scholarly journals Ideological Reconfigurations: Privacy, Voyeurism and Form in Recent Malayalam Cinema

Author(s):  
B. Abhijith ◽  

This paper traces a particular moment in the recent history of Malayalam Cinema when a shift in the representation of the private sphere was attempted. In the period after 2010, a set of new Malayalam films carried a shift in terms of aesthetics and narrative techniques and went on to unfold in a full-fledged manner by the end of the decade. The paper would look at Chappa Kurishu (Head or Tails, 2011), one of the early movies of this tide to shed light on the remarkable shift it achieves in representing the scenes of romantic and erotic intimacy on screen. As the narrative of the movie centers around the fight over a smart phone that ensues between two strangers in the city of Kochi, it gets entangled with questions of privacy, class and contest over the urban spaces. Bringing to the discussion contestations over the meanings of public and private manifested in certain urban-based movements in recent times like ‘Kiss of Love’ protests, it is argued that Chappa Kurishu can be read as a response to the contradictions arising out of the emergence of new subjects in the wake of urban transformations and the conflicting cinematic publics of multiplex and single hall theatre. The formal transactions between cinematic form and video form, the paper suggests, is one of the ways in which Chappa Kurishu attempts to respond to this situation in a way that signals the transitional position of the spectator subject.

Author(s):  
M.S. Parvathi ◽  

Burton Pike (1981) terms the cityscapes represented in literature as word-cities whose depiction captures the spatial significance evoked by the city-image and simultaneously, articulates the social psychology of its inhabitants (pp. 243). This intertwining of the social and the spatial animates the concept of spatiality, which informs the positionality of urban subjects, (be it the verticality of the city or the horizonality of the landscape) and determines their standpoint (Keith and Pile, 1993). The spatial politics underlying cityscapes, thus, determine the modes of social production of sexed corporeality. In turn, the body as a cultural product modifies and reinscribes the urban landscape according to its changing demographic needs. The dialectic relationship between the city and the bodies embedded in them orient familial, social, and sexual relations and inform the discursive practices underlying the division of urban spaces into public and private domains. The geographical and social positioning of the bodies within the paradigm of the public/private binary regulates the process of individuation of the bodies into subjects. The distinction between the public and the private is deeply rooted in spatial practices that isolate a private sphere of domestic, embodied activity from the putatively disembodied political, public sphere. Historically, women have been treated as private and embodied and the politics of the demarcated spaces are employed to control and limit women’s mobility. This gendered politics underlying the situating practices apropos public and private spaces inform the representations of space in literary texts. Manu Joseph’s novels, Serious Men (2010) and The Illicit Happiness of Other People (2012), are situated in the word-cities of Mumbai and Chennai respectively whose urban spaces are structured by such spatial practices underlying the politics of location. The paper attempts to problematize the nature of gendered spatializations informing the location of characters in Serious Men and The Illicit Happiness of Other People.


Epohi ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yurii Dolzhenko ◽  
◽  
Anna Tarasova

The work is devoted to the 10th–13th-century paleodemographic data regarding the city of Chernigov and its districts, and to their introduction into the scientific domain. The study is based on the data on the anthropological series of Chernigov in the 10th–13th centuries, divided into three samples according to the topographic principle. This series is characterized by a low average life expectancy in comparison to other southern Old Rus cities. The feature of the necropolises of Chernigov indicating the predominance of female burials over male ones, revealed in the 1980s, has been confirmed at a new level. A study of the demographic parameters of the Chernigov population groups in the 10th–13th centuries, united on a territorial basis, has shown differences in their structure, probably reflecting the peculiarities of the life quality, social status, and professional specialization of the population of different parts of the city. Further research into the remains of the city’s population with methods of paleopathology, osteometry, osteoscopy, radiology, etc., as well as the analysis of aspects of the political history of the region, would help shed light on the possible causes of the identified features of the demographic structure of the population in the pre-Mongolian period.


