This dissertation examines how boredom can be understood in the context of Henri Lefebvre’s (1901-1991) critique of everyday life. Through an integration of the boredom literature, both the fully developed studies as well as fragmentary passages, I argue that Lefebvre’s critique of everyday life adds an important dimension to understanding boredom in modernity. One of the leading strands in boredom studies today argues that boredom is an historically specific experience unique to the rhythms of life imparted with the onset of modernity. Viewed in this light, boredom is a relatively recent phenomenon that can be linked to what Lefebvre calls the ‘double process’ of industrialization and urbanization. Although the mass profusion of boredom has left a seemingly indelible mark on society, it has received relatively little attention in both everyday life and academia. First coined in the middle of the 19th century, boredom is a relatively new word for what today is an all too pervasive experience. Writing throughout most of the 20th century, Lefebvre makes numerous references to boredom, yet, despite claiming that a study of boredom would be a significant contribution to his critique of everyday life, he never developed an in-depth and sustained analysis of this experience. Lefebvre did, however, identify an internal dialectic of mass culture as being an integral component for understanding boredom. It is argued that Lefebvre’s theory of a dialectical process inherent to mass culture is a key for understanding boredom as an historically specific phenomenon. In organizing this dissertation, a constellation of themes are presented in order to articulate this dialectic. After exploring boredom’s relationship to modernity, I then discuss what Lefebvre considers as the verso of modernity, everyday life. Following this, I consider the contradictions of space that give rise to boredom in urban centres and suburban peripheries by critically analyzing both the production of those spaces as well as how they are consumed in everyday life. Finally, I consider the escape from boredom offered in select sounds and images of the culture industry and its opposite, the embrace of boredom in certain 20th century avant-garde art movements. Through a reading of Lefebvre’s critique of everyday life and complementary texts, this interdisciplinary dissertation is a contribution to understanding the mass phenomenon of boredom in modernity.

In the present effort, the philosopher Henri Bergson’s (1859-1941) seminal philosophical work functions as a revitalizing force and even an implicit point of departure for the more urban-oriented critique of Henri Lefebvre’s (1901-1991) watershed text L’Producción de l’espace/The Production of Space (1974). Both Lefebvre and Bergson in fact share a common perception of space—it is neither a static ground, nor an apriori condition of experience as Kant argued, but is instead a process inseparable from time and implicated in thought itself. Grounded in this resulting novel understanding of space, time and difference, I use an interdisciplinary approach to analyze Madrid’s cultural imaginary through novels by Belén Gopegui (1992), Pío Baroja (1911) and Luis Martín-Santos (1961); films by Carlos Saura (1996), Alejandro Amenábar (1997), and American Jim Jarmusch (1992); and the urban space of Madrid’s Retiro Park. The purpose of this work is twofold. On the one hand it is an attempt to reconcile the spatial issues of concern to cultural or human geography with an approach to social life grounded in the humanities. On the other it is a call for a deeper understanding of methodology taken in its widest sense. The former seeks not only to introduce spatial questions to the analysis of literature and film but also to articulate the intimate relation of cultural products to the urban processes in which they are formed, interpreted and sold. The latter requires an investigation of the philosophical preconceptions that structure our spatial practice and interpretation, as well as an awareness of the consequences these preconceptions hold—not only for understanding our common world, but also for producing it and finally for the possibility of changing it through action. These twin purposes—bringing geographical concerns into the humanities and assessing the philosophical bases of our spatial production and interpretation—are not so far removed. Through a careful reading of the above key literary, filmic and urban texts from twentieth century Madrid, this work explores the important consequences of conceiving of space as simultaneously mental and physical. In the Bergsonian fashion, these explorations seek to dispense with the stagnant and irreconcilable philosophical tropes of both pure materialism and pure idealism in order to yield a more precise understanding of cultural forms as living processes.

