Paper short abstract:

The paper aims at an introduction of the work of French philosopher Henri Lefebvre to archaeology. A critical assessment of the work of Henri Lefebvre on space is proposed, with regard to its potential contribution to an anthropologically oriented archaeological exploration of spatial issues.

Paper long abstract:

The paper aims at an introduction of the work of French philosopher Henri Lefebvre (1901-1991) to archaeology. A critical assessment of the work of Henri Lefebvre on space is proposed, with regard to its potential contribution to an anthropologically oriented archaeological exploration of spatial issues. Despite the fact that archaeologists and anthropologists have long been familiar with the work of French theorists, such as Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault, whose ideas have inspired archaeological explorations and utilized in a particularly productive way, the work of Lefebvre remains to a great extent terra incognita for archaeologists and anthropologists. Contrary to this, architecture and urban studies acknowledge this potential and especially since the 1990s there has been rising interest in Lefebvre's work and his ideas on space.

His seminal work The Production of Space is presented here and its basic tenets on the social production of spatial relationships are outlined. Of particular interest for an anthropologically oriented archaeology among Lefebvre's ideas of space are the following: the distinction between absolute and relative, i.e. lived, space; the distinction between spaces that include and spaces of exclusion; the abolishment of the fallacy of the neutrality of space; the necessarily spatial background to social relations and relations of production. According to Lefebvre, space is the basic tenet upon which all social interaction is founded. Space is constantly produced and re-produced by humans as social beings, and, in turn, it constantly shapes and re-shapes their life practices.