Dylan Hulley G14H1160
Stephen Pratt G14P1046
Tara Jevon G14J0416
The work that has been covered includes many different philosophers and geographers who have put ‘place’ into various different meanings and related the sense of place to our everyday life. A sense of place is the attachment and connection that one feels to a place, this theory is very subjective and contested. According to Sewell (2013), sense of place is the commonly shared notions of the surrounding areas and their character, he also explains how personal feelings can be attached to a place, whether the place being safe or unsafe, pleasant or uncomfortable, interesting or dull. Place-myth is related to sense of place in a way that it describes a sense of place as being generated through the limited experiences or facts and imaginary/mythical ideas pertaining to a place, this is where othering originates from, as a concept of ‘us vs. them’. Place-ballet is the choreography or patterns of everyday life and activities in a place. Grahamstown being a small town, the concept of place-ballet is closely related and defines the town. The concepts of Psychogeography is described by Debord (2008) as “the study of precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment”. This relates to the experiences in our derive, as we were not aware of these such concepts even though they were part of our everyday life. de Certeau (1984) explains how the voyeur-god needs to withdraw himself from the controlled environment that has been manipulated into him and disentangle himself from daily behaviors and make himself alien to them.
The derive is described as a ‘drift’, a wandering in the city which is not routinized, a walk where the goal is not the destination but more of the interactions with the surrounding environments and looking at things from a different perspective. The derive application that we used for our walk around the city of Grahamstown helped us to look at different things other than what we would normally look at in our everyday life. The app gave us cards with instructions on it such as, ‘find the nearest piece of grass’ or ‘document your experience while looking for the nearest coffee shop’. We followed these instructions and documented our discoveries. The app is trying to show a different perspective of our surroundings and help us interact with our surroundings, instead of disregarding them as we become too focused on our destination.
Rat and Parrot, Pirates.
While walking and drifting through Grahamstown we came across the famous Rat and Parrot pub as well as, the now closed down, Pirates pizza place. These places are iconic in the small town of Grahamstown. Since Grahamstown is a mostly student populated town these places are and were always populated with students. These places, especially The Rat and Parrot, are part of Grahamstown’s identity as well as a lot of the students that attend Rhodes University. This gives the students and many residents of Grahamstown a sense of place because these are the places where they come to relax after a long, tiring week of work and for many students it’s a place of festivity. These places form a large part of student life in Grahamstown. Some people who don’t attend Rhodes University may feel out-of-place because it is mostly populated by students. People who frequent these places who are not students may feel judged or have a sense of placelessness especially on a Friday night when students enter these establishments to have a drink and party. On such a night sitting down to have a meal and a draught is simply not possible after 9PM. These places then create what is known as a place ballet. A place ballet is defined as being a place or places where people regularly attend to participate in activities associated with that place. Visiting and attending these places is part of their lifestyle and is usually done for leisure and/or relaxation (Seamon, 1980). In the case of The Rat and Parrot it is to meet face-to-face and have a drink with friends or a meal with the same people. Although Pirates has since closed down these points are still relevant for when this establishment was still open and operating.
St Andrews buildings
During our derive we came across the historical buildings of St. Andrews College. The buildings have been preserved as a sense of place through the heritage and history of the buildings. The place creates a sense of belonging for the boys that attend the college, thus creating a gendered space. The buildings that have been recently build have been designed to fit in with the surrounding place. While walking, it reveals a different perspective of a place by allowing you to engage in all five senses such as taking in the beauty and the vibrant atmosphere of the St Andrews campus. Therefore, psychogeography represents the way we experience the environment by seeing the place through a new perspective.
A quiet place
Viewing the place-ballets of the city through a quiet place enables us to gain a different perspective as an ‘outsider looking in’. A sense of belonging is created while looking over the activities of a city. Thus, we experience embodiment through the perceptual experiences of interacting with the city from an alternative perspective. Psychogeography occurs as we engage with our environment through experiencing embodiment.
Something lost – children around a fountain
While walking through the city, we came across children playing around a fountain. As humans, we often get caught up in our everyday routinized lives and forget to engage with our surrounding environment. While watching the children, we experienced a feeling of longing and sadness for the care-free, simple lives of a child. There was a feeling of disconnection to our embodiment. Therefore, “we are passive consumers of the spectacle” as we neglect to create our own meanings by conforming to the way society has choreographed our lives in a way that is deemed ‘acceptable’.
Zebra crossing and one-way street
The modern-day towns and cities have become very ordered and structured in order to accommodate for the increasing populations and in return reduce confusion and congestion in the cities streets. Zebra crossings have been implemented to narrow down the chaos of pedestrians crossing the road by forming one channel across the road, this is a form of order and structure which the town planners have introduced. The one-way street that we encountered on our derive gave us an understanding which is closely related to the zebra crossing, where the town planners are trying to implement order in the streets. This way of life has been forced upon us and is a way of controlling our everyday movements. the theories of de Certeau (1984) and Lefebvre go against this way of thinking as he believes in not conforming to the norms of societies but rather distancing ourselves from them.
Our derive through the city gave us an alternative perspective to the place-ballet and lived spaces of the city. Through obtaining a different perspective of the city as spectators, it enabled us to give critical judgement to the way humans conform to the mundane lives that have been shaped by the modern societies. Therefore, we became part of the Situationists through our critique of the modern lifestyles. The walk through the city taught us to use all five senses as we interacted with our environment and became aware of what was around us. The derive created a sense of belonging in our lived spaces therefore we experienced embodiment through our perception of the city from a different perspective.
Reference List
Debord, G. 1967. Society of the Spectacle. Chapter 1: Separation Perfected. [Online]. Available: http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord/1.htm [05/03/2014]
De Certeau, M. 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkley: University of California Press. (Chapter 7)
Seamon, D, Nordin, C. 1980. Marketplace as Place Ballet: A Swedish Example, Volume 24(3): 35-41
Sewell, J.E. 2013. Gendering Urban Space. In Bridge, G. & Watson, S. (eds). The New Blackwell Companion to the City. Malden: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Wood, D. 2010. Lynch Debord: About 2 Psychogeographies. Cartographica. 45(3): 185–200.
Critical Geographies 