex- homogeneityof particularsocial categoriesor
perience.One returnsto thenotionof genrede networksof interaction,
and the salience ofrefvie, and the routinelyaccepted patternsof be- erencegroupperspectives
fortheindividual,but
havior and interaction.From both geography these assumptionsare not usually validated
and phenomenologythe notion of rhythm throughautobiographicalor personalaccounts.
emerges: everydaybehavior demonstratesa
The validityof suchnotionsas surrogatesfor
quest for order,predictability,
and routine,as directexperiencerestson the credibility
of sowell as thequestforadventureand change.The ciological models. Generalizationson this dyeverydaylifeworld,viewed from the vantage namic component of space experience have
pointof place, could be seen as a tension(or- been based on modelsderivedfrom,or inspired
chestration)of stabilizingand innovativeforces, by, physicsand communicationstheory.How
manyof whichmay not be consciouslygrasped appropriateare such generalizationsfor the
untilstressor illnessbetrayssome disharmony descriptionof social experience?Phenomenolbetween person and world. This tension be- ogistswouldviewsocietyas an assemblyof subtween stabilityand change withinrhythmsof jects, and tryto examinebehaviorand interacdifferent
scales, expressedby the body's rela- tion in termsof intersubjectivity.46
People are
tionshipto its world,maybe seen as prototype bornintoan intersubjective
world,i.e., we learn
of the relationshipbetweenplaces and space, language and stylesof social behavior which
home and range in the human experienceof enable us to engage in the everydayworld.47
world.
Our naturalinterestin day-to-dayactivitiesis
pragmatic,not theoretical.Most of its features
Social Space
-social, physical,and technical-are assumed
Contemporaryman is mobile, and he may as given,reasonably
predictable,and manipuexperiencespace most vividlyin networksof
of
to it have been translable;
ways
relating
social and commercialinteractionwhichcould
mitted
our
sociocultural
through
heritage,which
not be circumscribedwithina given regionor
provides
guidelines
and
schemata
for actions
place. Scholarshave explorednetworksof speand
interactions.
This
intersubjective
heritage
cial interestand culturalgroups,nonplace-based
not
have
does
to
be
unless
normally
questioned
"realms," and accessibilitysurfaces of social
we
move
to
a
different
cultural
setting.48
and economic opportunity.44
Space has been
Consider what happens when one firstenviewedas containerof populationswithparticand as stage countersa foreignculture.The knowledgeacular demographiccharacteristics,
on which networksof social interactiontake quired in one's own societyis inadequate; one
place.45 The boundariesof spatial experience has to questiontheformer"givens"of social life
and search for commondenominatorsfor dia44 Webber,op. cit., footnote41; T. Lee, "Urban
Neighborhood
as a Socio-spatialSchema,"HumanRelations,Vol. 21 (1968), pp. 241-68; F. W. Boal, "Territoriality
on the Shankill-FallsDivide, Belfast,"Iris/i
Geography,Vol. 6 (1969), pp. 30-50; A. Buttimer,
"Social Space in Interdisciplinary
Perspective,"Geo-
theCincinnatiCentralCity,"Antipode,Vol. 2 (1970),
pp. 68-83; B. J.L. Berry,"The Logic and Limitations
of ComparativeFactorialEcology,"Economic Geography,Vol. 47 (1971), pp. 209-33; and J.0. Wheeler
and F. P. Stutz,"SpatialDimensionsof Urban Social
graphical Review, Vol. 59 (1969), pp. 417-26; and Travel," Annals, Association of American GeogA. Buttimer,
"Social Space and the Planningof Resi- raphers,Vol. 61 (1971), pp. 371-86.
46 Schutz,op. cit.,footnote6; and H. R. Wagner,
dential Areas," Environment and Behavior, Vol. 4
(1972), pp. 279-318.
ed., A Ifred Schutz: On Phenomenology and Social Re45 G. Tbrnquist,
Contact Systems and Regional Delations(Chicago: University
of ChicagoPress,1970).
velopment,Lund Publicationsin Geography(Lund,
47 A. Schutz,"The Stranger:An Essay in Social
Sweden: University
of Lund Departmentof Geogra- Psychology," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 49
phy, 1970); G. A. Hyland, "Social Interactionand (1944), pp. 499-507.
