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WeekLY TOPICS
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Readings
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1. Introductions, Logistics, and First Impressions; Guy Debord and the Situationists: Ludo-Political Psychogeography
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- Chtcheglov, “Formulary for a New Urbanism”
- Debord, “Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography”
- Debord, “Theory of the Dérive”
- Lettrist International, “Proposals for Rationally Improving the City of Paris”
- Constant, “Another City for Another Life”
- Wark, The Beach Beneath the Street, chapters 2 (“No More Temples of the Sun”) and 5 (“A Provisional Micro-Society”)
- Coverley, Psychogeography, chapter 3 (“Guy Debord and the Situationist International”)
- Self, Psychogeography, “Introduction: Walking to New York”
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2. Some Urban Planning Roots: Socio-Spatial Psychogeography
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- Park and Burgess, The City, chapter 1 (“The City”)
- Jacobs, “Looking at Cities”
- Lynch, The Image of the City, chapters 1 (“The
Image of the Environment” and 2 (“Three Cities”)
- Clay, Close-Up (selections)
- Wood, “Lynch Debord”
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3. 18th- and 19th-Century London and Paris: Literary Ur-Psychogeography
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- Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year
- Blake, “London_”_
- Poe, “The Man of the Crowd”
- Baudelaire, “The Parisian Prowler”
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4. Weimar Wandering in Berlin and Paris, 1920–1940: Philosopho-Critical Psychogeography [Special Guest: Howard Eiland]
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- Hessel, Walking in Berlin, “The Suspect,” “I Learn a Thing or Two,” “A Bit of Work,” and “A Tour”
- Benjamin, The Arcades Project, “Paris, the Capital of the Nineteenth Century” and “Convolutes M: The Flâneur”
- Eiland, “Reality as Palimpsest”
- Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, chapter VII, “Walking in the City”
- Ruttmann, Berlin [film]
Optional:
- Benjamin, One-Way Street
- Woolf, Street Haunting
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5. Smells, Sounds, Sickness, and Sensing the City: Hidden Patterns of Data-Driven Psychogeography
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- Tufte, Visual Explanations, chapter 2 (“The Cholera Epidemic in London, 1854”)
- McHarg, Design with Nature (selections)
- Wurman, Making the City Observable
- Whyte, City (selections)
- Westerkamp, “Soundwalking”
- Ruttmann, Weekend (Wochenende) [film]
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6. Flights of Fancy: Journeys in Imaginato-Occult Psychogeography
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- Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”
- Shelley, “Ozymandias”
- Sinclair, Lud Heat
- Calvino, Invisible Cities
- Sís, The Three Golden Keys
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7. Madness and Altered States: Insanito-Psychedelic Psychogeography
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- Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems
- Ferlinghetti, “Bickford’s Buddha”
- Wallace, Infinite Jest, pp. 128–135.
One of the following:
- De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater
- Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
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8. Language, Ethnicity, and Race: Subaltern Psychogeographies
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- Du Bois, The Philadelphia Negro (selections)
- García Lorca, Poet in New York
- Cadogan, “Walking while Black”
Optional:
- Sayles, The Brother from Another Planet [film]
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9. Gender: Feminist Psychogeography
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- Solnit, Wanderlust, chapter 14 (“Walking after Midnight: Women, Sex, and Public Space”)
- Elkin, Flâneuse, pp. 3–93.
- Varda, Cléo de 5 à 7 (Cléo from 5 to 7) [film]
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10. Undergrounds and Underworlds: Cops and Robbers; Detectives and Voyeurs; Explorers and Stalkers; Pushers and Pickpockets; Hackneys, Hobos, Hustlers, and Hookers; Perversive-Subversive Psychogeography
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- Park and Burgess, The City, chapter 9 (“The Mind of the Hobo”)
- Delany, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue
- Manaugh, A Burglar’s Guide to the City,
chapter 3 (“Your Building Is the Target”)
Skim/Browse:
- Weegee, Naked City
- David Macaulay, Underground
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11. Jaywalking, Détournement, Hacking, Squatting, Occupying: Trespassive Psychogeography
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- Debord and Wolman, “A User’s Guide to Détournement”
- Wark, “Zuccotti Park”
- Garrett, Explore Everything
Skim/Browse:
- Piranesi, The Prisons / Le Carceri
- Banksy, Wall and Piece
Optional:
- Banksy, Exit through the Gift Shop [film]
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12. Branches, Twigs, Sprouts, Leaves, Debris: 1975–present
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- Perec, An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris
- Sebald, Rings of Saturn, chapters V and
VII
- Sinclair, Lights Out for the Territory, chapter 1
(“Skating on Thin Eyes: The First Walk”)
- Wenders, Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin) [film]
- Keiller, London [film]
Optional:
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13. New Directions: Student Projects
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[No readings assigned]
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14. Last Class, Wrap-Up, Next Steps
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[No readings assigned]
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