Secure the volume: Vertical geopolitics and the depth of power

Wet Ontologies, Fluid Spaces: Giving Depth to Volume through Oceanic Thinking

“…To explore the power of thinking through a wet ontology we turn first to Stuart Elden's (2013a) call for territory to be reconceptualised as volume. Here, Elden reflects on Eyal Weizman's (2002) work on the politics of verticality.…”

“…The sea here is both planar -horizontal, "shifting" laterally -but likewise, it is vertical: moving upwards and downwards, rising and subsiding with height and depth. In the sea, multiple mobilities engage each other in "reciprocity" (Adey, 2010: 3), opening attention to unrecognised volumes of hydro-space (see Elden, 2013a); a mosaic of vertical, horizontal, and angular shapes that provisionally coalesce into a spherical voluminous realm of matter (Sloterdijk, 2011). Surfers express their involvement with the place of the surfed wave in terms of being "at one" with the amalgam of sea and swell, of "merging" with this "medium," of being "intimately connected" to it.…”

Big data from the sky: popular perceptions of private drones in Switzerland

“…Hereby, we understand political geography as the academic field that studies power and space in its co-constitutive and mediated relationship (Cox et al, 2008:7). Furthermore, and in connection with the emerging "aerial turn" in contemporary human geography (Adey, 2010), we approach space not merely as a planar "surface" but as a sociopolitically constructed, regulated, and exploited "volume" that comprises both aerial and earthly realms (Elden, 2013). In this respect, and with a view to providing a broader framework for the analysis that follows, it is useful to outline in more detail some of the aero-spatial and power dimensions of drones.…”

Mineral policy at a crossroads? Critical reflections on the challenges with expanding Sweden’s mining sector

“…The critique is directed both towards what Harvey calls 'accumulation by exploitation', as the centre is regarded as exploiting peripheral regions, and towards 'accumulation by dispossession', as critics argue that local communities are concretely deprived of land (Harvey, 2005). A separate line of criticism actualizes the subterranean scale when the Mineral Strategy and its spokespeople are criticized for privileging raw material extraction over the development of new recycling technologies (see, e.g., Elden, 2013, for a discussion of 'vertical geopolitics').…”