*You can read the following text in whatever “order”. [4] Ocularcentrism, and its inherited potential of adopting an objectifying gaze and drowning out other senses, is followed by physiological divisions of labour and the perceived superiority of the hands over…
Movements—as seemingly mundane as walking— partake in the continual construction of a place. As everyday patterns of movements (re)create spaces, walking serves as an active technique to “contribute to the ongoing formations of place” (Ingold 2011, 44). Thus the possibility…
Walking at a contemplative pace lends insights into the intricacies of place. This practice offers promising potential to the aims of ethnography to craft intimate accounts, disorient and reorient the reader, and draw out new perspectives—through the surprising, spontaneous, routine,…
Notwithstanding the importance of walking in producing ethnographic data, the process itself is often overlooked in final accounts. As Ingold and Vergunst write, “ethnographers…are accustomed to carrying out much of their work on foot [yet] it is rare to find…
Resources
Appadurai, Arjun. 1996. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Benjamin, W. (1882-1940) (1982 ed.). The Arcades Project. The Belknap Press of Havard University Press. de Certeau, M. (1984). The Practice of Everyday Life. Chapter VII.…
Vergunst, J.L. & Ingold. (2008). Ways of Walking Ethnography and Practice on Foot. Routledge. Routledge anthropology. This volume contains a collection of ethnographic accounts that explore the practice of walking across a range of cultural contexts. The authors discuss themes…
A Line Made by Walking, 1967, Richard Long. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/long-a-line-made-by-walking-p07149 Urban Wilds and Modern Mythology: A Conversation with Gavin Van Horn. Octobner 2019. Edge Effects Podcast. https://edgeeffects.net/gavin-van-horn/
Learning Activities
Negotiations with Vafa