ANTHROPOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING ABOUT THE SPACE CATEGORY: A POSSIBLE INTERDICIPLINARY DIALOGUE BETWEEN URBAN GEOGRAPHY AND URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY

Abstract

This article proposes to introduce a discussion about space category from Anthropology, taking as reference some authors of the fi eld, whose elaboration provides a clue to the understanding of this category. Space has been an analytical category privileged by geographers and architects, since the foundation of these fi elds of knowledge. Such a category has numerous and complex defi nitions, and it is not the privilege of this or that fi eld of knowledge. Seeking a view among many, complementary, but not exclusive, we will seek to bring some contributions in the fi eld of Anthropology, or more specifi cally Urban Anthropology. Anthropology also focused on understanding the category space, taking as a starting point the symbolic dimension that leads the various human societies to mark their territories in front of the fi elds of other peoples and other worlds. This understanding was already present in fi rst anthropological / ethnographic works, starting from Durkheim, going through Malinowski, to contemporary authors who provide clues to the analysis of urban spatiality and the complex world of metropolises. What is intended is not the proposition of a counterpoint to the geographical perspective, but rather a suggestion of an interdisciplinary approach, understanding that the anthropological approach, far from creating an alternative interpretation, far from creating an alternative interpretation, allows a parallel approach and allows a necessary approximation between the fi elds of knowledge.