48 Wagner,op. cit.,footnote
46, p. 73.
Urban Opportunity:The AppalachianIn-migrant
in
286
THE DYNAMISM
OF LIFEWORLD
June
logue withthe other.49To gain a foothold,or broughtthese social "givens" into consciousbasis fordialogue,one needs to grasptheinner ness, however,he is unable to appreciatethe
about
subjective meanings common to that other culturalbias in his own modesof thinking
group,itssocioculturalheritage,and its "stream experience,nor is he able to evaluate the apOne needs not onlyto rec- propriatenessof a particularlanguage for the
of consciousness."50
ognize,but to translate,the signs and symbols elucidationof othersocial worlds.It is easy to
has inspiredthedevelof the othergroup,and to graspempathetically see how phenomenology
the motivationalmeaningsof their actions.51 opment of comparativelinguisticsand ethnoTo imagineoneselfas a strangermay illustrate science.53Its implicationsfor geographyhave
be- not yetbeen exploredthoroughly:societiesdo
communication
the factthatintersubjective
tween groupsinvolves similarbut much more not existin a vacuum,theyresidein territorial
complex procedures and considerationsthan settings.To anchor social experience in the
pheinterpersonaldialogue. It demands more than contextsof contemporaryenvironments,
empathy(which,afterall, diminishesthe"sub- nomenologistsleave many issues unexplored.
jectivity"ofthe other); it requiresa recognition Althoughtheyreferto "world" as an already
theyhave not
of the alter ego, conscious subject of its own constitutedintentionalstructure,
yet explicitlyrecognizedthe dynamicsof prolifeworldexperience.
connotesthe inheritedsitu- cesses alreadyoperativewhichset the rhythms
Intersubjectivity
ationwhichsurroundseverydaylife.It can also of time and space for everydaylife situations.
be understoodas an ongoingprocess whereby Geographersresortedto a similarkindof exagindividuals continue to create their social gerationwhen tryingto counterchargesof enPhenomenologysugworlds.52The key message of phenomenology vironmentaldeterminism.
claim a focus on
forthe studentof social space is thatmuch of geststhat we may justifiably
withoutadoptinga deterit is ac- man and environment
our social experienceis prereflective:
cepted as given, reinforcedthroughlanguage ministicstance on theirmutual relationships.
and routine,and rarelyif ever has to be exam- The environmentis not a tabula rasa, but a
ined or changed. Until the social scientisthas multilayeredand dynamiccomplex. We have
attemptedto capture some of this dynamism
in our analysesof spatial systemsand in
both
49 Schutz,op. cit.,footnote
47.
50 Jamesdescribed"streamsof consciousness"and our models of bioecological systems.Both entheir"emotionalhalos" as livedfeaturesof the socio- deavorscould offerinsightintothedirectedness
culturalworld,notingthattheycould not be grasped or intentionality
of the lifeworldsurrounding
by logicallyderivedscientific
means.
each
individual.
51 Schutzsuggesteda formof knowledgewhich is
close to Weber's notion of verstehen;Max Weber, Time-SpaceRhythms
and Milieu
und
3rd edition (Tuebingen:
Wirtschaft
Gesellschaft,
J. C. B. Mohr,1947), pp. 1-30. "Subjectivemeaning"
One thrustof twentiethcenturygeographic
in Weber'sviewembracedboththemeaningsascribed
effort
has been directedtowarda more abstract
by an actor to his own conductand the meanings
ascribedto it by an externalobserver.Verstehenin- topologicalconceptionof space, thecontextfor
volvedgraspingthe subjectively
intendedmeaningof and expression of systems and structures.54
conductby another.This "grasp"could be empathetic Geographershave examinedthe functionalorand/orrational.Weberemphasizedtherationalmode,
whichcouldbe derivedeitherfrom"actualunderstand- ganizationof space and have construedactiviof the actoror from ties as the primaryagentsof spatial differentiaing"based on directobservation
based on the underlying tion: maps and models "personify"
"explanatory
understanding"
space-using
motivationsof observedacts. The externalobserver
Each
activities.
