Bipolar antagonism and multipolar coexistence: framing difference and shaping fear in two Caribbean cities

Abstract

This article proposes a new approach to urban geographies of fear, focusing on the connection between fear and cultural understandings and representations of difference. Much of the existing work on the relationship between fear, urban space, and social difference tends to take social difference as more or less given. In this article, we argue that how differences (such as ethnic, political or class differences) are framed has strong implications for geographies of fear. The article suggests that dualistic and nondualistic framings of difference influence levels of fear and that this becomes visible in the use and perceptions of urban space, and in the built environment through the erection of physical barriers. These spatial factors, as they limit mobility and interaction, tend to reproduce the specific framing of difference. Two discursive modes of representing difference are discussed. The first, ‘bipolar antagonism’, is based on a dualist rhetoric of irreconcilable opposites. This is contrasted with ‘multipolar co-existence’, in which social categories are understood as multiple or hybrid, with flexible or fluid boundaries, and as not necessarily antagonistic. This argument is elaborated through a comparative analysis of social–cultural and spatial processes in two Caribbean cities: Kingston, Jamaica, and Paramaribo, Suriname.

Cet article propose une façon originale d'aborder le sujet des géographies urbaines de peur en se focalisant sur le rapport entre la peur et les interprétations culturelles de la différence. La littérature actuelle sur les rapports entre la peur, l'espace urbain, et la différence sociale a tendance à considérer la différence sociale comme plus ou moins donnée. Dans cet article, nous soutenons que la façon d'interpréter des différences (par exemple ethnique, politique, ou classe sociale) a de fortes implications pour les géographies de peur. L'article suggère que des interprétations dualistes et non-dualistes ont une influence sur le degré de peur exprimé et que cette influence apparaît dans l'usage et les perceptions de l'espace urbain ainsi que dans l'environnement artificiel à travers la construction des barrières physiques. Ces éléments spatiaux ont tendance à reproduire l'interprétation spécifique de la différence tout en limitant la mobilité et l'interaction. Nous discutons deux façons discursives de représenter la différence: la première s'appelle « antagonisme bipolaire » et se base sur une idée dualiste d'éléments opposés et irréconciliables. Cela contraste avec « coexistence multipolaire », qui représente les catégories sociales comme multiples, hybrides, pas nécessairement antagonistes, et ayant les limites fluides. On élabore cet argument à travers une analyse comparative des processus socio-culturels et spatiaux dans deux villes des Caraïbes: Kingston, Jamaïque, et Paramaribo, Suriname.

Este articulo se proponga un enfoque nuevo a las geografías urbanas del miedo, enfocando en la conexión entre el miedo y entendimientos y representaciones culturales de diferencia. Mucho del trabajo existente en las relaciones entre el miedo, espacio urbano y diferencia social asume que la diferencia social es algo más o menos hecho. En este articulo discutimos que la forma de enmarcar diferencias (como diferencias étnicas, políticas o sociales) tiene implicaciones fuertes para las geografías del miedo. El articulo se sugiere que las maneras dualista y no-dualista de enmarcar la diferencia se influyen los niveles de miedo y que esto se llega a ser visible en el uso y la percepción del espacio urbano, y en el ambiente construido por la construcción de barreras físicas. Estos factores espaciales, como limiten movilidad y interacción, tienen la tendencia de reproducir la manera de enmarcar la diferencia. Dos medios discursivos de representar la diferencia están discutidos. El primero, ‘antagonismo bipolar’, está basado en una retórica dualista de enfrentes insalvables. Esto está comparado con ‘existencia multipolar’, del cual categorías sociales están entendidos como múltiples o híbridos, con limites flexibles o inciertos, y no están necesariamente antagonistas. Este argumento está elaborado por un análisis comparativo de procesos socioculturales y espaciales en dos ciudades caribeñas: Kingston, Jamaica y Paramaribo, Surinam.

Keywords:

• fear
• urban space
• social exclusion
• diversity
• built environment
• Caribbean

Keywords:

• peur
• espace urbain
• exclusion sociale
• diversité
• environnement artificiel
• les Antilles/Caraïbes

Keywords:

• miedo
• espacio urbano
• exclusión social
• diversidad
• ambiente construido
• el Caribe

Acknowledgements

The research on which this article draws was made possible by various grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), including a MaGW/VENI grant for the research project ‘Between the Street and the State: Crime and Citizenship in Kingston, Jamaica’ and a WOTRO Individual Project grant for the project ‘Habitat as a Productive Asset in Two Caribbean Cities’. In addition, this article took shape within a larger NWO/GW project on the social history of twentieth-century Suriname led by Rosemarijn Höfte at the KITLV (Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies). We are grateful to Anouk de Koning, Isa Baud, Fenne Pinkster, and the three anonymous SCG reviewers for their encouragement and insightful comments.

Notes

1. Authors such as Valentine (2008) and Matejskova and Leitner (2011) argue against the ‘contact hypothesis’, pointing out that face-to-face contact need not result in a reduction of inter-group prejudice and conflict. As they emphasize, the type of urban encounter with difference is significant in determining whether difference is destabilized or reinscribed. In addition, they indicate that structural factors of history and socioeconomic inequality are of utmost importance in shaping the outcome of such urban encounters. In the models we present here, based on Caribbean cases with similar histories and political economies, we take cultural frames and the built environment to be such structural factors.

2. For two important exceptions that offer a spatial perspective on women's lack of fear, see Koskela (1997) and Kern (2005).

3. This elite-inner-city dualism was mediated by the gradual emergence of a middle class; however, spatially the city remains polarized as the socially mobile section of the working class migrates to middle-class suburbs in the nearby city of Portmore.

4. Maroons are the descendants of those who escaped the plantations during slavery.

5. For Paramaribo's population, the 2004 census counted the following percentages: Creole (27 per cent), Hindustani (22 per cent), Mixed (16 per cent), Javanese (12 per cent), Maroon (10 per cent), Chinese (3 per cent), Indigenous (2 per cent), Caucasian/White (1 per cent), and Other (1 per cent) (ABS 2005).

6. For detailed election results, see http://www.verkiezingen.gov.sr/index.html.

7. ‘Driekwart samenleving voelt zich veilig’, De Ware Tijd, 30 December 2008.