Non-Places

Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity

An ever-increasing proportion of our lives is spent in supermarkets, airports and hotels, on motorways or in front of TVs, computers and cash machines. This invasion of the world by what Marc Auge calls 'non-space' results in a profound alteration of awareness: something we perceive, but only in a partial and incoherent manner. Auge uses the concept of 'super modernity' to describe a situation of excessive information and excessive space. In this fascinating essay, now re-issued with a new introduction, he seeks to establish an intellectual framework for an anthropology of super modernity modernity.