Fissure

Research output: Contribution to journalEditorialpeer-review

Abstract

The fissure strikes me as an apt analytic for recent thinking around the volumetric turn in geopolitics and the more-than-human qualities of territory and terrain (see Elden 2013). A fissured ontology would highlight space as inherently dynamic, state-shifting, pressured, fractured. When fissures make their way through ice, for instance, the subterranean, surface, and air are made copresent: cracks allow surface water to penetrate below while the exposure of ice to air facilitates new formations such as snow bridges and large columns of glacial ice, which are created by the intersection of crevasses. The ongoing interaction between ice, water, and air ensures that the ice beneath a glacier or ice sheet is never fixed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-2
Number of pages2
JournalCultural Anthropology
Volume32
Publication statusPublished - 24 Oct 2017

Keywords

  • Fissure
  • Ice
  • Geopolitics
  • Territory
  • Volume
  • Elemental

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