O territory it is usually defined as an area of space delimited by boundaries based on a relationship of possession or ownership, be it animal or human. The latter presents political, cultural, economic, regional versions, among others. The term territory comes from the Latin "territorium", expression that referred to a delimited land or under a given jurisdiction.
Despite this simple definition, the concept of territory is polysemic and has changed a lot over time, which makes difficult to elaborate, given that, according to the approach used, the territory starts to be seen with a new drapery.
In dictionaries and formal conceptualization models, territory is usually defined as an area administered by the State over which it exercises its sovereignty. However, as social studies advanced, this definition became insufficient, as it did not covered the informal territories and disputes between classes and the different groups that make up the societies.
For the Swiss geographer, Claude Raffestin
, the territory is not precisely established only by the construction and delimitation of borders. For a territory to be structured, more than that, its affirmation and appropriation from a power relationship are necessary. Territorializing, in this sense, means manifesting power in a specific area.Already Robert Sack, an American thinker, contributed a lot to this debate, especially when he “freed” the concept of territory from the notion of State and considered that the relations of territoriality, that is, of imposition of territories, they are transformed in time and space. An example was pointed out by Marcelo Lopes de Souza when mentioning the territory of prostitutes on a street in Rio de Janeiro. This territory is established in opposition to that of transvestites and only in a specific temporality, the night period.
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In this sense, the territory also knows its multi-scalarity, that is, it behaves on multiple scales. It can be very broad, such as the territory of the nations that make up the European Union, or even very specific, such as the drug dealers' territories in one or more slums and neighborhoods. Therefore, the understanding of a given territory will depend on the approach used and what will be studied in it.
In addition, numerous authors, such as Milton Santos and Roger Haesbaert, considered the dynamics of network territory, which is established by different points of space in areas that are not necessarily continuous, but with connections and flows of information and goods. With the advancement of globalization and the means of transport and communication, there may be international networks of territories, whether referring to lawful or unlawful practices, exercised under a certain command or domain.
The territory is, therefore, the target of different definitions and debates, being built not only by its borders (since these are not are always accurate or visible), but mainly because of the symbolic, structural and power relations that guarantee their existence and dynamicity.
By Me. Rofolfo Alves Pena
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PENA, Rodolfo F. Alves. "What is territory?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/geografia/o-que-e-territorio.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
