territory

1/ “In ethology, sociobiology and behavioral ecology, the term territory refers to any geographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics (and, occasionally, animals of other species). Animals that defend territories in this way are referred to as territorial.” [Wikipedia]

2/ “… Then a second thing that distinguishes an animal is that it also has a territory (Deleuze indicates that with Guattari, he developed a nearly philosophical concept about territory). Constituting a territory is nearly the birth of art: in making a territory, it is not merely a matter of defecatory and urinary markings, but also a series of postures (standing/sitting for an animal), a series of colors (that an animal takes on), a song [un chant]. These are the three determinants of art: colors, lines, song –, says Deleuze, art in its pure state.

… Moreover, one must consider behavior in the territory as the domain of property and ownership, territory as “my properties” in the manner of Beckett or Michaux.

…In order to reflect on territory, he and Guattari created “deterritorialization” (Deleuze says that he has found an English equivalent of “the deterritorialized” in Melville, with “outlandish”). In philosophy, he says, the invention of a barbaric word is sometimes necessary to take account of a new notion: so there would be no territorialization without a vector of leaving the territory, deterritorialization, and there’s no leaving the territory, no deterritorialization, without a vector of reterritorialization elsewhere.

… In animals, these territories are expressed and delimited by an endless emission of signs, reacting to signs (e.g. a spider and its web) and producing signs (e.g. a wolf track or something else), recognized by hunters and trackers in a kind of animal relationship.” [Overview of “The ABC’s of Gilles Deleuze” prepared by Charles J. Stivale]