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A man, Joshua Garland. Photo.

Joshua Garland

Postdoctoral fellow

A man, Joshua Garland. Photo.

From familiarity to fragility: : an autoethnographic exploration of an Italian city

Author

  • Joshua Garland

Summary, in English

Space, and embodied movement through it, produces place meanings and senses of belonging as individual and environment act upon each other. This co-constitution, however, remains changeable over time with each new or repeated experience. Following an autoethnographic walk around an Italian city, this article charts how passage through and between different parts of the city can evoke often consistent yet sometimes challenging understandings of place and one’s position within it. In so doing, six “zones” of belonging are identified, each accompanied by various thoughts, feelings, and memories as they are navigated on foot. The importance of passage through place in building a knowledge of both place and self is therefore highlighted. Facilitated by reflections upon visual materials collected during the walk, this knowledge and associated feelings are shown to be changeable across neighboring spaces. Moreover, such change is experienceable even within the same space over time as previously hidden yet nonetheless existing entities become visible to the individual for the first or successive times. This tension between absence and presence may thereby result in disruptive shocks and fragility that alter everyday place interactions and belongingness. This can include decisions around how once familiar spaces are subsequently navigated or subject to recollection on the basis of shifting knowledges and expectations that result.

Department/s

  • LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)

Publishing year

2024

Language

English

Pages

122-141

Publication/Series

Journal of Autoethnography

Volume

5

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

University of California Press

Topic

  • Human Geography

Keywords

  • place attachment
  • walking
  • urban environment
  • belonging
  • disruption

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2637-5192