International Journal of Geographical and Spatial Studies
JGSS Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp. 55-74.
Print ISSN: 3105-1294; Online ISSN: 3105-1308
Journal homepage: https://www.gssjournal.com
DOI：https://doi.org/10.64058/JGSS.26.1.06
Archipelagic Literary Studies and Spatial Formation
Abstract: This article develops Archipelagic Literary Studies (ALS) as a framework for rethinking Bildungsroman narratives in Southeast Asia. It shifts attention away from viewing space as backdrop and instead treats archipelagic spatial relations as constitutive of narrative form, development, and subject formation. Space is not secondary but the medium through which ethical and intellectual growth becomes possible. Against European models that emphasize coherence and social integration, Southeast Asian colonial texts disrupt linear development and institutional stability. In José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere, formation begins in rupture: institutional failure produces ethical absence, articulated through puwáng as structural void. In Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s This Earth of Mankind, development unfolds through navigation across distinct social domains (ruang), each governed by shifting norms and hierarchies. Rather than a single trajectory, these texts register a shared condition in which growth emerges through movement across uneven, unstable environments shaped by colonial power. Archipelagic relationality—grounded in maritime routes, dispersed settlements, and overlapping sovereignties—reconfigures narrative temporality alongside spatial form. Development thus arises across discontinuous sites of encounter rather than along a continuous line. ALS reframes Bildung as inseparable from relational geography, demonstrating how spatial logic structures development in Southeast Asian fiction.
Keywords: Archipelagic Literary Studies (ALS); spatial analysis; postcolonial Bildungsroman; José Rizal; Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Author Biography: Maria Luisa Torres Reyes is Professorial Lecturer at the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School, Manila. Her research and publications have explored the refunctioning of Western categories in non-Western contexts, especially in Southeast Asia. Email: lu2reyes3x@gmail.com
标题：文学群岛研究与空间构形
摘要：本文以“文学群岛研究”为理论框架，重新审视东南亚成长小说。研究突破将空间视作背景的传统视角，转而将群岛空间关系界定为叙事形态、人物成长与主体建构的构成性要素。空间并非附属元素，而是实现个体伦理与心智成长的核心媒介。与强调连贯性与社会整合的欧洲成长小说不同，东南亚殖民语境中的文本打破了线性成长轨迹与制度稳定性。在何塞·黎刹的《社会痼疾》中，人物的成长始于断裂。作者借助“puwáng”一词，呈现体制失范所导致的伦理缺位。在普拉姆迪亚·阿南达·杜尔的《人世间》中，人物在不同社会场域（ruang）间穿行与成长，每个场域均受制于流变的社会规范与等级秩序。两部作品呈现出共通的叙事特征：人物并非沿着单一轨迹成长，而是在殖民权力所塑造的不均衡且不稳定的空间中辗转穿行。以海上航道、散居聚落与多重权力交叠为根基的群岛关系性，既重塑了叙事时间，也重构了空间形式。成长过程由此产生于不连续的相遇场所中，而非呈现为线性发展路径。文学群岛研究因此将“教化成长”重新锚定在关系性地理中，揭示空间逻辑如何构造东南亚小说中人物的成长过程。
关键词：文学群岛研究；空间分析；后殖民成长小说；何塞·黎刹；普拉姆迪亚·阿南达·杜尔
作者简介：玛丽亚·路易莎·托雷斯·雷耶斯，马尼拉圣托马斯大学研究生院特聘教授，其研究与学术成果聚焦西方理论在非西方语境（尤以东南亚地区为主）中的重构与转用。电邮为lu2reyes3x@gmail.com。
Received: 26 Mar 2026 / Revised: 10 Apr 2026 / Accepted: 29 Apr 2026 / Published online: 30 May 2026 / Print published: 30 Jun 2026.
