Space, social theory and peripheral imagination: Brazilian intellectual history and de-colonial debates

Abstract

The spatial turn is a much discussed theme in social theory. However, it is still based on a Eurocentric perspective that excludes other forms of reflection about space. In this article the author addresses the spatial turn from a perspective with a basis in Brazilian intellectual history, so as to argue that the Brazilian case presents a classical tradition of geographical thinking that provides a different framework for global spatial imagination. The author looks to de-colonial critiques in order to analyse this tradition from a contemporary point of view. The aim is to argue that this perspective helps to de-center social theory by providing new spatial images that diverge from those related both to the language of the city and the Eurocentric perspective that still characterizes the spatial turn.