Flâneuse Olmanın Olasılıkları Üzerine: Kadınlar, Yürüyebilir ve Etrafa Bakabilir mi?

Abstract

Flâneuse is a relatively recently coinage word as a female form of the nineteenth century flâneur, who was a representative figure of the modernity and urbanisation. In order to understand the flâneuse, we need to understand the flâneur. As he gained his meaning through the context of Modernity, the period -with its social, economic and political aspects- is introspected in detail in the first part of the study. In the second part, departing from this male figure, practical possibilities of its female counterpart will be scrutinised from a pro-urbanist and feminist perspective. The act of walking and the act of looking (or being looked) will be the main tropes. Within the context, overall feminist literature will be visited and the contradictory ideas of feminist scholars who have written about the topic will be put on the agenda. Overall, the notion is suggested to be adopted not literally, but in metaphoric senses, and that there is an urgent need for a perspective which does not deny the woman’s space in urban studies.Flâneuse is a relatively recently coinage word as a female form of the nineteenth century flâneur, who was a representative figure of the modernity and urbanisation. Departing from this male figure, the practical possibility of its female counterpart will be scrutinised from a pro-urbanist and feminist perspective. The act of walking and the act of looking (or being looked) will be the main tropes of the study.