Heterotopia

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Heterotopias are social spaces that possess relations with all other sites, but do so in such a way to neutralize the set of relations that they happen to designate. Foucault defines a heterotopia as a space that exists outside of hegemonic power structures that can be mental, temporal or physical or a flattening of all three. A mirror and a phone call are both cited as examples of heterotopic spaces. How do you get ahold of anybody? There are obvious limits in the localization of radio, and even to some extent online communities, but perhaps that is to its strength.

Online repositories of cultural information can be so vast that they are incapable of being co-opted. The filter of the receiver may be dislodged through the possibility of indirect gathering, as just one example of the ways communities may stay connected in heterotopias simply by listening.

Foucault, Michel. "Of Other Spaces," Diacritics 16 (Spring 1986), 22-27.