Abstract

Two strikingly divergent interpretations of the “feminine space” Plato designated under the name of chôra have been proffered by theorists seeking to rethink architecture from a feminist perspective. Elizabeth Grosz judges chôra to be “a founding concept” of the “disembodied femininity,” associated within our tradition with determinations of space as homogeneous and undifferentiated, whereas Ann Bergren maintains chôra offers a conception of moving, differential multiplicity that could, in its feminist implications, open up a radically new approach to architecture. Such a marked interpretative divergence in respect of chôra—which extends to the interpretation proffered by Derrida—compels attention: is this femininely-connoted space indeed cognate, or not, with attempts to rethink architecture from a feminist perspective?

How to Cite:

Burchill, L., (2017) “Reconsidering Chôra, Architecture and “Woman””, field: 7(1), 191–204. doi: https://doi.org/10.62471/field.84