2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1131-1153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Lord

Urban spaces and streets have been studied in a variety of ways in Montreal and Paris, but rarely have historians examined the specific relationship between the function of the street and social usage to reflect changes over time. The argument here is for an analytical approach to photographs combined with textual evidence to reveal the urban processes affecting the retail streets of rue Notre-Dame and rue Sainte-Catherine in Montreal, the through street of Boulevard de Sébastopol, and the pedestrian street of rue Mouffetard in Paris. Photographs reflect the success of modern urban transformations to rework the images of the city from various perspectives and for different purposes. They include the bourgeois female shopper on the late nineteenth-century retail and through streets, female retail and office workers interspersed among men on early twentieth-century rue Sainte-Catherine, and the agency of working-class women in the market transactions and peddler trades of rue Mouffetard.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-147
Author(s):  
Tsvetan RAKYOVSKI

e article explores the diversity of narrative techniques in Orhan Pamuk’s novel A Strangeness in My Mind. The main idea is that the drama of a private life is told against the background of the drama of the life of Istanbul. To do this, the novel parallels the biographical ‘I’ of the main character and the historical ‘He’ of the City. This comparison provokes the idea of the novel’s close relation to the history of Istanbul and Turkey over the last fifty years. Orhan Pamuk does not spare the reader any of the specific, purely "Turkish problems" with the Kurds and Greeks, as well as the radical and conservative moods and public discontent from the 1950s to the 1980s. The narrative line is developed slowly and minutely,owing to the author's intention to authenticate real events through the perspective of fictional characters and vice versa - to romanticize cultural and purely civilizational processes in the last half century of the development of this part of the border between Europe and Asia. This is the only way to explain the presence of the problem of women's emancipation and the lack of that misunderstood "patriotism" which often prevents the depiction of purely national processes in life. This refutes the widespread opinion that A Strangeness in My Mind is a postmodern novel.


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
René Millon ◽  
Jeffrey H. Altschul

AbstractThe mapping of the ancient city of Teotihuacan was an archaeological project of singular importance in the history of archaeology. In this paper, we discuss the origin and history of the Teotihuacan Mapping Project (TMP) through a series of personal vignettes written by the project's leader, René Millon, which are put into larger context by Jeff Altschul, one of the many students who worked on the project. We examine the characteristics that led to the TMP's successes and its shortcomings and discuss lessons learned that may be of value to planning future big, complex archaeological projects. We argue that above all, a big project needs a big problem to solve. In the case of the TMP, the problem was the origin of the city. Marshaling a team of diverse talents, Millon and his colleagues were able to make many key decisions in ways that successfully overcame problems that had not been heretofore confronted by archaeologists. These decisions include the use of low-altitude aerial photography, the definition of sites to include nonliving urban spaces, the sampling of surface artifacts, strategic test excavations, computerized data management and sophisticated statistical analyses, and a unique manner of publication. Less successful was the project's record in publishing descriptive data. The project's success lay in its ability to take on an important problem and to follow through, even though some tasks required decades to complete and others remain to be completed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 357-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Ritter ◽  
Sami Ben Tahar ◽  
Jörg W. E. Fassbinder ◽  
Lena Lambers

This paper presents the results of the geophysical prospection conducted at the site of Meninx (Jerba) in 2015. This was the first step in a Tunisian-German project (a cooperation between the Institut National du Patrimoine, Tunis, and the Institut für Klassische Archäologie der Ludwig-Maximilans-Universität München), the aim of which is to shed light on the urban history of the most important city on the island of Jerba in antiquity.Meninx, situated on the SE shore of the island (fig. 1), was the largest city on Jerba during the Roman Empire and eponymous for the island's name in antiquity. The outstanding importance of this seaport derived from the fact that it was one of the main production centers of purple dye in the Mediterranean. With the earliest secure evidence dating to at least the Hellenistic period, Meninx saw a magnificent expansion in the 2nd and 3rd c. A.D. It was inhabited until the 7th c. when the city was finally abandoned.


