DHUM 27A56 - Urban Space and Embodied Cognition

In his essay “On Boredom,” the philosopher and cultural theorist Siegfried Krakauer asserts that “One's body takes root in the asphalt.” Exploring the intersection between the act of walking and the urban environment, this class will provide a unique perspective on the construction of subjectivity in urban modernity. Beginning with the nineteenth-century French art of “flânerie,” or aimless strolling through the city, up to our present times, we will scrutinize the relationship between the body and urban landscapes. How do bodies and senses configure space and experience, and how does space reciprocally configure and shape bodies? Who has the right to walk in the city and linger in public space? How does the act of strolling aimlessly through the city intersect with forms of societal privileges, such as gender, class, and racial privilege, and when and where can wandering become a means of protest or resistance? By tracing the itineraries and embodied geographies traversed by urban walkers in different periods, this course aims to map the social and political mobility of urban modernity in the ever-evolving contemporary city, while interrogating how walking could serve as a form of political emancipation.

María-victoria LONDONO-BECERRA

Séminaire

English

Spring 2024-2025