Studien är en analys av Elin Wägners Norrtullsligan (1908) och Pennskaftet (1910) ur ett rumsligt perspektiv, med inriktning på genus. Syftet är att fördjupa läsningen av romanerna samt relatera dem till sin tids- och samhällskontext. Romanerna utspelar sig i medelklassmiljöer i Stockholm under tidigt 1900-tal, och handlar om kvinnor som omformulerar sina roller ochengagerar sig i bättre villkor. De centrala frågorna är: Hur gestaltas, representeras och diskuteras rum och stad i romanerna? Vilka rum använder karaktärerna och hur använder de dem? Den teoretiska utgångpunkten är att kombinera litteraturvetenskap med rumsteori, inspirerad av Alexandra Borgs avhandling En vildmark av sten (2011). Rummet uppfattas som en social produkt, med hjälp av begrepp från Henri Lefevbre. Studien relaterar till de tidigare analyser av Wägners romaner som gjorts med feministiska eller rumsliga förtecken. Studien visar att rummen skildras ur romanernas tydligt kvinnligt subjektiva perspektiv. Kvinnorna lever under alternativa bostadsformer men erkänner inte dessa bostäder som hem. De anser sig behöva en man för att legitimera hemmet. Vidare är kvinnornas tillvaro i de offentligastadsrummen sexualiserad och i romanerna hanterar kvinnorna detta genom att ge sig in i en identitetsmaskerad, där de genom att utge sig vara omoraliska skapar sig frihet. Studien diskuterar också arbetsplatser och rum för politisk verksamhet i romanerna.

In the following thesis I investigate aspects of soundscape research and study practices through the gaze of certain methodologies presented in Henri Lefebvre’s Rhythmanalysis. I argue that elements of the practice Lefebvre has coined “rhythmanalysis” may function as useful tools in the study of sound environments. My research attempts to demonstrate that aspects of rhythmanalysis parallel and complement the important soundscape research that R. Murray Schafer and Hildegard Westerkamp have conducted over the past four decades. The thesis brings Lefebvre’s theories of capitalist modes of production into dialogue with Schafer and Westerkamp’s soundscape explorations. I consider how the rhythmanalytical method corresponds to and diverges from soundscape analysis. The thesis draws on both Schafer and Lefebvre to analyze a soundscape environment that I have personally experienced and inhabited. Lastly, I demonstrate the value in considering rhythmanalysis and Westerkamp’s interpretation of soundwalks as a connected discipline.

The contemporary Western city is a space of capitalism, realized on a personal level through the lived realities of work and consumption. Elevation of these twin activities is contributing to ongoing social and environmental problems, both within the city and the larger interconnected world. As an alternative, play represents a way to de-emphasize the importance of work and consumption and their pervasive monetary components. Uncommodified, non-commercial play can open up more urban space and time for use value, above the exchange value that capitalism so efficiently emphasizes. Henri Lefebvre’s ideas about the ongoing production of social space, explicated in his spatial triad, alongside his ideas surrounding a resurgent and possibly revolutionary festival are used to explain how play can unsettle current capitalist norms. Urban exploration, an activity that sees people venture into all parts of the city, particularly those where one is not meant to go, is used as a form of play in support of this argument. This pastime interacts with the city in multiple spatial and temporal ways, helping to counteract some of the negative aspects of modern life. By entering various areas with unique perspectives, urban explorers recast working, consuming and forgotten spaces into sites of play and fun. Urban space itself becomes less alienated, more dynamic, and the possibilities within it evermore exciting. Exploration also reveals the uneven nature of contemporary urban space. By revealing certain problems urban exploration might act as a first step towards countering them, in turn encouraging different urban spaces and a diversified more livable city full of opportunities for use, self-expression and growth. / Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2008-02-25 13:28:32.156

No description available.