Urban Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (10) ◽  
pp. 2160-2178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayra Mosciaro ◽  
Alvaro Pereira

The entrepreneurial city discourse has been adopted around the globe by policymakers, with the urban redevelopment project as one of its most representative symbols. The predominantly favourable discourse revolving around this new political economy of urban space is supported by claims that newly regenerated areas bring multiple benefits to the city and its citizens. These narratives have been used in Brazil to justify increasing reliance on an urban planning tool known as Urban Operations. This planning tool, developed in the 1990s, seeks to facilitate cooperation between public and private actors in the production of new urban spaces. While projected by some as a ‘magic formula’ that enables major urban redevelopment projects without public expenditure, the outcomes of Urban Operations often differ significantly from expectations. The cases of Água Espraiada (São Paulo) and Porto Maravilha (Rio de Janeiro) are used to demonstrate that regenerated areas, as preferred spaces for the penetration of financialised practices into the built environment, have brought forward new dynamics that are serving to reinforce pre-existing social inequalities and to exacerbate uneven development in Brazil’s main cities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 193
Author(s):  
Mohamed Yasser Lotfy ◽  
Abdullah Soliman ◽  
Alaa Mandour

<p>Market places have occupied a major role in most cities around the world, being a site for more than just economic interactions, but rather a cultivating agent for social and cultural growth. The Arab and Islamic cities have a proud history of market places, most of the times being the main core of the city, with urban development encompassing it, and till the present day market places are in the heart of most communities. The <em>modern city </em>brought with it a devaluing of the traditional market places, making it a tourist attraction as in the case of <em>"khan el Khalil",</em>or leaving it to rust like <em>"bab el louq" </em>market. Those markets while playing a big role historically, <em>modern city planning </em>moved the services and markets into other form, thus becoming less important, abandoned, or even demolished at cases.</p><p>The issue at hand deals with how the contemporary urban planning affected market places, with emphasis on <em>closed markets</em> (Bab el-louk)which can be said to be the successor of the ancient <em>Bazaar </em>or <em>Wekala</em>.  Bal el-Louk market was once in the heart of Cairo and vital part of its community life, but now the market after more than a 100 years, is in ruins, but hope is not yet all lost, since the market can still be revived and revitalized.</p><p>To tackle this issue a combination of <em>comparative and field studies </em>must occur. On the one hand, comparative studies with <em>markets </em>in the US or closed markets in European cities such as Paris or Copenhagen would be done to find the necessary elements and goals that would make those markets vital, and the necessary steps to revitalize our own forgotten markets. The other study would have to deal with the current condition of bab el louk market in Cairo, finding out the reason behind its demise, the owners and users feedback on said market, and the opportunities for change.</p><p>With the results of the studies, general recommendations would be made for the <em>revitalization </em>of the Egyptian marketplaces, using an urban framework that would lead to those markets be available for costumers again and back to playing their major cultural and social rule.</p>


Author(s):  
Vincenzo Zenobi

After the Rose Revolution, a process of transformation of the city begins. Very different public and private architectures from the past arise, while the strategies for the conservation of old Tbilisi are matter of discussion. To understand the factors that determine the creation of new urban spaces we first need to focus on two factors: the process of Institution Building that follows the Rose Revolution and the emergence of a political narrative that combines modernisation and nationalism. The hypothesis is that these two factors create the ground for developing the specific practices of transformation of the city and for the emergence of a new urban form.


