The Past in 3D: The Power of Spatial History
Spatial history is a relatively new area of historical research. Its emergence can be described almost as an ‘explosion’. It is only in the last 30-40 years or so, where the interest in alternative aspects of history and historiography has grown. One of the clear outcomes of this, can be seen in the way historians have begun to ‘stretch space and expand time, shifting perspectives from the close-up to the broader horizons of trans- national and trans-temporal histories’. This has shifted the perspective of history, to a rather more macro view. As David Armitage writes, ‘where once historians preferred the microscope we are reaching again for the telescope’. What this has created is a history more coherently integrated with different aspects of human history that may have been overlooked before.
Three main, interconnected areas can be identified. Firstly, spatial history allows for a better interaction of the historian with the places, locations and settings of a historical event. Not only this, but it also helps to present it to the public in a more engaging and understandable way. Secondly, it is from this that the macro and micro elements of history can be more effectively integrated; to better place an event in the overall narrative of the past. Finally, spatial history can better help the historian to understand and interact with testimonies of witnesses or survivors. For this, the Holocaust will be used as a clear case study into the use and efficacy of special history, and what it can reveal to the historian and the public.
The first of these aspects is the opportunity for a new and powerful interaction between the historian, the public and the locations in which historical events took place. The emergence of spatial history has allowed for the creation of a new kind of history; one that is more immersive for the observer. With a continued integration with geographical methods, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and thereby the forming of a kind of ‘historical GIS’, history can be presented as 3D maps, places, visuals and experiences. The onlooker can now be shown a place, rather than just told about it. Through maps, recreations, multimedia and technological displays, the public can be engaged in a new, immersive and visually powerful way, through something called ‘deep mapping’.
However, ‘deep maps’ also do so much more than just re-present physical locations. As the Geospatial Innovation website explains:
‘Places are not stable; they mean different things to different people – even different things at different times. The deep map recognises the slippery identity of place, and seeks to visualise the multiple identities that go towards constructing the human experience of place. (...) The deep map not only reveals a place’s connection with other places, but indicates the personal, social and imaginary networks that affect how it is perceived. The deep map does not present a fixed view of a location; instead, its inherent instability allows for the ongoing development of a place’s identity, and its capacity to reveal historical and contemporary human experience.’
Deep mapping allows for a complete altering of the understanding and interaction with a location or setting of a historical event. Not only can the places be presented in new, engaging and visceral ways, but they can now also become a source for the continual shaping and re-shaping of places; a network of experiences and moments; a collection of stories shown in the mapping of a location. This is something only now available through the emergence of spatial history.
Stemming from this, historical events can now more effectively be integrated together in a coherent and effective manner; in both the macro and micro studies of history. In the macro, the historian is now able to investigate the placement of an event within the very construct of time. They are able to study the nature of time itself, how humans experience it, the reality of the human constructions of hours, days, months, and years, and how that impacts the study of the past. This thereby blends the more modern view of time with traditional historical methods. The conceptual and theoretical is merged with the archaeological and physical through spatial history.
The micro is what was mentioned earlier, with the inclusion of GIS and digital, technological networks of experiences and places, history can be now more effectively placed within the overall narrative of human history. This ‘placement’ of historical events or figures is in itself spatial history. It is the ‘space’ in time that the event or figure occupied. As Philip Ethington so succinctly explains: ‘History is not an account of ‘change over time,’ as the cliché goes, but rather, change through space. Knowledge of the past, therefore, is literally cartographic: a mapping of the places of history indexed to the coordinates of spacetime.’ History, therefore, is the continual creation and study of ‘spaces’ and their placement in the overall narrative of human existence. As Ethington continues:
‘Historians have extensively addressed the question, ‘what is history?’ and how best to study the past. This essay begins with a far simpler question: what is the past, that we could seek to know or represent it in any way? That question depends unavoidably on a larger question: what is time? The process of answering these questions leads to a robust account of experience, as action inscribing the places of the past in spacetime.’
The integration of these macro and micro aspects allows for a better, more complete and more effective understanding of history. This is only achievable through spatial history; without it, a more complete study of the ‘placing’ of events or figures cannot be achieved, nor can a more full and vivid presentation of these locations be completed.
The final of these aspects of which this essay will explore, is that spatial history can aid a historian in better understanding and interacting with the testimonies of witnesses or survivors of historical events. This is very clearly seen in the work of Tim Cole and the testimonies of Holocaust survivors or witnesses. Cole’s writings on the ‘places’ of memory (both the physical location in which the actual event took place, and the place in which the survivor’s memory may be set), have shed profound light on these testimonies, and have allowed historians and the public to deal with them in a new, more complete way. Put simply, if the historian can understand the process of remembrance, or better investigate the way in which survivors remember their experiences, they can better place their testimonies in the overall narrative of Holocaust historiography.
Places can be profoundly impactful in the memory of survivors, and in order to most effectively and accurately interact with these testimonies, a historian needs an understanding of the biases and impacts these places may have on their memory. For example, Cole outlines in his article for History and Memory, how locations can act as ‘places’ of memory, tools for remembrance or spaces of recollection. Shown in the experience of survivors returning to Auschwitz, Cole writes: ‘Many survivors revisited Auschwitz as cemetery in lieu of the family graves that simply do not exist.’
For many, Auschwitz became the final point of contact for family members they lost, friends or acquaintances that were killed. It becomes the final touch point, the last remaining connection, and, as many victims didn’t have graves to commemorate them, it becomes a place of remembrance for the survivors. Without an understanding of how this happens, the historian may not be able to accurately use these testimonies; this can only be achieved with spatial history.
To conclude, spatial history is an invaluable aspect of historiography that allows for more complete and full understanding of historical events. From better interacting with the locations of historical events, to the better integration of macro and micro elements of historical narrative, and its use in the understanding of survivor or witness testimonies.
Bibliography and Further Reading:
Peter Doorn, ‘A Spatial Turn in History: Using the Combined Space/Time Component’, GIM International.
Matthew Graves & Gilles Teulié, Histories of Space, Spaces of History, (E-rea: revue électronique d'études sur le monde anglophone, 2017), Introduction.
David Armitage, ‘Horizons of History: Space, time and the future of the past.’, History Australia, 12.1 (April 2015).
David J. Bodenhamer,’The Potential of the Spatial Humanities.’, The Spatial Humanities: GIS and the Future of Humanities Scholarship, ed. David J. Bodenhamer, John Corrigan and Trevor M. Harris, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press: 2010).
No Author Given, ‘Deep Mapping’, Geospatial Innovation.
Philip J. Ethington, ’Placing the past: 'Groundwork' for a spatial theory of history', Rethinking History, (Routledge: 2007), 11:4.
Tim Cole, ‘Crematoria, Barracks, Gateway: Survivors' Return Visits to the Memory Landscapes of Auschwitz’, History and Memory, (Indiana University Press: 2013), Vol. 25, No. 2 (Fall/Winter 2013).
