Time-space, period and region. theoretical and methodological reflections

Abstract

This paper presents a group of theoretical-methodological reflections clearly founded and inspired by the thought of Milton Santos and María Laura Silveira about the periodization and regionalization processes. We will try to critically elucidate the concepts of period and region, to then establish the basic rules of the method for the division of space-time into historical periods and geographical regions reciprocally intertwined by vectors of functional coherence. Time as a succession of events, space as accumulation of times, the variables of the modernization process, the debate about the objective and subjective nature of periods and regions, the division of labour as a mechanism of space and time division, and the discussion about the limits and durability of thematic perspectives are the key elements of this paper.