At Space and Politics, Gaston Gordillo has a detailed discussion of his forthcoming book The Afterlife of Places: Ruins and the Destruction of Space. It looks to be both theoretically innovative and based on detailed fieldwork. He promises some more theoretical excerpts over the next few weeks. This initial post outlines the main structure and argument and discusses places in some detail. Some important indications here – Adorno, Žižek, Benjamin, Nietzsche; the idea of the destruction of space (alongside the production); dialectics and ruins; and the notion of an object-orientated negativity. With these he cautions that “While conceptual, these are explorations that do not see theory as a transcendental abstraction and, on the contrary, draw from anthropology’s strength: its everyday immersion in actual places and its engagement with ordinary men and women in their historical and cultural circumstances”. Looks fascinating.