Spatial Imaginations of “Turkey” and “Europe”: An Introduction

Abstract

This paper develops the concept of spatial imaginations as the constructions of places as meaningful entities that establish identities of self and other through particular narratives and associated practices. It argues that traditionally, International Relations has ignored question of space despite their obvious centrality to the discipline. This has changed with the “spatial turn”, which has its precursors in critical scholarship, especially drawing on sociology and political geography. The paper traces these contributions to the conceptual development of space in its material and discursive dimensions. It proposes that spatial imaginations are central to relations between “Turkey” and “Europe”, establishing both as meaningful yet contested entities. In the works collated in the special issue of which this paper serves as an introduction, we may thus see facets of three core claim of the spatial turn: that space matters,that space needs to be made, and that spaces need to be formed. Against the prevailing attempts to fix the meaning of the spaces of “Turkey” and “Europe”, I end with a plea to provide room for the articulation of a multiplicity of spatial imaginations.