15134
Proseminar
WiSe 23/24: Urban Resistance: Negotiating the Right to the City
Myriam Ahmed
Comments
«There is a politics of space, because space is political”, wrote French Marxist Henri Lefebvre arguing that the urban space had become the locus of change. In the past decades, cities have become central playing fields of social movements, protests and revolutions. The 2011 revolutionary uprisings in Egypt’s Tahrir square, the sit-in in front of the military headquarters in Khartoum in 2019 and this years’ recurring protests in Paris are only a few examples. Cities, especially capitals, can be seen as the nerve centers of power and are therefore chosen by oppositions due to their greater disruptive potential. Meanwhile, the means of powerholders to exert control is similarly greater in cities. These dynamics of resistance and repression, how they are shaped by and how they are negotiated in urban spaces will be the focus of this seminar.
Starting with an exploration of theoretical approaches to space and spatiality in social sciences, we are going to look at cases of contentious politics set in urban spaces from different geographical regions. We will study the different ways in which the city plays a role for contentious politics by looking at 1) the city as an arena for resistance, to 2) the city as a movement’s claim, over the 3) imaginary of and meanings attributed to specific places in a city, as well as shed light on 4) how states shape cities in response to acts of resistance.
This seminar is divided into an introductory session, two main blocks each consisting of two days and a closing session. Through discussions and interactive group work around both academic texts and non-academic resources, students will acquire knowledge on different forms of urban resistance and be able to situate them in spatial approaches of social movement studies. Through smaller group works inside and outside the classroom, course participants will also get to explore mapping methodologies and apply learned concepts to their immediate surroundings. close
Additional appointments
Fri, 2023-10-20 14:00 - 17:30 Fri, 2023-12-15 14:00 - 20:00 Sat, 2023-12-16 10:00 - 16:00 Fri, 2024-01-19 14:00 - 20:00 Sat, 2024-01-20 10:00 - 16:00 Fri, 2024-02-09 14:00 - 17:30