Territory
There are many ways at looking and territory. It can be tangible, or not; we can own it, or it may just be a space that we feel is “ours”. People go to the same coffee shop every morning refer to the place as “their” café, and sleep on the same side of the bed. In aerobics classes, people will always stand in the same area, and in spinning class have “their” bikes, which on certain sessions, people who know wont sit on the bike out of respect for the regular. This is also similar to how people have their certain spots they sit in class, how we park our cars in “my spot”, and drink from “my cup”. We don’t necessarily own these things, but they are still “ours”. These examples are often thought of as habits or routine, when it is really just the human way of marking territory.
These examples, however, are tangible territories. Territory is not just a physical space, but is also any notion of marking out our own boundaries or ground. The birds singing in the morning are making territory—they mark the born of a new day. A couple of blogs ago I commented on how Block Party songs remind me of London—these songs mark the territory of London in my mind.
Deterritorialisation, aka D
According to Deleuze and Guattari (D&G), D is ‘the movement by which “one” leaves the territory’. Essentially, it is the process where a territory (Aka T) is changed and reterriorialised (aka R). The three, T, D, and R are not mutually exclusive but are in negotiation, happening simultaneously.
D&G write,
‘To begin with, the territory itself is inseparable from vectors of deterritorialisation working it from within: either because the territoriality is supple and “marginal”. In other words, itinerant, or because the territorial assemblage itself opens onto and is carried off by other types of assemblages. Second D is in turn inseparable from correlative reterritoriialisations. D is never simple, but always multiped and compositive, not only because it converges distinct speeds and movement on the basis of which one may assign at a given moment a “deterriorialised element” and a “deterriorializing element”.’
From this it is clear that T (the deterriorialised element) and D (the deterriorialiizing element) cannot be divorced. The process of changing a territory, its origin and its by product can all co-exist.
An example of this is the sport Parkour (eg on youube), where people run from one place to another in a short amount of time, jumping over fences, swinging off trees, flipping off buildings etc. The original territory here is the city or the land. The cities purpose is for living in, and each tree, building and fence has its own function. However, when people Parkour through the city, they essentially recreate its function, questioning its purpose. A fence is no longer a boundary, but an object to leap over; a building not for living in, but for jumping over. It’s noted here though that the process of D and R, the actual Parkour and the end product (the city they have marked territory over) happen simultaneously. Additionally, the objects they R are still there to carry out their purpose—people still inhabit the building, and use the fence as a border. From this it is clear the T, D and R all happen simultaneously.
The sport of Parkour can itself be reterritorialised too. It began as a sport that aims to defy the norms or social behaviour and the cities functionality, and also wanted to eliminate rivalry and competition in sport. Now though, the Parkour machine has been capitalised, used by several companies in their advertisements. Such include: Nike (1,2), Nissan, Volkswagen, Snickers (1,2). Even Madonna has incorporated Parkour in her latest video clip The process of it going from an underground sport to it being commercialised, marks new territory in our minds as it moved from the unknown to the known. Once something gives us a new perspective, makes us question behaviours and beliefs, we become conditioned to it. Therefore, the process of capitalising anything—making something accessible and known to the masses—is also a process of D.
The Hilltop Hoods “Recapturing the Vibe” video clip is basically a mockumentary of Parkour, only the sport is “swinging”, where they do flips over swings in movement. These people use playgrounds and swings and D it for their own space. They are eventually banned from playgrounds (because the play ground has been designed for children) and chassed and bashed by police. This clip not only shows how space and time are D’d, but also how pedantic society is about territory that isn’t used in for its intention.
Additionally, the leader of the group states at one point. “I always feel so pissed off who have started great movements and they can’t wait to sell out. at this point, I wouldn’t know who to sell out to”. This statement, and the clips satirical nature fundamentally mock the underground movements such as Parkour who have capitalised on their novel sport.
Another example is the channel V’s add to find the “ultimate skipper”. Basically, he is someone who skips along the street, jumping on rails and ledges like a skateboarder would, only without a board. again, the concept is mocking extream sports, however, they take it further, capitalising on the fact that everyone can skip, but not everyone can do parkour.