spatial
system-road
network,
could only inferon the basis of his knowledgeof
surface-has its own builttypicalcases, i.e., probablymotivationsratherthan service,opportunity
"Rational"meanings,
certainty.
then,wereidealizedin in ethos,each lays claim to the space-timehoritermsof typicalcases-meaningsascribed"pure"con- zons of the
individual,each is partof theinterditions.Weberdid tryto unmaskthe subjectivecomponentsof action,but he did not proceedphenomeop. cit.,footnote3.
nologically;he did not examinethe tacitassumptions 53 Sturtevant,
54 W. Bunge, TheoreticalGeography,Studies in
or methodological
stance.
his theoretical
underlying
52 Marcel stressedthe intersubjective
natureof hu- Geography,Series C (Lund: Universityof Lund,
man experience:"Man's existenceis an existence-in- 1966); and H. Aay, "A Re-evaluation:Geographyrelationor it is nothing,"Lawrence and O'Connor, The Science of Space," Monadnock,Vol. 46 (1972),
pp. 20-31.
op. cit.,footnote35, p. 327.
1976
ANNE BUTTIMER
287
subjectiveheritageof a place. Problemsarisein tional and topological perspective,however,
relatingvarioustypesof spatial systemsto one also assumes an undifferentiated
space-the
another,and also in examiningthe"packing"of "featurelessplain" of our spatial tradition.
activitiesand people withina particulararea. Removingthis assumption,and examiningthe
Higerstrand has recognized the conceptual dynamismof the biophysicalsubstratum,one
weakness of an exclusivefocus on space and could uncoverfacetsof "world" whichplay a
theneed to incorporateconsiderationsof time, crucialrole in everydayexperience.This multipeople, and finitude.55
layereddynamiccomplex could also be repreThe underlyingconceptionis of aggregate sentedin termsof time-spacerhythms:patterns
man, exploitingthe advantagesof location and of sound and smell, lightand dark, heat and
accessibility,and organizingfunctionalcom- cold, movementand stillness.Though each of
and theseconditionsmayfollowrhythms
of different
plexeswithinspace to optimizeproductivity
exchange.The firsttwo approachessee experi- rates and scale, they could be synchronized
ence of lifeworldprimarily(oftenexclusively) withina time-spaceframework,and thus colof the functionalmilieu.
as a functionof personal,social, or culturaldis- lated withthe rhythms
to a more realisposition,and the habitsand motivationsof hu- The geographer'scontribution
man subjects,but thethirdapproachsees space tic explorationof the lifeworldmightconsist
the variegationsof
metaphoricallyas having a subjectivityof its primarilyin demonstrating
own which is expressed in linkage systems, the potentialtime-spacesurfaceand the structure of the horizons withinwhich individuals
spatial structures,and functionalnetworks.
may
choose. An awareness of these "givens"
model
"time
developed
by
The
geography"
Hdgerstrandprovides a promisingperspective shouldhelp each personmake moreenlightened
for investigatingthe dynamismof everyday choicesin relatingto environment.
Each movement,event,and acenvironments.
AVENUES FOR DIALOGUE
tivityin a person'sdailybehaviorcan be reprePhenomenologists
maycontinueto seekmore
grid: space is repsentedin a four-dimensional
plane, dynamicversions of human subjectivity,and
resentedon a horizontaltwo-dimensional
and timeon a verticalone. Each activityor flow geographersmay furtherexplicatethe dynamof movementcould be representedon an elon- ics of "world,"but therestillremainsthe chalTo
gated cube or model of an area; each could be lenge of graspingtheir interrelationships.
seen to generateits own particularschedules, rendera versionwhichwould more trulyresosetsof "stations,"and "coupling"requirements, nate withhumanexperience,one needs to ask
and weave its way throughthe maze of other how presentone can be to the world as living
flows.These time-spacepaths can give insight event: how nature,space, and time speak in
intothe actual or potentialharmonyor conflict everydayliving.59
of circulationsystemswithina given area.56
Lifeworld,in geographicperspective,could
ofexperidominatethetime-space be consideredas thelatentsubstratum
Managerialinterests
rhythmsof work milieux and urban environ- ence. Behavior in space and timecould be reThe schedulesand programsof urban garded as the surfacemovementsof icebergs,
ments.57
institutions
profoundlyaffectthe choice open whose depths we can sense only vaguely.
