The potential for Assemblage thinking in population geography: Assembling population, space, and place

Abstract

This study explores "Assemblage" thinking as an approach to population geography research. The paper highlights the recent prominence of Assemblage thinking in human geography, before exploring the potential opportunities for engagement by population geographers. In particular, we focus on the production of place as co-constituted by the material (space) and the discursive (knowledge, process, and practice). Considering the Assemblage practice of "Rendering Technical," we reflect on the role that population geography plays in authorising knowledge and supporting policy. This is investigated through a critical taxonomic analysis of recent Scottish demographic data. It is argued on the one hand that this captures key economic and population characteristics of "place," while on the other hand, it offers a limited technical knowledge. We conclude that a reflexive approach to research using Assemblage thinking may challenge the intimate relationship between population geographers and the state.

Coast to ocean: a Fife-eye view: ocean literacy in Fife, Scotland

“…The Fife Local Authority as a survey site offers many interesting juxtapositions; for example, coastal versus inland residents and historic university towns contrasted with industrial root towns (Duffy and Stojanovic, 2018). Fife is also home to those whose livelihoods depend on the sea, namely inshore creel fishers, (n=148 (Marine Scotland, 2019)) and is part of the wider Edinburgh commuter belt.…”

A place-based approach to population sustainability: Demographic and economic change at the local level in Fife, Scotland

“…The six case studies were thus specifically selected, via a convenience sample approach, to capture this heterogeneity. The samples heterogeneity was validated using the Typology of Scottish Coastal Communities (Duffy and Stojanovic, 2018;Marine Scotland, 2020), where all five categories of localities from this classification are represented within the six selected electoral wards. The case study areas and their corresponding Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) scores are visible in Figure 2 below.…”

On pragmatism, assemblage and ANT: Assembling reason

“…[Deleuze and Guattari] (1987: 141). (Bowden et al, 2015: 7)Ideas of territorialisation and de-territorialisation have been deployed in geography – including, for example, population geography (Duffy and Stojanovic, 2018) and political geography (Dittmer, 2013; Muller, 2015). As well as being suggestive metaphors, Deleuze and Guattari’s ideas of territorialisation and deterritorialization as critique of linguistic presuppositions/semiotic systems resonate with the poststructuralist impulses of geography in conveying the co-emergence of spatial relationalities and affectual/discursive formations.…”