The Dictionary of Human Geography

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owner. A rich corpus of writing explores and

critiques various justifications for private

property (Macpherson, 1978b).

This model, it has been noted, exerts a

powerful imaginative hold, shaping collective

understandings of the possibilities of social

life, theethicsof human relations and the

ordering of economic life (Blomley, 2005). In

response, scholars have criticized prevailing

views of property: Singer (2000), for example,

characterizes the ownership model as both

descriptively and normatively flawed. One

central argument, variously phrased, is that

property is irreclaimably social and political

in its constitution and effects (Alexander,

1998). Property rights, insists Underkuffler

(2003), ‘are not simply private interests with

which the state neutrally coexists. Property

rights ... are collective, enforced, even violent

decisions about who shall enjoy the privileges

and resources which this society allocates

among its citizens’ (p. 146).

Given its historical development under a

liberal capitalist society (see capitalism),

many critics have cast property rights in a

negative light, pointing to the manner in which

privatized property rights instrumentally and

ideologically underpinclassrule,patriarchy

andcolonialism. However, recent years have

seen an attempt to uncover the progressive

potential of property – both private and col-

lective (Blomley, 2002).

Property is a political instrument, an element

in social struggle, an object ofconsumption

and a site foridentity formation. Given its

importance,itishearteningtonotesomeinterest

ingeographyinproperty.Blomleyhassoughtto

uncover the ways in which conflicts overinner-

city gentrificationfrequently invoke property

claims, refracted throughrepresentationsof

locallandscapes (Blomley, 2004b; Mitchell

and Staeheli, 2005). Everyday understandings

of domestic andpublic spaceare also seen to

entail surprisingly complex and overlapping ren-

derings of public and private property (Blomley,

2004a). The dynamics ofcolonialismare also

shown to entail the simultaneous reworking of

space and property (Forman and Kedar, 2004).

Property, of course, extends beyond claims to

land: Sarah Whatmore (2002a), for example,

traces the intersecting geographies of landed

and intellectual property rights.

Geographers have also expressed interest in

common property: David Harvey (2003b), for

example, has argued that theenclosureof the

commons, rather than an episode of early capit-

alism, continues across the globe (seeprimitive

accumulation), as does political organizing in

defence of common rights (global commons;

primitive accumulation). nkb

Suggested reading

Corr (1999); Geisler and Daneker (2000);

Nedelsky (1990); Rose (1994); Verdery and

Humphrey (2004).

propinquity A measure of nearness or prox-

imity, usually with reference to distance, but

also to time. rj

prostitution Broadly defined, prostitution

refers to the exchange of sexual services for

money or payment in kind. Though often

socially marginalized, the prostitute has

remained a central figure in geographical

debates concerning both the gendering of

spaceand the spatial regulation of conduct.

Notably, it is the place of women sex workers

that has attracted most attention. While some

accounts have been excessively voyeuristic and

uncritical, work informed byfeministtheory

has generated some insightful geographical

commentaries on the regulation of female

sexualityand the role of space in the main-

tenance of heteronormativity. Broadly

speaking, these document thespatialityof

prostitution on at least three relatedscales.

First, attention has been focused on the more-

or-less enforced movement of women sex

workers across international boundaries,a

phenomena that appears to be growing as

criminalized global networks extend their

range and influence (Samarasinge, 2005).

Reading these movements as indicative of gen-

dered global inequalities, increasing stress is

also being placed on the formation of adia-

sporic sex workers’ movement opposed to

enforced prostitution (Doezema and

Kempadoo, 1998: seeslavery). Second, on a

national scale there has been a strong

emphasis on the connections between prosti-

tutionlawsand the particular concerns and

anxieties projected on to thebodiesof prosti-

tute women. This literature often has a strong

historical dimension, tracking the moral and

political debates encouraging the use of par-

ticular forms ofsurveillanceandbiopower

to categorize and control sex work (Howell,

2000). Finally, there is an established tradition

of urban research that documents the micro-

geographies of sex work in red-light dis-

tricts. One important strand of this explores

the relationship between sex workers and local

residents, with a particular focus on thenimby

campaigns of displacement that are often

associated with incipient gentrification

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PROPINQUITY