to theirclientele.58
No attempthas been made Whetherone speaks of individualor collective
to assess theexperiential
meaningof suchsched- experience,overt patternsof movementand
ulingin timeand space: the model is designed conscious activitycan be elucidatedby explorto elucidatespatialconstraints
and opportunities ing the dynamismand tensionsof its taken-forsurroundingeverydaylife choices. This func- grantedunderpinnings.Problems apparent in
the everydayexperienceof world are mirrored
in
the conflictbetween what individualsand
55 HWgerstrand,
op. cit.,footnote7 (1970).
56 Hagerstrand,
op. cit.,footnote
7 (1970 and 1974). groups have taken for granted about place,
57 D. Harvey,"Revolutionary
and CounterRevolu- space, and societyon the one hand, and what
tionaryTheory in Geographyand the Problem of the managerialand functionalrequirements
of
GhettoFormation,"Antipode,Vol. 4, No. 2 (July,
1972), pp. 1-13; and W. Bunge, Field Notes, Dis- spatialand bioecologicalsystemshave takenfor
cussionPaper No. 1 (Detroit,Michigan:DetroitGeographicalExpedition,1969).
58 HWgerstrand,
op. cit.,footnote7 (1974).
59 W. J. Ong,"Worldas View and Worldas Event,"
American Anthropologist,Vol. 71 (1969), pp. 634-37.
288
THE DYNAMISM OF LIFEWORLD
June
grantedin the organizationof environments
on thoroughfares;
the "world" in whichtheymay
the other.Phenomenologychallengeseach in- wishto dwell (in Heidigger'ssenseof theterm)
dividualto examinehis own experience,to be- allows littleroom for the kind of attunement
come subjectratherthanobject of researchin- withnature,space, and timewhichformerexquiry,and thenreachforcommondenominators periencemay have predisposedthemto expect.
in theexperiencesof others.We need a language An Appalachian migranthousewifedescribed
:63
and set of categorieswhich will enable us to hersituationgraphically
probe lifeworldexperienceand to communicate I have to thinkback though;I love to thinkback
about it.
to the days we lived up in the hollow and neither
Jacknor I cared whathour it was. We knewwhat
Problems such as neurophysiologicalstress
we had to do, and we wentand did it. There was
and anomie/alienationillustratethe fact that
the sun, of course; the sun's timewas enoughfor
man and world are inseparably conjoined.
us. Up here,we neversee thesun. I will wonderto
Many sharethese experiences,and science and
myselfsometimes:what has happenedto the sun
rationality
alone cannotelucidateor heal them.
and to themoon?I can go forweeksand neversee
any sign of the moon, and the stars are always
In lifeworldlanguage they could be regarded
behindsome cloud. And the sun doesn'tshineinto
as behavioralindicatorsof a clash betweenthe
our windows;we're at the wrongangle, it seems.
rhythms
of timeand space to whichindividuals
My littlegirl hears me complain,but she doesn't
(groups) have become attuned-physiologi- reallyknow what I'm talkingabout. She was two
whenwe lefthome,and she doesn'tremember
those
cally, emotionally,and psychically-and those
eveningswith starsso low you could hold out a
which their environmentsdemand in the orand sweep it full of them,my motherwould
ganizationof space and time.60On a physiolog- cup
say, and the moon perchedover a tree smilingat
ical level, each of us varies in our dispositions you. And in the morningsuddenlyyou'd hear the
and capacities to be presentto nature,space,
birdsbegin,and you knewtheywereshoutingtheir
hello to the sun, and it was tryingto get to your
and time;we varyin our needs foractivityand
territory-from
China is it?That'swhatour teacher
repose,silenceand sound,stimulationand rest,
told us, thatat nightthe sun was in China. Someyettheenvironments
in whichwe live and work
timesthesun wouldbe slow in comingto us, so the
allow littlevariationor choice in how we actubirdsseemedto getlouderand louder,becausethey
getimpatient
aftera while,waitingand waiting.But
ally behave.61In most cities,for example,the
thenshe'd come, and the whole cabin would be a
spaces and timesofthetwenty-four
hourday are
different
place. If I had to say one thingI missmost,
alreadystampedby the rhythms
of activityand
it'sthesunrise.And thesecondthing,thatwouldbe
circulation;one may choose to adapt to those
the sunset.I see whyeveryonehere has to have a
watchor clocknearby.They'dneverknowotherwise
rhythms
on a consciouslevel and suppressbody
needs for silence,fragrance,privacy,or reflec- whetherit's lightor darkin the street.
