L’hospitalité urbaine au risque de la contagion.

Comment continuer à recevoir les plus précaires tout en les espaçant les uns des autres ?

This paper interrogates the social and spatial consequences of lock-down and “barrier” measures for newcomers and precarious foreigners in the city of Geneva. Linking these measures to the question of urban hospitality, the article documents the paradoxical transformations of the “hospitable milieux” that usually offer newcomers — and established “undocumented” migrants — the possibility to “take place” in the city and to stay there somewhat poorly. Addressing the case of “domestic workers” as well as “low-threshold” shelters and the [...]

Sens interdits.

Les nouveaux intouchables.

The Covid pandemic has changed the way we handle social interactions. Senses that used to be engaged such as sight (masks), and touch (social distancing) can no longer be used in the same way. But the need for sociability has led to invent or use other means to interact. [...]

Observer pour inventer : la ville d’après

Avec l’apport du rhizome Chôros. Presque 40 ans après, imaginons ce que serait le carrefour Mabillon sous la plume de Perec : “19 mai 2020. 3, 4, non 5 SUV défilent, les conducteurs aux visages masqués, au passage 3 piétons attendent le feu, chacun à distance. A chaque arrêt, la même appréhension : où se place-t-on [...]

La Covid au prisme des minorités vulnérables

The Covid-19 pandemic as a collective experience has brought certain minority experiences closer to the majority’s. The most obvious example have been the 2020 lockdowns, which has suddendly given able-bodied individuals the experience of the homeboundedness known to crips. Some other parallels constitute an unexpected positive impact of the pandemic, which has generally increased the level of solidarity in a common ordeal. Nevertheless, most pre-pandemic social vulnerabilities have perpetuated and even worsened. From proven correlations between one’s level of [...]

Covid cherche cospatialité

Modèles géographiques pour un événement hybride

In a pandemic, hybrid mechanisms emerge and the social world that results of them is not easy to decipher. It is all the truer in the case of the SARS-CoV-2, we still don’t know everything about. This paper tries to identify and analyse the geographies of urbanity of states. It questions the relationships between the multiple spatial layers that manufacture this troublesome co-spatiality. [...]

Penser (avec) la pandémie.

Cet article est proposé par le rhizome Chôros. Pour expliquer la dynamique de la pandémie du Sars-CoV-2 de 2020, de nombreux « facteurs » simples ont été proposés : l’âge ou des prédispositions génétiques des patients, la pollution… dont certains, d’autre moins, ont résisté à l’avalanche des informations et aux avancées de la recherche. D’autres, comme la température (le [...]

« Rester chez soi » et habiter le Monde : un casse-tête chinois ?

The CoviD-19 pandemic reveals a singular moment in the World. A new type of inhabitant was invented, that of the confined inhabitants. What does it teach us about the contemporary world? How does it inform us about the importance and the stakes of human habitation? But in what way does it also specifically raise issues that go far beyond it? [...]

The Prophets of Immanence.

Le coronavirus au prisme du néonaturalisme

Within a pandemic process where unknown and novel realities can be numerous, some actors cannot help saying: “I told you so”. Among them, activists of the neo-naturalist current are seeking at all costs to connect this event to their common speeches. Inside this movement, Dominique Bourg et Bruno Latour have set themselves up as prophets of immanence. Immanence is a new religion that replaces ancient transcendent gods with a powerful, moralizing Nature and reduces the humans to weak and [...]