Fragments

Abstract

Cornelia Parker’s 1991 sculpture, Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, like much of Parker’s work, deals with objects that seem familiar and that somehow persist, but which have been transformed and fragmented, their identities-and possibilities-altered. Parker’s work captures something of the destructive power of the world, of the force of fragmentation, yet also speaks to how fragments might persist. A central task of radical geography has been to elucidate the causes, forms, and alternatives to spatial fragmentation. Critical geographic thought has inherited a rich set of theoretical resources for thinking the fragmentation of space. The knowledge fragment plays an important role, for example, in subaltern studies research, an area of work that has had vital contributions for radical geographic thought. Fragments emerge in the making of dominant national cultures and political economies, and can therefore shift over time depending on how they are framed and shaped.