Cette thèse analyse les modes d’habiter périurbains au travers des projets de promoteurs immobiliers des années 1960-1970 au Québec et en France. En effet, les promoteurs de Bromont et l’Estérel au Québec et des Cottages-de-Cernay et de Port-Sud en France se sont emparés de l’idéologie de la société des loisirs pour concevoir des ensembles résidentiels périurbains. Le recul historique sur cette conception urbanistique d’un habiter périurbain offre la possibilité d’une comparaison à la fois synchronique et diachronique des modalités d’appropriation habitantes de ces ensembles résidentiels sur la période 1960-2010. L’analyse de cette appropriation habitante du périurbain est inspirée du cadre conceptuel et de la méthode régressive progressive d’Henri Lefebvre (1974). Selon ce cadre théorique, l’appropriation est définie comme un processus conflictuel entre l’idéologie de l’espace conçue par les promoteurs et les représentations des habitants mais aussi comme rapports conflictuels entre les différentes modalités d’habiter ces espaces par les habitants. Cette recherche s’appuie sur trois types de sources: des entretiens, des articles de journaux et des archives. Les résultats montrent que les promoteurs ont échoué à concevoir un mode d’habiter spécifique au niveau de leur projet urbanistique. Elle détaille le jeu complexe d’alliances et d’oppositions sociales et politiques en faveur d’adhésion, de rejet et/ ou de détournement habitant de conceptions des formes périurbaines des années 1960-1970. Elle apporte de ce fait, un regard novateur sur les processus de différenciation des espaces périurbains observés depuis les années 2010 en France et au Québec. / This thesis analyzes peri-urban living patterns through real estate developer projects from the 1960-1970s in Quebec and France. In fact, developers of Bromont and Estérel in Quebec and Cottages-de-Cernay and Port-Sud in France seize on the ideology of the leisure society to design peri-urban residential complexes. The historical retreat on this urbanistic conception of a periurban inhabitant offers the possibility of a synchronic and diachronic comparison of the appropriation of these residential complexes over the period 1960-2010. The analysis of appropriation is inspired by the conceptual framework and the progressive regressive method of Henri Lefebvre (1974). According to this theoretical framework, the appropriation is defined as a conflictual process between the ideology of the space conceived by the developers and the representations of the inhabitants but also as conflicting relations between the different ways of living these spaces by the inhabitants.This research is based on three types of sources: interviews, newspaper articles and archives. This thesis shows that developers have failed to design a specific way of living that adequately represented their urban project. The research details the complex game of social and political alliances and oppositions in favor of commitment, rejection and / or diversion by the inhabitants in relation to the conception of peri-urban forms of the years 1960-1970. As a result, this thesis provides an innovative view of the different trajectories of peri-urban areas observed since 2010 in France and Quebec.

