The spatial turn, reification and relational epistemologies in ‘knowing about’ security and peace

How we approach knowing conflict and security makes a difference. This article first considers how reification, instrumental subject/object relations and the drive for certainty and control undermine effective knowledge and practice in questions of conflict and peace. It then turns to what the spatial turn and notions of emplaced security might offer to working against violence. As with any theoretical perspective, the spatial turn can itself be reified, repeating epistemological relations entrenched in much security analysis. The spatial turn and emplaced security explicitly highlight alternative, more relational knowledge practices, however. A relational epistemology approaches knowledge not only as information about a subject out there, but also as a form of practice with others which changes conditions of possibility for co-existence. If pursued, such approaches could help loosen the grip of narrow constructions of security, insecurity, the person, power and agency which dominate security analysis and obstruct understanding and the generation of alternatives in situations of entrenched conflict. An orientation to place could not only enable more nuanced accounts of peace and conflict, but support mutual recognition and exchange across division, assisting an ethic of attention and concrete peace and conflict resolution efforts.