"Progress"
I've been thinking about how the idea/ideal of "progress" in the Western/Europoean culture and imagination is linked to the need to fill the empty spaces, to define and tame them. Whether these empty spaces are in the mighty books of knowledge, or on the globe itself (or, in the famous amalgams of the two, the "hic sunt dracones" on the maps of not-so-antiquity), Western thinkers, politicians, and explorers have sought to fill in the blanks, so to speak.
Often, of course, those blanks were not so blank, and so in order for the course of progress to make its way, it was often necessary to erase what was there to begin with, to imagine a space as space, as empty and void and in need of definition and settlement. This was, in the modern lingo, an incredibly imperial and colonial move, and a very successful one. After all, if a space is empty and void, then isn't it our God- (or King-) given duty to fill it up, to put it to use? To make it produce? In other words, to make it ours and subject to our way of thinking?
The obvious correlaries to this in history are those of the Age of Exploration and colonization by the European powers. But we have inherited these traits and ways of thinking, and continue to practice them in our "new" world. In terms of my project, the American West was--and in many ways, still is--seen as empty (or at least sparse), and it is a national project to put these spaces to use, to extract from them whatever we can, and to impose upon them certain definitions, that they might not be the "blank" spots on our American landscape. This is progress. To populate, tame, and define. In our terms.
I'm just thinking randomly here. This is an idea that just got its hook into me today, as I am trying to reconnect with my dissertation project. But I feel like it proliferates far beyond what I could do with it. For instance, don't many of us still think this way, even in our individual, daily lives? Don't we feel as if the only way we can be "making progress" or moving forward or growing up is if we are accumulating things, whether that's literal possessions or the stuff of knowledge. We have to know, to understand, to possess. We need to fill up the blank spaces of our minds and of our apartments. Progress.
What are the alternatives?
Often, of course, those blanks were not so blank, and so in order for the course of progress to make its way, it was often necessary to erase what was there to begin with, to imagine a space as space, as empty and void and in need of definition and settlement. This was, in the modern lingo, an incredibly imperial and colonial move, and a very successful one. After all, if a space is empty and void, then isn't it our God- (or King-) given duty to fill it up, to put it to use? To make it produce? In other words, to make it ours and subject to our way of thinking?
The obvious correlaries to this in history are those of the Age of Exploration and colonization by the European powers. But we have inherited these traits and ways of thinking, and continue to practice them in our "new" world. In terms of my project, the American West was--and in many ways, still is--seen as empty (or at least sparse), and it is a national project to put these spaces to use, to extract from them whatever we can, and to impose upon them certain definitions, that they might not be the "blank" spots on our American landscape. This is progress. To populate, tame, and define. In our terms.
I'm just thinking randomly here. This is an idea that just got its hook into me today, as I am trying to reconnect with my dissertation project. But I feel like it proliferates far beyond what I could do with it. For instance, don't many of us still think this way, even in our individual, daily lives? Don't we feel as if the only way we can be "making progress" or moving forward or growing up is if we are accumulating things, whether that's literal possessions or the stuff of knowledge. We have to know, to understand, to possess. We need to fill up the blank spaces of our minds and of our apartments. Progress.
What are the alternatives?
posted by TRM at 10:46 AM
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