“Mind the Gap” is the motif of the first illustration in Sara Ahmed’s book “Complaint!”, page 30: In a view from above, the lettering “MIND THE GAP” is embedded in a floor mosaic on the edge of a train platform; the train tracks can still be seen at the upper edge of the picture. The caption is: “The gap between what is supposed to happen and what does happen.”
This sentence refers to Ahmed’s observation of complaint processes on the same page of the book: Here, something does not coincide, namely that which is supposed to happen by means of a complaint in accordance with the policies and procedures and that which actually happens. There is a gap between the two, the should and the is. This gap is “densely populated” (p. 30), says the continuous text above the illustration, it should be paid attention to: “To mind the gap is to listen and learn from those who are experiencing a process.” (ibid).
“Mind the Gap” is the safety notice that can be seen at London Underground stations and heard as an announcement, a warning to passengers not to fall into the gap between the platform and the threshold of the tube. “Mind the Gap” is also the slogan of the London Student Feminists at the University of London, but here with a call to value and promote gender difference. One phrase, two applications, two meanings: one to pay attention to the gap in order to overcome it, the other to pay attention to the gap in order to acknowledge it. Ahmed’s variant combines both the warning and the expression of respect: to take care of the gap means first to recognize it, then to acknowledge it.
That this message is visualized with the black-and-white illustration of the London Underground at Victoria station, where subway stations meet at different levels of elevation and construction, indicates Ahmed’s interest in the operational level of her topic, “Complaint!” How do which (cultural, institutional, linguistic) techniques meet, how can they be connected or made connectable without leveling their differences? How can differences not be ignored, how can differences be recognized as differences without stigmatizing them into difference? How can closures (of gaps) take place without closing them, but keeping them unclosed? “Mind the Gap” means with Ahmed: notice and respect the gap.
"Mind the Gap" ni motif ya picha ya kwanza katika kitabu cha Sara Ahmed ""Kulalamika,"" ukurasa wa 30: Katika mtazamo kutoka juu, maandishi ""MIND THE GAP"" ni embedded katika sakafu mosaic juu ya makali ya jukwaa la treni; reli bado inaweza kuonekana katika makali ya juu ya picha. """ "Hii ni ""The gap between what is supposed to happen and what does happen"" (Kutoka kwa kile kinachotakiwa kutokea na kile kinachotokea) na ""What is supposed to happen by means of a complaint according to the policies and procedures and what actually happens.""" Kuna pengo kati ya hizo mbili, "inapaswa" na "ni". "Kutokana na ""kutoweza kuweza"" (p.30), ni muhimu kuzingatia kwamba ""kusikiliza na kujifunza kutoka kwa wale wanaopitia mchakato"" (p.30)." "Mind the Gap" ni taarifa ya usalama ambayo inaweza kuonekana katika vituo vya London Underground na kusikilizwa kama tangazo, onyo kwa abiria kutokuwa na kuanguka katika pengo kati ya jukwaa na kizingiti cha tube. "Mind the Gap" pia ni kauli mbiu ya Wanafunzi wa London Wanawake katika Chuo Kikuu cha London, lakini hapa na wito wa thamani na kukuza tofauti ya jinsia. "Kuna maneno mawili, maana mbili: moja ni ""kuangalia pengo ili kuikomboa,"" na nyingine ni ""kuangalia pengo ili kukiri.""" Tofauti ya Ahmed inachanganya onyo na usemi wa heshima: kutunza pengo linamaanisha kwanza kulitambua, kisha kulikubali. "Kutokana na picha ya rangi nyeusi na nyeupe ya London Underground katika kituo cha Victoria, ambapo vituo vya chini ya ardhi hukutana katika viwango tofauti vya urefu na ujenzi, inaonyesha shauku ya Ahmed katika kiwango cha uendeshaji wa mada yake, ""Kulalamika: Jinsi gani mbinu za kitamaduni, taasisi, lugha zinakutana, jinsi gani zinaweza kuunganishwa au kuunganishwa bila kuondoa tofauti zao?""" Ni kwa nini tofauti zinapaswa kuangaliwa, na jinsi gani tofauti zinapaswa kutambuliwa kama tofauti bila kuiba kama tofauti? Jinsi gani kufungwa (kwa mapungufu) inaweza kutokea bila kufunga yao, lakini kuweka yao unclosed? "Kumbuka pengo" kwa Ahmed inamaanisha: kumbuka na kuheshimu pengo.