Making Sociological Theories Come Alive: Cooperative Work on Collective Memories Regarding Frontier Zones

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the medium film is able not only to challenge, but also to push toward further development of some of the basic assumptions in sociological spatial theories as used within cultural area research. In so doing, we wish to increase knowledge on a central epistemological question for the field of Spatial Turn, namely how field research, by using film and playing it back to the field, can be a vehicle for new methodology in making theories collectively come alive.
The paper reflects on thoughts about Frontier Zones developed from the interpretations of space and its history as presented by students of cultural studies. The students’ interpretations are according to the theory of memory by Aleida Assman, to the understanding of the structure of power by Michel Foucault, and to the symbolic power and the habitus of the place by Pierre Bourdieu. In this sense, the concept of Frontier Zones contributes in two directions: in the practical experiments that seek to highlight and read the Frontier Zones that are expressed in the urban dynamics as well as to highlight the Frontier Zones between areas of knowledge seeking to understand and redefine them. The perception of the Frontier Zones allows us to recognize the levels of belonging, diversity and composition.