In: Political geography: an interdisciplinary journal for all students of political studies with an interest in the geographical and spatial aspects, Band 96, S. 102604
There is a gap in research that considers, and spatializes, the everyday geographies of far-right encounters, socialization, recreation and leisure. While much research considers the end-stages of right-wing radicalisation and focuses on the extreme right (e.g., hate groups, fringe political parties, despotic leaders, specific eruptions and episodes of violence or terror, online rhetoric), the daily processes, moments and spatial configurations in-between the mainstream and extreme are sometimes overlooked. These are crucial to understand, in order to develop a more nuanced and effective language in recognizing, responding to, and combatting right-wing radicalisation. This paper thus addresses the geographical blind spot by spatializing the everyday life of the far-right, through a three-pronged taxonomy. Drawing from ethnographic observations and social media and socio-demographic analyses, the paper argues that three geographies in particular emerge as nodes of far-right formation (attached to specific sites and online/offline): a) spaces of recreation and leisure ("Celebrations"); b) spaces of faith and spirituality ("Exaltations"); and c) spaces of the corporeal ("Alpha Lands"). These spaces intersect, extend across urban, peri-urban and rural terrains, and do not necessarily adhere to established political or territorial borders and boundaries, but rather, can be envisioned as multi-scalar spatial fixes, laden with political possibilities.
Abstract This article critically deconstructs the notion of the 'New South' using the case of Charlotte, North Carolina, a prototypical 'New South' city. Using the framework of Henri Lefebvre's 'right to the city', specifically the themes of 'mobility', 'access' and 'oeuvre' (the art of city-making) – the following will argue that the 'New South' is a neo-liberal repackaging of entrenched race, class and geo-spatial segregation. The business-friendly repositioning of this former textile city, combined with a sprawling urban form with decentralized employment opportunities, along with disinvestment and re-segregation in public education – have all contributed towards the scattering and division of a coherent working class. Therefore, lack of access, lack of participation and exclusion from centrality mean that marginalized groups (including the LGBTQ, African American and white working-class and poor communities) face difficulty realizing Lefebvre's conditions of 'New Athens', the 'impossible' utopian city.
In this forum paper, we question the lasting utility of the framework and language of urban post-industrialism. We suggest that, while such conceptual metaphors are useful to understand economic, social and cultural change at specific times, post-industrial may obscure more nuanced explorations of the realities of today's multi-faceted, planetary, and digitally-mediated urban processes and socio-spatialities. Post-industrial speaks primarily to dramatic and violent changes that happened in the twentieth century, and continue to happen today, but, we suggest, the story is more complex. Specifically, we bring forward a few critiques of the post-industrial, that a revitalized agenda might begin to move beyond. Firstly, is that industrialisation is always-ongoing, and not something that can be fixed into place. Where it is absent, it continues to haunt. Second, is that over-use of post-industrial as a descriptor and critical lens can lead to territorial, class, racial/ethnic, political, and world-regional stigmatizations. In particular, it can reinforce colonialist hierarchies of prototype Northern/Western cities versus those in the majority world, and certain assumptions about linearity and path dependencies about industrial trajectories. Thirdly, we suggest post-industrial frameworks can calcify gender binaries and obscure counterhegemonies and fluidities, especially given the realities of global urban industrial labour today. Finally, we propose that moving beyond the post-industrial might open more radical space for vibrant art and politics, from cross-spectrum alliances and solidarities (like revitalized labour movements), to joyful artistic expression that transcends rust, decay, and ruin. We do not propose throwing away post-industrialism, but rather, to invite other possibilities to coexist.
This article utilizes a Lefebvrian framework – specifically, his notions of "implosion and explosion", the triad of the production of space, and his conceptions of "everyday life" and "oeuvre" – to comparatively engage two case studies alongside each other: urban South Chicago, and exurban North Carolina. Drawing from ethnographic (in-person and digital) observations and anecdotes, we suggest that these concepts are dynamically and flexibly applicable to the shifting terrains of urban and exurban relations and offer ontological pathways for productive comparison across difference. Conceptually, the article is also undergirded by Hochschild's (2016) notion of the "empathy wall", a sociological barrier which divides polarized and socio-spatially- segregated geographies, within the context of recent urban and anti-urban insurrections and demonizations of one and other. These divides are viscerally evident in post-Trumpian America, but extend to many global contexts; thus, our comparison speaks to wider relevance. We argue that oppositional geographies like urban and exurban are inextricably linked and mutually constitutive, despite representing different sides of the "empathy wall" (in a political and cultural sense), and inhabiting distinct urban morphologies, geographical settings, historical lineages and political borders and boundaries. Furthermore, we suggest that such a relational pairing of urban alongside exurban is vital to overcome the seemingly insurmountable ontological, cultural and political borders between them. By reflecting on everyday life and social formations around ephemeral centers and sites such as cafés, backyard barbeques, lake parties and gyms, we offer some areas where dialogue and political solidarities might emerge across, and despite, the "empathy wall's" steadfast insurmountability.
