Offers startling historical evidence and bold new ideas about how the social and material spaces of the aeroplane a
Trade Review
“These books could serve as a starting point from which to further develop this concept of aerial space and how it fits with or challenges other theories of space that are emerging in geography and the social sciences more broadly, such as those drawing on network and complexity theory.” (The AAG Review of Books, 1 March 2014)
''Peter Adey is a clear, strong, inventive, unique voice in human geography. In Aerial Life, he brings together a fascinating set of theoretical concerns and empirical cases in his inimitable style, with a gravity of purpose and a lightness of touch that makes for an incredibly rich book.'
—Mark B. Salter, University of Ottawa ‘By extending critical human geography to the complex verticalities of airspace, Peter Adey offers a vitally important riposte to the long neglect of aerial cultural politics in the social sciences. Aerial Life is a brilliant tour de force. Incisive, comprehensive, fresh and, above all, topical - this is the book which can guide us as we address the geographies of the aerial.’
—Stephen Graham, Newcastle University
"He presents a compelling study of the processes involved in the social and psychological shaping of what he calls "the aerial subject." (Times Literary Supplement, 15 October 2010)
Table of Contents
Figures and Tables ix
Series Editors’ Preface x
Acknowledgements xi
1 Introduction 1
Prologue 1
Overview 6
Aerial Life 8
Powering Up Aerial Geographies 13
The Organization of the Book 21
Part One Becoming Aerial 23
2 Birth of the Aerial Body 25
Introduction 25
Beginnings 28
‘Handsome Is as Handsome Does’: Disassembling the Aerial Body 30
The Flesh of the Aerial Youth 41
Simulation 45
Conclusion 52
3 The Projection and Performance of Airspace 54
Introduction 54
Building a Political Space: Identity, Boundedness and the Sanctity of Territory 57
Undoing Aerial Space: Post-nationalism and Projective Power 70
Conclusion 80
Part Two Governing Aerial Life 83
4 Aerial Views: Bodies, Borders and Biopolitics 85
Introduction 85
Seeing the Wood for the Trees: Targeting, Administering and Managing Populations 86
Techniques of the Observer/Observed 103
Three-Dimensional Vision 109
Conclusion 113
5 Profiling Machines 114
Introduction 114
Imagining the Pilot/Passenger 117
Sorting 124
Modifying 132
Conclusion 144
Part Three Aerial Aggression 145
6 Aerial Environments 147
Introduction 147
The Emergence of a Target 149
Systems, Circulations and Ecological Warfare 161
Air Conditioning 170
Conclusion 177
7 Subjects under Siege 179
Warning 179
Introduction 181
The Anatomy of Panic 185
Imaginations and Urgencies 189
Vigilance and the Social as Circuit 191
Entrainment 198
Conclusion 205
8 Conclusion 206
Environments 207
Futures 208
Aerial Turns 209
Notes 211
Bibliography 228
Index 255