tion. One may avoid conflictby bluntingsenHow could a geographeruse thisaccountto
soryawarenessor mobility.People varyin their elucidatehersituationand thatof othermigrant
awarenessof theirsurroundings
and theircapac- families?A "relevant"geographyof theirworld
ities to transcendor masterthem.62Consider wouldsketchrhythms
of soundand silence,light
disadvantagedpersonswhosehomesare on busy and dark,smell,movement,and land use of the
hours and days of their milieux. Individuals
60 I do notimplythata focuson time-space
rhythms could recordtheiractual behaviorthroughtime
could providean exhaustiveor all-embracing
formula
rhythms.Sofor the studyof stress.Recentpsychiatricresearch, and space, and note incongruent
however,has recognizedthe importanceof "environ- cial scientistshave done thiskind of inventory
mentalfactors"in the genesisand diagnosisof stress, of space use and timebudgets,but unless one
but it stilllacks adequatemeasuresof "environment;" considersspace and time together,as a synerL. Srole et al., The Midtown Manhattan Study (New
one cannot grasp cumulativeefYork: McGraw-Hill,1962); and E. S. Lee, "Socio- gisticwhole,
fects
and
long-range
implications.Conventional
economicand MigrationDifferentials
in Mental Diresearch on migrationhas focused on forces
sease, New York State, 1949-195 1," Milbank Memorial
FundQuarterly,
Vol. 41 (1963), pp. 249-68.A method whichpush and pull, on images,anticipations,
whichfocuseson time-spacerhythms
withinthe envi- and realizations,on costs and benefits;ultironmentmightyielda more dynamicmeasureof environmentalfactors in producingand maintaining mately,a theoryis soughtto "explain" assimistress.
61 Minkowski,
63 RobertColes, "The South Moves North,"Chilop. cit.,footnote28.
62 S. Milgram,"The Experienceof Livingin Cities," dren in Crisis (Boston: Little Brown & Company,
Science,Vol. 167 (1970), pp. 1461-68.
1971), Vol. 3, pp. 321-22.
1976
ANNE
BUTTIMER
289
lation to the new environment.64
Ask any partialpiecemealstepswe could begin to set a
migrant"object" of such studywhetherthese directionwhich promisesmore intellectualinaccountsadequatelydescribehis experience,or sight,and more room for empathy,than our
help himunderstandor cope withhis new situ- presentprocedures.
ation in any sense beyond the prerequisitesof
of phenomPerhapsthe criticalcontribution
economicor social survival.
enologicalreflection
may lie in unmaskingprePersonal experiencehas shown me how the conscious,preplanned,involuntarydimensions
residueof formerrhythmsand routinesin my of experience.One faces the metaphysicalisrelationshipto nature,space, time,and people sues offreewill,determinism,
libermotivation,
have influenced
myevaluationofa newenviron- ation,and it is hardto see how thephenomenoment.I have realized how much this precon- logical methodper se could yieldmuchinsight
scious residue has shaped by capacity to en- into the problemswhich people face in their
gage wholeheartedly,to be humanlypresent, everydaylives. It helps elucidate how their
to a foreignworld. One could also examine mooringsin past experiencecan influenceand
positiveexperiencesfromthis point of view. shape the present,but it has littleto say about
The sense of well-being,health,and creativity futuredirection;it generallyrefusesto judge
are ways of being in the world which are not on problemresolution,on politicallife,stress,
entirelyexplainable in rational terms. These health,hope, and desire.What it does provide,
positiveexperiencesare related to the quality however,is extremelyimportantas preamble
and pace of time-spacerhythmsof different not only to scientificprocedure,but also as a
physicaland social milieux.As long as I sought door to existentialawareness.It could elicit a
explanationin the differences
betweenmilieux, clearergrasp of value issues surrounding
one's
or in the differences
in my own dispositions, normalway of life,and an appreciationof the
many dimensionsof such experiencesremain kinds of education and socialization which
opaque; person and world interpenetrate,
and mightbe appropriatefor persons whose lives
bodies,emotions,desires,and fearschannelthe mayweave throughseveralmilieux.
