Assemblage and geography

Ben Anderson and Colin McFarlane Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE Email: ben.anderson@durham.ac.uk Revised manuscript received 17 February 2011 In this introduction to the special section on ‘Assemblage and geography’, we reflect on the different routes and uses through which ‘assemblage’ is being put to work in contemporary geographical scholarship. The purpose of the collection is not to legislate a particular definition of assemblage, or to prioritise one tradition of assemblage thinking over others, but to reflect on the multiple ways in which assemblage is being encountered and used as a descriptor, an ethos and a concept. We identify a set of tensions and differences in how the term is used in the commentaries and more generally. These revolve around the difference assemblage thinking makes to relational thought in the context of a shared orientation to the composition of social-spatial formations. Key words: assemblage, relations, heterogeneity, differen. 1