Human Identity and the Particularity of Place

Recent preoccupation with the Millennium has once again focused attention on the categories of human experience that have the greatest impact on the way we see the world. "Time" is obviously one such category. However, the angry controversy over the London Dome, the only national building in Britain constructed to mark the Millennium, also highlights the strength of our feelings about "place." The Dome, located east of the commercial area of London in the rejuvenated dock lands, is a vast construction not unlike a circus tent, capable of holding thousands of people in its central arena. Conceived by politicians and other public figures as a major Millennium tourist attraction to rival Disneyland Paris, it has completed this phase of existence and is due to be converted to an indoor business park.

When it was designed, much of the Dome was divided internally into various "zones" dedicated to portraying different aspects of human personal and social life. It was conceived as part entertainment, part exhibition, part educational theme park. Many people felt it was vastly too expensive, superficial in conception, and more of a political statement than an adequate symbol of human achievement and aspirations. If the structure of the Dome and its contents is a kind of text reflecting the ways in which contemporary British culture operates, what does this imply? The materials and method of construction ensure that the structure will not survive beyond about twenty-five years. In terms of content, the exhibition in the Dome was orientated only to this moment in time--its "zones" offered little sense of the history that has brought us to the present and that points to our future.

Any misgivings about the Dome, justified or not, highlight the vital connection between place, memory, and human identity. The concept of "place" refers not simply to geographical location but also to a dialectical relationship between environment and human narrative. "Place" is any space that has the capacity to be remembered and to evoke what is most precious. It evokes a distinctive sense of the "thisness," or particularity, that lies at the heart of an incarnational faith. The theme of particularity, which this essay will later reflect on, is most clearly expressed in the language of haecceitas in Duns Scotus. "We need to think about where we are and what is unique and special about our surroundings so that we can better understand ourselves and how we relate to others." ¹ It is for this reason that the human sense of place remains a critical theological and spiritual issue. Yet, historically, the Christian tradition has been ambivalent about the subject. This in part reflects a tension between "place" and "placelessness" that dates back to the biblical origins of Christian faith. The unfortunate result, however, is that in current debates about the future of "place," the Christian theological voice contributes very little apart from occasional references to specific environmental issues.

I want to suggest ways in which we may think about "place" as a spiritual issue. These are not intended to be comprehensive but, rather, are pointers to stimulate further questions. Place has become a significant theme in a wide range of writing, including philosophy, cultural history, anthropology, human geography, architectural theory, and contemporary literature. Attempts by spirituality to reflect comprehensively on "place" must therefore be interdisciplinary, while making solid connections with theological themes. This essay begins by offering a phenomenological analysis of "place" in contemporary culture. It concludes with an attempt at a theological reconstruction of a "sense of place" that is capable both of expressing the particularity of incarnational spirituality and of making room for marginalized groups.

Culture and World Views

The preoccupation with "place" reflects in part what a number of commentators refer to as a cultural crisis in Western societies--a sense of rootlessness, dislocation, or displacement. Part of this crisis lies in a decline of traditional systems of religious, ethical, and social values and...