REFLECTIONS ON ABSTRACTION IN A WORLD WHERE ATTACHMENT TO PLACE MATTERS

Abstract

In an earlier reflection, we drew on our experiences, especially in Indigenous contexts, to consider how detachment connects with abstraction (Huru, Andersson & Wagner, 2023). We described abstraction as a process that attaches an idea to an experience—e.g., the realization that a line carved into a bone can represent a real thing, or five such lines, or the symbol 5 referring to the five lines. But abstraction can also lead to detachment—e.g., when the symbol 5 is manipulated as a thing itself. We described abstraction as natural in mathematics and in language—e.g., your name is not you, it indexes you. We see abstraction as an action and thus as a move within a cultural context.