Author(s):  
Юлия Робертовна Горелова ◽  
Александра Мартановна Маматулина

Данная статья посвящена исследованию отражения образных характеристик архитектурной среды города в пейзажах художников. Анализируя индивидуальные образные интерпретации разных художников, авторы предпринимают попытку обозначить общие тенденции в отображении архитектурной составляющей городского текста в целом и в частности его отдельных элементов (архитектурных объектов и пространств) в изобразительном искусстве. При этом авторами актуализируется внимание на специфике отображения различных типов городских пространств как публичных, так и камерных. При анализе публичных пространств центральной части города, формирующих «парадный портрет города», основное внимание уделяется отражению образов так называемых «визитных карточек»: наиболее значимых в семиотическом отношении архитектурных объектов и пространств, формирующих позитивный и презентабельный образ города. Некоторые фрагменты городского пространства выступают излюбленными мотивами городских пейзажей, написанных омскими художниками. Именно эти пространства воспринимаются жителями в качестве визитных карточек города и представляют собой наиболее значимые в семиотическом отношении фрагменты городского текста. В Омске, несомненно, к таким ключевым пространствам и объектам следует отнести архитектурные ансамбли ул. Ленина (Любинский проспект) и ул. Тарской, ансамбли Соборной и Никольской площадей, здания Драматического театра, Серафимо-Алексеевской часовни и Речного вокзала и др. Можно констатировать наличие излюбленных ракурсов при изображении архитектурных пространств центральной части Омска. Одним из таких является вид из окон Дома художников на реку Омь, мост и перспективу Любинского проспекта на противоположном берегу реки. Изображение Любинского у разных художников отличается не только выбором ракурса, а более настроением и своим отношением к данному пространству. Некоторые художники в своих работах выходят на глубокий уровень философского осмысления пространства, другие – показывают его будничным и обыденным. Камерные пейзажи, как правило, изображают фрагменты городской среды, относительно изолированные от центральных городских публичных пространств. К таким можно отнести дворы, арки и др. Камерным пространствам характерна близость, интимность. Большинство камерных пространств являются анонимными. Самым ярким примером камерного городского пространства являются дворы. Мотив строчной рядовой многоэтажной застройки, характерный для большинства городских окраин, также находит отражение в работах омских художников. У некоторых художников образ окраины передается как пустынное пространство, где высотная застройка перемежается с пустынными пространствами. Другой вариант осмысления данного образа предполагает трактовку окраины как пространства привычного, обжитого, наполненного утилитарными функциями и обустроенного людьми под свои нужды. This article aims to examine the reflection of figurative characteristics of the city’s architectural environment in artists’ landscapes. By analyzing individual figurative interpretations by different artists, the authors attempt to determine global tendencies in the reflection of the city’s architectural environment in general, and in its individual elements (architectural objects and spaces) in visual arts in particular. The authors focus attention on the specifics of the presentation of different types of urban spaces, both public and private. Analyzing public spaces of the city center, which form the “grand portrait of the city”, the authors concentrate on the reflection of the city’s landmarks—the most significant semiotic architectural objects and spaces that form a positive and presentable image of the city. Some parts of the urban space are favorite topics of urban landscapes by Omsk artists. It is these spaces that residents perceive as landmarks; they represent the most valuable, in semiotic terms, parts of the urban text. In Omsk, undoubtedly, the landmarks of the city are architectural ensembles in Lenin St. (Lyubinsky Prospect) and Tarskaya St.; ensembles of the Sobornaya and Nikolskaya Squares; the buildings of the Drama Theater, of the Seraphim-Alekseevskaya Chapel and of the River Boat Station, etc. Artists have favorite perspectives in depicting the architectural spaces of the central part of Omsk. One of them is a view from the windows of the House of Artist on the Om’ River, the bridge, and the perspective of Lubinskiy Prospect, which is on the other bank of the river. Artists show Lubinskiy Prospect in different ways: due to not only the chosen angle, but also their mood and attitude to the space they depict. Some artists go to the deep level of a philosophical understanding of the surrounding space, while others illustrate it as ordinary. Private landscapes, as usual, show parts of urban environment that are relatively isolated from public central urban spaces. Yards and arches are examples of it. Private spaces usually have a close, intimate atmosphere. Most private spaces are anonymous. The most vivid examples of the private urban space are yards. Omsk artists also reflect the motif of multistorey buildings, mainly concentrated in the outskirts, in their works. Some artists depict the outskirts as an empty space, while others interpret them as a habitual, familiar space full of utilitarian functions and arranged by people to meet their needs.


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