data whichbecome meaningful
in our behavior
To recordbehaviorin an isometricgridrepbeforetheycan be orderedin our minds.
resenting
space and timeis onlyan openingonto
have highlighted
My own reflections
theneg- the horizonsof lived space and time.Neither
ativeaspectsof mycapacityto be presentto my geodesic space nor clock/calendartimeis apwork milieu: the "natural" attitudeof precon- propriatefor the measurementof experience.
sciousbodyexperiencehas been adaptiverather The notionofrhythm
mayoffera beginningstep
than creative. Adaptation to "world" was a toward such a measure. Lifeworldexperience
strongmotifin myeducationand socialization, could be describedas the orchestration
of varia motifquite appropriatefora relativelystable ous time-spacerhythms:those of physiological
cultural milieu, just as active mastery over and culturaldimensionsof life,thoseof differmilieuwas a centralmotifin Americaneduca- ent work styles,and those of our physicaland
tion. In neithercontext,however,was (to my functionalenvironments.
On a macrolevelone
of moveknowledge) the motifof existentialfreedom- is dealing with the synchronization
engagementin, yet transcendenceof, one's mentsof variousscales, takinga sounding,as it
milieu-the primaryeducationalgoal, yet this were, at the particularpoint where our own
wouldbe a moreappropriatepreparationforthe experiencehas proddedus to explore.
Classical accounts of simplergenresde vie,
mobile, transient,and relativelyunpredictable
experiencesof the lattertwentiethcentury.In or the social milieuxof urban neighborhoods,
have implicitly
capturedthisperspectiveon exWe
perience.5
know
littleof contemporary
life
64 M. Brody,Behavior in New Environments (Bev-
erly Hills, California: Sage Publications,1970); J.
Wolpert,"BehavioralAspectsof the Decision to Mi-
65 Claude
Levi-Strauss,
"The Tup6-Cawahib,"in J.
grate," Papers of the Regional Science Association,
Steward, ed., Handbook of South American Indians
tion," Geographical Analysis, Vol. 2 (1970), pp. 1-18;
and D. Hannenberget al., eds., Migrationin Sweden:
Folk Society," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 52
Vol. 15 (1965), pp. 159-69; A. L. Mabogunje,"Sys- (Washington,D.C.: Bureau of AmericanEthnology,
temsApproachto a Theoryof Rural-UrbanMigra- 1948), Vol. 3, pp. 299-305; Robert Redfield,"The
A Symposium,
Lund Seriesin Geography,
Ser. B, Vol.
13 (Lund, Sweden: University
of Lund, 1967).
(1947), pp. 293-308; and Renee Rochefort,
Le travail
en Sicile (Paris: Presses Universitairesde France,
1961).
290
THE
DYNAMISM
OF LIFEWORLD
June
stylesfromthis point of view, but the record each area containinga certainpotentialrange
ofhumanand ecologicalalienationsuggeststhat of human experiences,and withineach one a
we should try.Focus on a particulargenrede careful housekeepingof space and time to
vie may yield some insightinto the conflictof facilitatesuch shared experiences.The overcriteriaand
time-spacerhythmswhich an individualmay ridingimportanceof cost-efficiency
conexperience,but to assess the implicationsof competitiveindividualismin determining
theirjuxtapositionin place is more difficult. temporarypatternsof areal specializationhas
Each genrede vie, analyticallyspeaking,could resultedoftenin awkwardjuxtapositionsof inbe consideredas a world unto itself,but exis- compatibleactivities,packed intoa givenspace
tentiallytheyinterweaveand jointlyshape the and time.If human liveability,human growth,
be the principalcriterion,one could envisiona
common time-spacehorizons.