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2015-11-19T09:38:31Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Glauber Lopes Xavier - 2010.pdf: 5005002 bytes, checksum: e38f4eabbc51096839f397b73665785f (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2015-11-19T09:41:04Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Glauber Lopes Xavier - 2010.pdf: 5005002 bytes, checksum: e38f4eabbc51096839f397b73665785f (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-19T09:41:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Glauber Lopes Xavier - 2010.pdf: 5005002 bytes, checksum: e38f4eabbc51096839f397b73665785f (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-03-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / L´appréhension du quotidien des travailleurs ―ruraux‖ est le principal objectif de notre recherche. Nous cherchons à l´atteindre en deux perspectives, le temps et l´espace, comprenant que le complot par lequel s´établit les procés d´exploration et de domination de ces travailleurs surgissent à partir d´elles. Autres thémes, évident, conformes à cette appréhension, étant donné que, influencé à une lecture ancrée dans le principe de la théorique et de la philosophique de la totalité, nous ne nous dérobons pas de la critique, quand cela est nécessaire, de ce qui concerne la construction de la propre connaissance. Nous nous sommes aidés méthodiquement par du matérialisme historique et dialectique. En cohérence avec cette méthode, nous cherchons, dans les pensées d´Henri Lefebvre, des elaborations théoriques capables de fournir un programme de recherche en accord avec la réalité de la vie quotidienne dans le monde moderne. De telles constructions ont eté, de cette manière, cruciales dans ce que nous objectivons, de telle sorte qui ont permis la réalisation de cette étude avec une proposition unique de pendée, différente de la connaissance parcelée, à mi-chemin de l´appréhension des phénomènes sociaux. Pour comprendre, alors, la matérialisation de ces phénomènesprovoquées par la logique dialectique, forme de mouvement du contenu et plus, pendant le procés social et, pourtant, quotidien qui résulte en une histoire dans un constant devenir, est que nous abordons les conceptes de l´espace sociale, temps ciclique, temps linéaire, société bureaucratique de la consommation dirigée, de l´ordre proche, l´ordre distant, antropologie dialectique, en plus des autres. Pour cela, nous abordons la relation entre le milieu urbain et le milieu rural dans une perspective dialectique, confondus dans le procès de re-production des relations de production. De la même façon, nous rapportons le quotidien des travailleurs ―ruraux‖ à ce qui se réfère au mode de vie et à l´urbanité pour le prisme de la technique et de la consommation, des désirs et des nécéssités. Si nous devons, alors, présenter la constitution des pensées sur lesquelles se basent nos prémisses, considérations, constatations, enfin, la démarche imprimée par le présent travail, nous avons une élaboration triadique des idées: le conçu, le perçu et le vécu, la necessite, le travail, et la jousissance. Bientôt, nous suivons l´appréhension du quotidien des travailleurs ruraux dans ce qu´il y a de poétique, rupture avec le chatiment du travail, des incessants gestes de production de plus-value, les moments d´appréciation du vécu, du plaisir et de la fête, de l´opportunité do nouveau et de l´inespéré. En outre, nous n´abandonnons pas la recherche de ce quotidien dans ce qui le défini aliénant: la religiosité, le procés du travail, l´urbanité ici enveloppent et instaurent de forme anormale. D´un autre côté, nous primons pour l´ordre distant dans ce qu´il achève comme idéologique. Surtout, le papier de l´État nous a été élémentaire pour ce que nous proposons. Pour cela, son élection entre d´autre termes de cet ordre. Nous recherchons, finalement, à les approché, ordre proche et ordre distant, de cette forme le quotidien et l´histoire, quelque chose de diluée dans le présent texte comme uns parcours dans l´appréhension du quotidien des travailleurs ruraux. / A apreensão do cotidiano dos trabalhadores ―bóias-frias‖ tratou-se do principal objetivo de nossa pesquisa. Buscamos alcançá-la numa dupla perspectiva, o tempo e o espaço, entendendo que a trama pela qual se estabelecem os processos de exploração e dominação desses trabalhadores urde-se a partir deles. Temas outros, evidentemente, conformaram para essa apreensão, sendo que, instigados a uma leitura ancorada no princípio teórico-filosófico da totalidade, não nos furtamos da crítica, quando necessária, do que concerne a construção do próprio conhecimento. No materialismo histórico-dialético nos apoiamos metodologicamente. Em coerência com esse método, buscamos, no pensamento de Henri Lefebvre, elaborações teóricas capazes de nos fornecer um programa de pesquisa em consonância com a realidade da vida cotidiana no mundo moderno. Tais postulados foram, destarte, cruciais naquilo que objetivamos, de tal sorte que permitiram a realização desse estudo numa proposta única de pensamento, destoada do conhecimento parcelado, a meio caminho da apreensão dos fenômenos sociais. Por compreendermos, pois, a materialização desses fenômenos encetada pela lógica dialética, forma do movimento do conteúdo e mais, enquanto processo social e, portanto, cotidiano que redunda em história num constante devir, é que abordamos os conceitos de espaço social, tempo cíclico, tempo linear, sociedade burocrática de consumo dirigido, ordem próxima, ordem distante, antropologia dialética, além de outros. Por isso, abordamos a relação entre o meio urbano e o rural numa perspectiva dialética, amalgamadas no processo de re-produção das relações de produção. Do mesmo modo, reportamos ao cotidiano dos ―bóias-frias‖ no que tange ao modo de vida e a urbanidade pelo prisma da técnica e do consumo, dos desejos e das necessidades. Se devemos, então, apresentar a constituição do pensamento sob o qual se assentaram nossas premissas, considerações, constatações, enfim, a démarche imprimida pelo presente trabalho, temos uma elaboração triádica das idéias: o concebido, o percebido e o vivido, a necessidade, o trabalho e o gozo. Logo, trilhamos a apreensão do cotidiano dos ―bóias-frias‖ naquilo que há de poético, ruptura com o castigo do trabalho, dos incessantes gestos de produção de maisvalia, os momentos de desfrute do vivido, do prazer e da festa, do ensejo do novo e inesperado. Ademais, não abandonamos a pesquisa desse cotidiano no que o define alienante: a religiosidade, o processo de trabalho, a urbanidade ali envolta e instaurada de forma anômala. Por outro lado, primamos pelo assento da ordem distante no que ela encerra como ideológico. Sobremaneira o papel do Estado nos foi elementar para o que nos propomos. Por isso, sua eleição perante outros termos dessa ordem. Buscamos, finalmente, aproximá-las, ordem próxima e ordem distante, de certo modo o cotidiano e a história, algo diluído no presente texto como percurso na apreensão do cotidiano dos ―bóias-frias‖.

