Mattering at the periphery : Geographies of peri-urban life and its discontents
(2024)- Abstract
- Amidst growing social unrest in the peripheries of Western European economies, this thesis investigates the lived experiences of those inhabiting “places that don’t matter.” Focusing on Yellow Vests activists in France, the thesis addresses the socio-political grievances and aspirations of peri-urban inhabitants, seeking to understand the complex fabric of peri-urban life and politics. This is done through an investigation of how Yellow Vests protesters navigate, challenge, and reshape their lived realities, focusing on the experiences, contestations and transformations that characterise the experiential and socio-political landscape of peri-urban life.
Based on a Lefebvrian-inspired critical phenomenological approach, this... (More) - Amidst growing social unrest in the peripheries of Western European economies, this thesis investigates the lived experiences of those inhabiting “places that don’t matter.” Focusing on Yellow Vests activists in France, the thesis addresses the socio-political grievances and aspirations of peri-urban inhabitants, seeking to understand the complex fabric of peri-urban life and politics. This is done through an investigation of how Yellow Vests protesters navigate, challenge, and reshape their lived realities, focusing on the experiences, contestations and transformations that characterise the experiential and socio-political landscape of peri-urban life.
Based on a Lefebvrian-inspired critical phenomenological approach, this research engages ethnographically with the lives lived in French peri-urban peripheries, intertwining an understanding of subjectivities with a critical awareness of socio-spatial structures that shape and constrain lived experiences. Alongside economic hardships and political marginalisation, the thesis qualifies how peri-urban socio-spatial challenges are compounded by a scarcity of opportunities for meaningful encounters, exacerbating experiences of isolation and marginalisation. The thesis also highlights the agency of peri-urban inhabitants in challenging such experiential condition, exemplified by the Yellow Vests’ alternative politics of encounter, as they strive to contest and redefine the fabric of their peri-urban lived realities in the everyday.
Exploring what it means to live in peri-urban peripheries and how they are experienced by those inhabiting them, this thesis offers insights into the multifaceted impacts of urbanisation on people’s lives and the discontents this may engender. It complements inquiries into geographies of discontent and “left-behind places” by highlighting peri-urban inhabitants’ aspirations to matter at the periphery. The thesis suggests that peripheries should be conceptualised as involving a spectrum of lived experiences and bring them into focus to address the discontent and uncertainty surrounding their political futures.
(Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- I en tid av ökande social oro i periferierna av västeuropeiska ekonomier undersöker denna avhandling de levda erfarenheterna hos dem som bor i "platser som inte spelar någon roll." Genom att fokusera på de Gula Västarna i Frankrike, behandlar avhandlingen de socio-politiska missnöjena och aspirationerna hos invånarna i peri urban-områden, med syfte att förstå den komplexa strukturen av peri urbana liv och politik. Detta görs genom en undersökning av hur Gula Västarna-nätverket navigerar, utmanar och omformar sina levda verkligheter, med fokus på de erfarenheter, kontestationer och förändringar som präglar den levda och socio-politiska landskapet av peri urbant liv.
Baserat på en Lefebvrian-inspirerad kritisk fenomenologisk ansats,... (More) - I en tid av ökande social oro i periferierna av västeuropeiska ekonomier undersöker denna avhandling de levda erfarenheterna hos dem som bor i "platser som inte spelar någon roll." Genom att fokusera på de Gula Västarna i Frankrike, behandlar avhandlingen de socio-politiska missnöjena och aspirationerna hos invånarna i peri urban-områden, med syfte att förstå den komplexa strukturen av peri urbana liv och politik. Detta görs genom en undersökning av hur Gula Västarna-nätverket navigerar, utmanar och omformar sina levda verkligheter, med fokus på de erfarenheter, kontestationer och förändringar som präglar den levda och socio-politiska landskapet av peri urbant liv.
