deterritorialization Deleuze, Gilles and Guattari, Félix’s concept for desire that operates in an unorganized (not to say disorganized) way, by which they mean a mode of desiring that does not require an object to motivate it and give it direction. In L’Anti-Œdipe (1972) translated as Anti-Oedipus (1977), Deleuze and Guattari redefine Lacan, Jacques’s concept of the drive as a territory, so to deterritorialize means to sever desire from its connection to the drive. But they also argue that desire is constantly looking to reterritorialize, to restore its connection to the drive in other words. Deterritorialization is an optimal process for Deleuze and Guattari, necessary to the release of creative energies. However, at its extreme deterritorialization is synonymous with schizophrenic psychoses, and in their later work Deleuze and Guattari are careful to state that one must exercise caution in deterritorializing. But, they nevertheless hold to the idea that at least a little bit of deterritorialization is needed to stop things from stagnating. See also