A presente pesquisa se orienta com referência a autores que procuram iluminar o funcionamento atual da sociedade a partir de uma perspectiva analítica que toma como objeto as relações sociais que se desenrolam nas fronteiras (reais ou imaginárias) da estrutura social. Nesse caso, a intenção foi compreender as conflitividades em torno da efetivação do direito à educação a partir da experiência docente, de modo a identificar o encontro e as tensões que tiveram espaço em uma unidade escolar específica da rede de ensino municipal de São Paulo, aqui pensada a partir da categoria analítica de fronteira, lugar onde as tensões sociais relacionadas dentre outros aspectos aos processos de segregação urbana se tornam sociologicamente visíveis. Assim, por meio da perspectiva docente procuramos identificar e analisar as representações que circulam no espaço contraditório que é a escola pública. Utilizamos como referência a teoria das representações de Henri Lefebvre, ao entendermos que nos fornece subsídios para o desenvolvimento de um estudo do cotidiano escolar e nos proporciona uma maneira de compreender como as representações docentes podem ser entendidas como elaborações do malestar ou como crítica em relação ao fato de que a escola é um espaço social historicamente investido de utopias de justiça, combate às desigualdades injustas e cidadania (do ponto de vista do concebido), e vem acolhendo a possibilidade de relações tensas, conflituosas e até violentas, que sistematicamente negam direitos. Aqui se busca responder à questão da perspectiva dos professores, entendendo que estão em posição privilegiada para nomear certos aspectos de como essas conflitividades que atravessam a sociedade brasileira de 1988 para cá se configuram no cotidiano escolar. / This research refers to authors whose works seek to understand how contemporary society functions from an analytical perspective that takes as its object the social relations that develop within the (real or imaginary) frontiers of social structure. In our case, the aim was to examine the conflicts involved in actualising the right to school education, from the teachers experience, in order to identify encounters and tensions which took place in a school that is part of the municipal system of education, in São Paulo Brazil. This school is thought through the analytical concept of frontier a space where social tensions (provoked, among other reasons, by processes of urban segregation) become sociologically visible. Taking from teachers perspective, we thus intended to identify and analyse social representations that circulate within the contradictory space of a public school. We make use of Henri Lefèbres theory of representations which supports a study of school everyday life and offers an understanding of how teachers representations may be seen both as an elaboration of a general malaise and as a critique reactions to the fact that although school is conceived as a space historically invested of utopias of social justice, of fight against unfair inequalities and citizenship, it is also a space where tense, conflictive and even violent relations are taking place, systematically denying the rights it was supposed to assure. We understand that the teachers point of view is a privileged position to point out some aspects that the conflictive relations that cross Brazilian society since 1988 assume in school everyday life.

Cette thèse part de l’idée de l’espace comme instrument pour la pensée et l’action formulée par Henri Lefebvre dans les années 1970, afin de comprendre les liens entre citadinité et citoyenneté dans la ville du Cap, en Afrique du Sud. Elle analyse la démocratisation du gouvernement local à travers la création de nouvelles circonscriptions électorales aux ambitions participatives : les wards. L’étude se concentre sur le ward 44 qui réunit des territoires autrefois divisés par l’apartheid. Une immersion dans la vie quotidienne de différentes familles révèle les mécanismes d’une gouvernementalité communautaire où la légitimité politique individuelle est indissociable de l’expérience citadine partagée.La thèse est complétée par un DVD qui présente seize séquences vidéos, entre récits de vie, situations du quotidien et moments forts de la vie de quartier. Les tactiques pragmatiques déployées au jour le jour par les citadins pauvres apparaissent alors dans leur complexité. Elles s’adaptent aux réformes institutionnelles en cours, tout en en conditionnant l’application au niveau micro-local. En fin de compte, la résistance aux inégalités spatiales passe donc par la figure de citadins-citoyens qui inventent jour après jour ce que pourrait être le droit à la ville en Afrique du Sud. / The present work takes as its starting point the idea of space as an instrument for thought and action, as formulated by Henri Lefebvre in the 1970s, as a means to understand the relationship between city life and citizenship in Cape Town, South Africa. It analyses the democratization of local government through the creation of new electoral circumscriptions, which aim to facilitate public participation: the wards. The study focuses on ward 44, which brings together territories formerly divided by apartheid. The immersion in the daily lives of various families highlights the mechanisms of a community-based governmentality, where individual political legitimacy is intertwined with the shared experience of the city.The PhD comes with a DVD comprising sixteen video excerpts of life narratives, scenes of daily life and neighbourhood events. The pragmatic tactics that urban residents deploy on a daily basis thus reveal their full complexity. They not only adjust to on-going institutional reforms, they also condition the very implementation of these reforms. Eventually, the resistance to spatial inequalities is carried out through the figure of the “citadins-citoyens”, the “urban citizen” who on a daily basis invents what could be the right to the city in South Africa.