Instructor: M. McLeod
This seminar explores the relation between space, power, and politics in the urban environment from the Enlightenment period to the present. In contrast to some Marxist approaches that see architecture primarily as an ideological reflection of dominant economic forces, this seminar investigates how power is actually produced and embodied in the physical environment. In other words, space and architecture are seen as active participants in the structuring of our daily lives and relations, not merely as passive reflections of political and economic institutions. Two theorists will be critical to this exploration: the philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre and the philosopher/historian Michel Foucault. Lefebvre’s work, which draws heavily on both Marxism (especially Marx’s early writings on alienation) and existentialism, introduced the notion of daily life as a critical political construct. Lefebvre saw the city and architecture as integrally contributing to power relations, and viewed the urban festival as an important strategy in overcoming the monotony of what he called “the bureaucratic society of controlled consumption.” Foucault, on the other hand, rejects Lefebvre’s humanism and emphasis on subjectivity in his analysis of the relation between space, power, and social institutions. Both theorists, however, share a skepticism towards Enlightenment rationality, and both attempt to counter the traditional Marxist/Hegelian emphasis on historical time by placing a new importance on space. The writings of more recent theorists (such as Michel de Certeau, Teresa Caldeira, Mike Davis, Guy Debord, Andreas Huyssen, Elizabeth Wilson, Marshall Berman) will also be examined with regard to issues concerning the politics of space.