differentkind of complementaritybetween
CONCLUSION
orderingof spatial interacplaces, a different
The stillunansweredquestionsabout the re- tions and opportunities.
lationshipbetweenphenomenology
and geograIf people were to grow more attunedto the
phyare manyand complex.Whetherit can lead dynamicsand poeticsof space and time,and the
us towarda more experientially
groundedhu- meaningof milieuin lifeexperience,one could
manisticorientationwithinthe disciplinede- literallyspeak of the vocation and personality
pends on much more empiricalinvestigation. of place whichwould emergefromsharedhuRecent commentarieson phenomenologyhave man experiencesand the time-spacerhythms
perhaps exaggeratedthe case against "objec- deliberatelychosen to facilitatesuch experitive" science.It is timewe discoveredthathu- ences. In contradistinction
with the "picture"
manisticand scientific
enquiryare notinevitably versionsof homo economicus,or homo faber,
opposed; we need to findtheirappropriateroles carvingout cost-minimizing,
profit-maximizing
in the explorationof humanexperience.
areas on the earth,one could envisiona dyAnchoringthe venturewithinour contem- namic versionof homo sapiens, more attuned
to see how to his own survivaland growthneeds, in diaporaryworld,however,it is difficult
one can fail to move beyond the letterof the logue withnature,space, and time.
phenomenologicallaw; one becomes fatigued
Hindsightreveals how much of man's relawith the "act of consciousnessitself,"and is tionto natureis a functionof theway scholarly
promptedto engage in the existentialissues of minds have construedlife, value, health, and
survival,anxiety,alienation,and hope. In such rationality.
To heal thewastelandand to erode
engagement,the geographermay discoverthat the anachronismsand injusticesin our current
hisuniquecontribution
to thestudyoflifeworld modes of regionalizingspace demands more
may involve.
thancampaignsagainstpoverty,hunger,or inThe "wisdom"of social science,and its static ternational war; a radical reorientationof
equilibriumorientedmodels,speaks to mobile, thoughtand vision withingeographyis also
transientsocietyin a languageof adaptationto required.
milieu;it implicitlyarguesformakinga viable
If we hear its fundamentalmessage, phehome withina givenplace and its surrounding nomenologywillmoveus towarda keenersense
spaces. Existentialismmay suggesta different of self-knowledge
and identity;it will create a
kind of "wisdom,"thoughit may exaggeratea thirstfor wholenessin experienceand a tranperson's potential capacity to transcendmi- scendence of a priori categoriesin research.
lieux.6 Instead of bemoaning the advent of While reassuringus of the value of much
mobilesocietyand condemningit as pathologi- contemporaryefforton the dynamicsand incal and necessarilyexploitativeof nature,one tentionalstructures
thecommontimegoverning
mightenvisionit as a challengeto develop a space horizonsof mankind,it could also sensinew respect for space, time, and nature. In- tizeus to theuniquenessof personsand places.
steadofforcingall places to provideall thepre- Most of all it willmake us aware of our characrequisitesfor authenticliving,one could con- teristicmode of knowingman and his world.
ceive of a new areal differentiation
of the earth, Do our major conceptsand models in geography bear the stamp of the era in which they
66 Bachelard,op. cit., footnote36, pp. 44-45.
were firstintroduced?Whence came the tena-
1976
ANNE BUTTIMER
291
Togethertheseroutesintotheexplorationof
cious preferencefor Cartesian grid systems,
of
and whence the fascinationwith region?How lifeworld should elicita sense of finiteness,
as opposed to the
relevantare such notionsfor an elucidationof human scale and feasibility,
and recktoday'slivedworld?Does theidea of region,for implicitfaithin infinity,
optimization,
example, reflectour close ties with Western less extrapolationof trendsof our "rational"
political structures,particularlyin periods of models of behavior. It should evoke a sensicolonization?67Were our maps, charts, and tivityto nature,sound, smell, and touch, so
proposed regionalizationschematathe best we blunted by our technologicallypaved-over
could deliverin the serviceof imperialisticin- physicalmilieux.Mostly,it should generatea
terestssince the timeof Alexanderthe Great? sense of sharedlifeworldand inviteevaluation
Does thefactofboundedness,or areal contain- of
the ethos underlyingthe interpersonalrelahave some basis in lived
ment,and territoriality
tionshipsof the statusquo by showing,for inexperience?If so, how isomorphicwould sponpolarization,competitiveness,
taneouslydefined"territories"
be with the ad- stance,how role
linkedwith
maximizationare firmly
and
profit
ministrative-regionalization
systemsnow operpoliticalsystem.
