Institutional geographies of the New Age movement - Julian Holloway

Institutional geographies of the New Age movement

Julian Holloway

Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan Metropolitan University, John Dalton Extension Building,Chester Street, Manchester M1 5GD, UK

 

Geoforum, Volume 31, Issue 4, November 2000, Pages 553-565:

Abstract 

   This paper is concerned with the production and reproduction of di€erent institutional geographies of the New Age movement. Instead of taking institutional geographies to be given and fixed co-ordinates in the social field, the paper seeks to understand how they are relational outcomes and eff€ects that require constant upkeep. After characterising the New Age movement, in terms of its central cosmology and visions of transformation, the paper takes an actor-network theory (ANT) approach to the understanding of institutional geographies. Through analysing how New Age knowledges and practices travel through time and space, and utilising ANT's concept of "centres of translation", institutional geographies are taken to be active space-times that are both enrolled into New Age teachers and practitioners programs of action, and space-times that actively enrol teachers and practitioners. It is argued that the intertwining of di€fferent engineered actor-networks in and through these space-times maintains the New Age movement itself and thus examining institutional geographies can tell of the movement's shape or topology. A controversy over the work of David Icke is explored to reveal how institutional geographies are sites for regulation of what counts as New Age knowledge. Finally, this paper seeks, partially at least, to assess in terms of the ANT approach taken, the visions of transformation propounded by the New Age movement.  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Institutions; Actor-networks; New Age movement; Centres of Translation

1. In

troduction 

  The term "institution" implies and conjures notions of permanence, continuance and fixity. We talk of institutions as if they are stable and solid co-ordinates in the social field. In light of these common associations, to talk of "institutional geographies" is to speak of invariant and sturdy spatialities and geographies that are (re)produced within and through institutions. In this paper, I wish instead to take institutions and the geographies that create and are created by them, as processes, as achievements, as e€ects, and thus always becoming institutions, rather than already institutions. In other words, rather than taking "institutional geographies" in terms of narratives that rely on nouns (describing institutions and geographies as given, ordered and a priori classifications), here I evoke an understanding of institutional geographies that moves towards descriptions composed of verbs (Law, 1994).  Therefore, this paper sets out to trace the making of institutional geographies, and in doing so views them as outcomes of heterogeneous networks that stabilise and maintain certain relations amongst di€erent actors. However, this analysis is not achieved at the expense of detailing certain instances of control and prescription that are performed in and through such space-times. Thus, I do not wish to ignore how institutions can and do patrol what can be said, done and what form agency takes. Further, I wish to describe institutional geographies as processes that require constant e€ort and upkeep, and thus are always on the way to becoming the immutable and enduring domains as given in the (social) order of things. 

  This broad intention is achieved through highlighting a number of characteristics of institutional geographies as (re)produced by the New Age movement. Therefore, this paper concentrates upon how the New Age actors make, create and delimit certain institutional geographies, and how, in turn, certain institutional geographies make, create and delimit (what counts as) the New Age and New Age actors. The approach taken in this paper draws upon Actor Network theory (Law, 1991, 1992; Law and Hassard, 1999; Law and Mol, 1995; Latour, 1999). Therefore, one of the primary objectives of this paper is to explore the theoretical and conceptual utility of Actor Network theory (ANT) in making sense of institutional geographies, and thus o€er a di€erent way of understanding these spatialities (Flowerdew, 1982; Philo, 1995).  In the process of achieving this, I seek to contribute to the ongoing debate between socio-cultural geographers and Actor Network theorists (Bingham, 1996; Davies, 1999; Hinchcli€e, 1996; Law, 1999; Murdoch, 1995, 1997, 1998; Thrift, 1996, 1997; Whatmore, 1997). Furthermore, by taking this approach I hope to reveal and develop the potential of bringing Actor Network theory to the social scientific study of new social or, in this case religious, movements - a potentially interesting and productive dialogue that has yet to receive much attention (Holloway, 1998). Finally, it will become apparent that ANT is a useful analytical tool for making sense of New Age beliefs and notions of spiritual change, and thus the movement's potential to achieve its desired cosmological transformation. In order to e€ect these contributions I first must brie¯y introduce and (partially) circumscribe the "New Age movement", its common beliefs, unifying practices and visions of change.

6. Conclusion 

In this paper, institutional geographies have been characterised as active space-times in allowing certain knowledges and practices concerning ourselves and the world to be performed and made to travel. Furthermore, these institutional space-times are active in that they gather traces, maintain the shape or topology of the movement itself (through the intertwining of a patchwork of di€erent New Age actor-networks) and regulate New Age knowledges and practices. This agency, however, is never fixed and given, but rather require constant eff€ort. Institutional geographies are, therefore, always becoming stabilised, rather than already stabilised and formalised relational e€fiects. It has also been shown that institutional geographies take on a spiritual significance in the movement. New Agers thus seek to trace actornetworks, create/incorporate certain space-times and formalise certain translations, so that a shift in spiritual consciousness can occur, be accommodated for or exemplified. Yet the engineering of actor-networks, institutional geographies and di€fferent translations can be a source of altercation and thus the cosmological significance of New Age actor-networks will always be on the way to be realised and thus potentially never attained. Despite this one thing we can be relatively sure of is the continuance of the New Age movement through the constantly shifting, adaptable and mutable forms, shapes and relations that are produced in and through New Age institutional geographies, whether or not it succeeds in its goals of spiritual transformation.

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