The Explorer versus the Native: Discrepant Representations of Space

Abstract

Space studies is relatively a new theme in the humanities. As late as the mid-twentieth century, space has been marginal in human science departments and research interests. It was with the French theorists Henry Lefevbre and Gaston Bachelard that this interest was ignited and given both a material and an aesthetic trajectory within which studies of space still carries on today. Though Postcolonial studies are centered on the discourse on modern colonial experience; the Western imperial takeover of territories from the rest of the world, space so far occupies a marginal interest in this field. This paper’s aim is to extend the Postmodern theoretical efforts in spatial studies to the colonial experience. I argue here that representations of space in the shared experience of modern colonialism was not compatible among both parties; the colonizer and the colonized. That while the colonizer entertained a one-dimensional perception of the spaces he conquered centered on dominance and profit, that of the colonized was a much richer perception involving a wealth of symbolism and value.