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Lefebvre for Activists
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Lefebvre for Activists, published in 2020 by adocs Publishing House in Hamburg, is a collection of essays reflecting on the usefulness of French Marxist philosopher Henri Lefebvre’s theories for urban activism. Engaging with Lefebvre’s idea that space is “produced,”, the contributions from scholars, scholar-activists, artists, and resident organisations analyse spatial practices in the “physical field” of embodiment, representations in the “mental field” of dominant ideologies, as well as imagination, and/or relationships in the “social field” of negotiation, struggle, and transformation.
With an introduction and epilogue from Elisa T. Bertuzzo, the book presents chapters from urban theorists Ulrike Hamann, Klaus Ronneberger, Christoph Schäfer, Christian Schmid and Lisa Vollmer, and “departures, excursions, and saltos” by Ben T. Busch, Johanna Gilje, Uroš Pajović, and Daniele Togozzi. By combining theory and practice, academic and activist milieus, everyday pragmatism and imagination, these reflections emphasise the possible and highlight the constant potential for transformative mobilisations which resides in urban everyday life.
Throughout the book’s pages, “activism” emerges as an elusive concept. Lefebvre for Activists suggests that while “activists” rarely conceive of themselves as such, growing numbers of urban dwellers feel it necessary to “take action” vis-à-vis violent processes of gentrification, top-down planning, segregation, and varied forms of discrimination. Talking to each other, coming together, forging coalitions that transcend defined social groups, these inhabitants fight against the homogenisation of everyday life that Lefebvre emphatically denounced. On this never straightforward path, the volume sketches ways of inhabiting the city that look towards the future, offering possible blueprints of how to resist and re-appropriate social space for years to come.
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Of the book, urban researcher Lilli Rast writes:
“Incidentally, inscribed in the title and recognizable on closer inspection is ‘Activists for Lefebvre,’ a plea to make use of Lefebvre's ideas in one's own activism, written from the perspective of activists who have done just that. This is possible with this anthology, which combines diverse practical and theoretical perspectives and highlights the relevance and applicability of Lefebvre's work, which is now half a century old.” (Full review here)
Lefebvre for Activists was launched in July 2020 at Hopscotch Reading Room in Berlin.