Arena

= a research and 'relational' concept from Field Theory

Description

"In Turner’s field theory, an arena is a ‘bounded spatial unit in which precise, visible antagonists, individual or corporate, contend with one another for prizes and/or honour' (Turner 1974: 132-3). Arenas are ‘explicit frames' in which ‘nothing is left merely implied' and major decisions are taken in public view (1974: 134). With his notion of arena, Victor Turner was distancing himself from game theory and other rational actor models that had dominated political anthropology since the 1960s. Turner emphasised that an arena is neither a marketplace nor a forum, although they can both become an arena ‘under appropriate field conditions’ (1974: 134)." (http://johnpostill.co.uk/articles/postill_localising_net.pdf)