Doing Geographical films: Playing “a game of cat’s cradle” with the urban space

Authors

  • Martina Loi University of Cagliari
  • Alice Salimbeni University of Cagliari

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13133/2532-6562/17928

Keywords:

Urban space, Film, Haraway

Abstract

“A game of cat’s cradle” is played by weaving a string between the fingers, and passing it between two or more people to create ever-changing configurations, in a potentially endless simple process that has great metaphorical value.
Haraway uses the metaphor of the cat’s cradle to discuss creative and relational ways of thinking that give rise to unexpected and unpredictable configurations of reality. In this paper, we take the cat’s cradle metaphor into our geographic research to speculate on creative and relational knowledge production processes. In particular, we refer to this metaphor with the aim of enhancing the potential of geographical film as a method of participatory spatial inquiry able to bring out multiple layers of urban complexity. We support this metaphorical operation by comparing the case of the making of three collective films, conceived and shot during the “Atelier de la Traversée” workshop exploring urban gender discrimination, to different stages of the cat’s cradle.

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An image of the exterior set of By bike she lives (2021)

Published

2022-07-06

How to Cite

Loi, M., & Salimbeni, A. (2022). Doing Geographical films: Playing “a game of cat’s cradle” with the urban space. Tracce Urbane. Rivista Italiana Transdisciplinare Di Studi Urbani, 7(11). https://doi.org/10.13133/2532-6562/17928