Baserat på en Lefebvrian-inspirerad kritisk fenomenologisk ansats, engagerar denna forskning sig etnografiskt med de liv som levs i franska peri-urbana periferier. Forskningen väver samman en förståelse av subjektiviteter med en kritisk medvetenhet om socio-spatiala strukturer som formar och begränsar levda erfarenheter. Utöver ekonomiska svårigheter och politisk marginalisering kvalificerar avhandlingen hur peri urbana socio-spatiala utmaningar förvärras av en brist på möjligheter till meningsfulla möten, vilket förstärker upplevelser av isolering och marginalisering. Avhandlingen belyser också peri-urbana invånares handlingskraft i att utmana sådana levda förhållanden, exemplifierat av Gula Västarnas alternativa politik för möten, när de strävar efter att ifrågasätta och omdefiniera strukturen av sina levda verkligheter i vardagen.
Genom att utforska vad det innebär att leva i peri-urbana periferier och hur de upplevs av dem som bor där, erbjuder denna avhandling insikter om de mångfacetterade effekterna av urbanisering på människors liv och de missnöjen detta kan framkalla. Den kompletterar undersökningar av ”missnöjens geografier” och "övergivna platser" genom att belysa peri urbana invånares strävan efter att spela roll i periferin. Avhandlingen föreslår att periferier bör konceptualiseras som involverande en spektrum av levda erfarenheter och föra dem i fokus för att hantera missnöjet och osäkerheten kring deras politiska framtid.
(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/f5c56e5f-05d4-4958-ab1d-5a4e53ec06a4
- author
- Martin, Mathilde LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Associate Professor Koefoed, Lasse Martin, Roskilde University
- organization
- alternative title
- At spela en roll i periferin : Geografier över peri-urbana livet och dess bestridande
- publishing date
- 2024-04
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- left behind places, discontent, peri-urban, lived experiences, everyday life, encounter, critical phenomenology
- pages
- 269 pages
- publisher
- Media-Tryck, Lund University, Sweden
- defense location
- Sal 111 (Världen), Sölvegatan 10, Lund
- defense date
- 2024-05-24 13:15:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-8104-015-9
- 978-91-8104-014-2
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f5c56e5f-05d4-4958-ab1d-5a4e53ec06a4
- date added to LUP
- 2024-04-03 15:38:16
- date last changed
- 2024-04-17 11:24:02
@phdthesis{f5c56e5f-05d4-4958-ab1d-5a4e53ec06a4,
abstract = {{Amidst growing social unrest in the peripheries of Western European economies, this thesis investigates the lived experiences of those inhabiting “places that don’t matter.” Focusing on Yellow Vests activists in France, the thesis addresses the socio-political grievances and aspirations of peri-urban inhabitants, seeking to understand the complex fabric of peri-urban life and politics. This is done through an investigation of how Yellow Vests protesters navigate, challenge, and reshape their lived realities, focusing on the experiences, contestations and transformations that characterise the experiential and socio-political landscape of peri-urban life. <br/><br/>Based on a Lefebvrian-inspired critical phenomenological approach, this research engages ethnographically with the lives lived in French peri-urban peripheries, intertwining an understanding of subjectivities with a critical awareness of socio-spatial structures that shape and constrain lived experiences. Alongside economic hardships and political marginalisation, the thesis qualifies how peri-urban socio-spatial challenges are compounded by a scarcity of opportunities for meaningful encounters, exacerbating experiences of isolation and marginalisation. The thesis also highlights the agency of peri-urban inhabitants in challenging such experiential condition, exemplified by the Yellow Vests’ alternative politics of encounter, as they strive to contest and redefine the fabric of their peri-urban lived realities in the everyday. <br/><br/>Exploring what it means to live in peri-urban peripheries and how they are experienced by those inhabiting them, this thesis offers insights into the multifaceted impacts of urbanisation on people’s lives and the discontents this may engender. It complements inquiries into geographies of discontent and “left-behind places” by highlighting peri-urban inhabitants’ aspirations to matter at the periphery. The thesis suggests that peripheries should be conceptualised as involving a spectrum of lived experiences and bring them into focus to address the discontent and uncertainty surrounding their political futures.<br/>}},
author = {{Martin, Mathilde}},
isbn = {{978-91-8104-015-9}},
keywords = {{left behind places; discontent; peri-urban; lived experiences; everyday life; encounter; critical phenomenology}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Media-Tryck, Lund University, Sweden}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Mattering at the periphery : Geographies of peri-urban life and its discontents}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/178578201/Thesis_Mathilde_Martin.pdf}},
year = {{2024}},
}