This article utilizes a Lefebvrian framework – specifically, his notions of "implosion and explosion", the triad of the production of space, and his conceptions of "everyday life" and "oeuvre" – to comparatively engage two case studies alongside each other: urban South Chicago, and exurban North Carolina. Drawing from ethnographic (in-person and digital) observations and anecdotes, we suggest that these concepts are dynamically and flexibly applicable to the shifting terrains of urban and exurban relations and offer ontological pathways for productive comparison across difference. Conceptually, the article is also undergirded by Hochschild's (2016) notion of the "empathy wall", a sociological barrier which divides polarized and socio-spatially- segregated geographies, within the context of recent urban and anti-urban insurrections and demonizations of one and other. These divides are viscerally evident in post-Trumpian America, but extend to many global contexts; thus, our comparison speaks to wider relevance. We argue that oppositional geographies like urban and exurban are inextricably linked and mutually constitutive, despite representing different sides of the "empathy wall" (in a political and cultural sense), and inhabiting distinct urban morphologies, geographical settings, historical lineages and political borders and boundaries. Furthermore, we suggest that such a relational pairing of urban alongside exurban is vital to overcome the seemingly insurmountable ontological, cultural and political borders between them. By reflecting on everyday life and social formations around ephemeral centers and sites such as cafés, backyard barbeques, lake parties and gyms, we offer some areas where dialogue and political solidarities might emerge across, and despite, the "empathy wall's" steadfast insurmountability.
Abstract Populism on the far left and the far right is reshaping the contemporary city and the urban condition. In this special short-form section, we put forward populism, art and the city as a linked theoretical and methodological framework through the UC Berkeley Global Urban Humanities Initiative. Our conversations brought together new research in urban studies, art, architecture, public policy, and performance studies into what many people described as a decidedly populist age. Following a short introduction, we share a collection of four papers from such conversations that offer 'focus sites' from San Francisco to Palm Springs, Hong Kong to Mexico City, with a diverse set of theoretical proposals that branch from our discussions and shared readings in art, populism, and the city.
In: Ren , J & Luger , J 2015 , ' Comparative urbanism and the 'Asian City' : Implications for research and theory ' International Journal of Urban and Regional Research , vol 39 , no. 1 , pp. 145-156 . DOI:10.1111/1468-2427.12140
While voices in the comparative urbanism literature call for researchers to approach comparison with more experimental and critical methodologies, there remains no consensus on how to design and realize these studies. This essay examines the implications of comparative urbanism for researching the 'Asian City'. Given the critique of existing modes of comparison embedded in recent calls for a new comparative urbanism, researchers are faced with a number of pressing questions: How do we approach this 'regional' topic in a way that both resists categorizing the 'Asian City' as an exotic 'other', elevating it onto a mythical pedestal, yet appreciates its differences, localisms and unique 'cosmopolitan vernacular' (Clifford, 1997; Werbner and Modood, 1997)? This essay thus highlights the multiple challenges of applying the comparative lens to the 'Asian City', arguing that broader conceptualizations of the 'Asian City' help to address the dangers in isolating Asian research into its own canon of parochial urban theory and offering a greater diversity of possibilities for justifying case selection in comparative approaches. In doing so, we hope that this essay responds to the comparative turn by illuminating to some extent its inherent complexity and methodological challenges.
AbstractWhile voices in the comparative urbanism literature call for researchers to approach comparison with more experimental and critical methodologies, there remains no consensus on how to design and realize these studies. This essay examines the implications of comparative urbanism for researching the 'Asian City'. Given the critique of existing modes of comparison embedded in recent calls for a new comparative urbanism, researchers are faced with a number of pressing questions: How do we approach this 'regional' topic in a way that both resists categorizing the 'Asian City' as an exotic 'other', elevating it onto a mythical pedestal, yet appreciates its differences, localisms and unique 'cosmopolitan vernacular' (Clifford, 1997; Werbner and Modood, 1997)? This essay thus highlights the multiple challenges of applying the comparative lens to the 'Asian City', arguing that broader conceptualizations of the 'Asian City' help to address the dangers in isolating Asian research into its own canon of parochial urban theory and offering a greater diversity of possibilities for justifying case selection in comparative approaches. In doing so, we hope that this essay responds to the comparative turn by illuminating to some extent its inherent complexity and methodological challenges.