Introduction to geographies of darkness

Abstract

Introduction to Geographies of DarknessLight pervades space and when it does not, darkness emerges and is usually vanquished with electric illumination.The perception of light and gloom is an existential dimension of experiencing space and time.Although rhythms of light and dark play out differently according to geography, all sighted people perceive, sense, act and construe meanings of space, place and landscape according to their diverse, changing qualities of luminosity and murkiness.Despite this shared, all-pervasive aspect of human experience, geographical investigation of daylight, darkness and illumination is meagre indeed.This dearth is startling when we consider how sunlight and shadow condition the appearance of landscape, the cultural values and meanings attributed to the luminous and shadowy qualities of place, and the alignment of diverse spatial practices with nightfall and dawn, for instance.It is as if place, space and landscape are by default, conceived as being washed in a neutral daylight, rather than being dynamically conditioned by vital light and dark.This special issue focuses specifically on darkness, on how particular practices, cultural values and conceptions circulate around gloom, and have been continuously articulated and contested over time.The papers here explore different dark spaces, and endeavour to address John Jakle's complaint that 'landscape has been conceptualised primarily in terms of daytime use' i .They also elucidate how in contemporary times, darkness is being revalued in multiple ways.These reappraisals are especially pertinent because darkness has been progressively banished through what Koslofsky ii calls 'nocturnalisation', the expansion of social and economic activity into the night and the subsequent spread of illumination, a process persistently informed by religious and modernist discourses, and lasting fears about darkness.This 'colonization' iii proceeds as nightclubs extend opening hours, entertainment districts expand, all-night retail outlets multiply, and urban districts service the needs of shift workers.Because we are habituated to ubiquitous illumination, it is difficult to imagine the pervasive darkness that formerly saturated most space after nightfall and the very real perils, discomforts and inconveniences that suffused everyday life.As Roger Ekirch iv details, numerous hazards proliferated after nightfall in medieval towns, with rubbish, ditches, excrement laden streets and overhanging timbers, not to mention the footpads, murderers and robbers who lurked in the dark.No wonder householders performed the daily ritual of 'shutting in', bolting doors and windows to guard against nocturnal intrusion or that many towns organized a night watch and locked the city gates to guard against malevolent interlopers.Inside houses, rudimentary candles provided 'small patches of light amid the blackness' v , requiring endless vigilance to keep them aflame.Yet despite these unpropitious conditions, pervasive darkness also solicited the development of practical competencies.These included navigation by star-filled skies and familiarity with the moon, its phases and the ways in which it transformed landscape, with the 'changing colours and

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