Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2016, 17 (1): 63-76 | DOI: 10.13060/12130028.2016.17.1.256

Experience without Sight: The Opportunity for Reflection of Normative Space

Robert Osman, Lucie Pospíšilová

Experience without Sight: The Opportunity for Reflection of Normative Space
The paper questions the dominant representation of space (normative space) and its visuality in the case of spatial experience without sight. While the relationships between individuals and spaces are differentiated, normative space (re)produces the conception of one depersonalised and thus disembodied space and denies alternative conceptions of spaces. The aim of the paper is to present the process of independent experiencing of new spaces by visually impaired people. This experience is interpreted in the context of two theories: Lefebvre's production of space and Butler's theory of performativity. Our results are based on interviews with 16 visually impaired people and 2 people with knowledge about visual impairment from their profession. The interview partners learn two sets of spatial information: 'information for communication with others' and 'information necessary for spatial mobility'. While the first set of information is required to become part of the visual world and reveal the performative (re)production of the visuality of space, the second set of information is connected to non-visual experience and thus makes it possible to look beyond the normative space, to see visuality as a norm, and to start to reflect on the political connotation of spatial conceptions.

Keywords: visually impaired people, normative space, abstract space, performativity

Published: March 1, 2016  Show citation

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Osman, Robert and Lucie Pospíšilová. 2016. "Experience without Sight: The Opportunity for Reflection of Normative Space." Gender, Equal Opportunities, Research 17(1):63-76.
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