Performing Categories through Material, Spatial and Verbal Practices: the case of “Historical Shops”

Categories make intelligible our world by classifying and labelling objects, actors and events around us. Sometimes categories are created by some promoters re-interpreting already existing entities to re-orientate meaning systems according to strategic goals. This phenomenon is particularly spread in urban and cultural contexts, where policy-makers often found labels to re-qualify, valorise or preserve specific areas of interest. Adopting a qualitative methodology and a multiple nested case study, I analyse the case of creation of the Historical Shops category in two Italian cities with the aim of understanding the conditions and the mechanisms through which a category takes life, is acknowledged and performed on a daily basis, and the ones that, instead, hinder this process. Findings show that the interaction of material, spatial and verbal practices enacted within categorical boundaries co-create an externally perceived experience of the category, which, in turn reinforce the categorical members’ identification with the category, hence sustaining category performance. The initial acts of category creation and actions of category promoters and intermediaries may support or undermine the whole process. The study contributes to categorization studies by providing a situated view on categorization where materiality, place, experience and categorical members’ identification have a fundamental role.