Lecture Series: Key Concepts of the Humanities and Social Sciences

Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and the Social Sciences IASH, Bern

Concepts and Practices of Place

Prof. Dr. Christoph Lindner, University of Amsterdam (UVA)

This talk will address the significance of ‘place’ as both concept and practice within the cultural sciences from the 1960s onwards. It will ask what role place performs in constructing memory, rooting identity, organizing space, and mediating experience. It will explore the ways in which place is constituted through different cultural forms and practices, ranging from architecture and urban planning to film and new media technology. And it will consider how place is mobilized across various political, social, and aesthetic discourses as a site of conflict, experiment, and critique. The first part of the talk will focus on theorizations of place, while the second part will focus on case studies drawn from a current research project on the topic of globalization and urban imaginaries.

Christoph Lindner is Professor of English Literature and Director of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam. He is also a Research Affiliate at the University of London Institute in Paris and the founding Director of the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis. His main interests are in the interdisciplinary study of cities, globalization, and theories and methods of cultural studies. Recent and forthcoming books include Paris-Amsterdam Underground (2012), Globalization, Violence and the Visual Culture of Cities (2009), and Urban Space and Cityscapes (2006).

Thursday, 10 November 2011, 18:15 – 19:45 Unitobler, University of Bern, Lerchenweg 36 Room F023