and
ideological
a
particular
ativewithinthe world?
muddiesthewatersforthose
Phenomenology
Do the major ideas presentedin this essay
in
"subjective"and "obseparating
who
believe
resonate betterwith contemporarylife world
it questionsthe asknowing;
of
modes
jective"
experiences?The notion of body-subjectdoes
of confoundation
appear to offeran attractivecounterpointto sumptionsand ideological
offers
ambiguity
it
models;
the virtual obsession over cognitionand the ventionalscientific
fundamentaliscognitivedimensionsof environmental
behav- ratherthan clarityon several
howto
knowledge.
reference
in
It
is
not
sues.
ior of recentyears. Does it not also resonate
its
that
of
realm
experience
the
but
in
ever,
witha growingconcernto harmonizebody enit
Here
quesmost
clearly.
rings
message
central
ergies and mind, e.g., in yoga, bioenergetics,
as scientists:
psychomotortherapies,and "natural"ways of tionsthemeaningof our activities
of problems
grasp
intellectual
an
does
gaining
living?At least thisnotionshouldopen theway
or does
to
our
world,
sensitive
more
us
make
forintegrating
the organicand the psychicasresearchmodels
our
Can
it?
us
from
remove
it
with
pectsofbehavior,and a senseoffamiliarity
the profession
thepreconsciousfoundationsof perceptionand and routineinteractionwithin
our own lived
to
sensitivity
a
keener
promote
taken
behavior.The notionof intersubjectivity,
of otherpeoples?
or
to
those
worlds
eitherin the sense of culturalheritageor social
Whatone maygainin theend is a perspective
interaction,
shouldhelpbridgepersonaland colshouldbe thepreambleto,ratherthanthe
which
lective dimensions of human experience. It
formulafor,researchmethods.The
operational
could also shed lighton the tensionsbetween
be made by each scholar;phestill
must
choice
social past and present,and the implicationsof
on issues of value judgis
neutral
nomenology
the life stylescharacteristic
of any statusquo.
Togethertheychalis
existentialism.
as
ment,
Focus on time-spacerhythms
could add an imto question radically
scientist
the
social
lenge
portantfocusforinvestigating
the concretecirhis normalway of
cumstancesof everydaylife,muchof whichlies his normalwaysof knowing,
to accept the
dare
and
to
in
the
world,
being
beyond the potentialdiscretionof human perwho has peeled
One
of
freedom.
responsibility
sons. Time-spacestudiesmay presentlybe prihis lifeworldcan either
marilydirectedtowardan ameliorationof en- offsuccessivelayersof
to or alienain
adaptation
vironmentsfrom an externalist,managerial decide to acquiesce
the statusquo,
of
"determinisms"
from
the
tion
pointofview,butthemethodcould be fruitfully
in a transcenchannelledtowardphenomenologicalreflection or engage in themhumanly,yet
the
facingposproblems
Panacea
for
dent
way.
on everydaybehavior,and the modes of presperhaps.
in
that
direction
A
route
itive
science?
ence to world whichare normallypossible for
experience?Potentially
lived
of
plea
Liberation
humanpersons.
so, but "liberation"depends on the mode of
67 J. M. Blaut, "GeographicModels of Imperial- one's engagementin it. Heralding a more humanisticperspectiveon geography?Herein lies
ism,"Antipode,Vol. 2 (1970), pp. 65-83.
292
THE DYNAMISM OF LIFEWORLD
perhaps its most importantcontribution.Not
onlycould it help broaden our horizonsto new
areas of intellectualenquiry,but it could also
help us transcendthe artificialbarrierswhich
June
our Westernintellectualheritage has placed
betweenmind and being,betweenthe intellectual and moral,thetrueand thegood in our life
worlds.