Abstract

The streets and the social bond are interdependent. The materiality of street space chisels the ways in which relationships between individuals in a society are organized. Conversely, the way in which the relationships between individuals and groups in a society are ordered will impact the spatial materiality of the streets. In this sense, the streets (conceived as common urban spaces, spaces of access, use and shared production) are primordial spaces to produce social experiences and first hand sources of knowledge about social life. This presentation argues for the theoretical and methodological importance of the study of streets for the understanding of the social bond in specific societies. It does so based on a discussion of the differences between the conceptions of streets and social ties based on the European case, and those concerning Latin America based on an empirical study on the case of Santiago de Chile.

Short Bio

Kathya Araujo is PHD in American Studies and a Professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies (IDEA) of the Universidad de Santiago de Chile. She is the Director of the Project Individuals, Social Bonds and Power Asymmetries (MIUMAP). Her main research fields are the social bond, individuation and subject configuration; the relationship of individuals with norms. In the past twenty years, she has conducted several research projects on the structural transformations in Chilean society and their effects on individuals and the social and political bond. Currently she conducts research on individualism and authority. She is author of more than 20 books, among them Desafíos Comunes. Retrato de la sociedad chilena y sus individuos (Shared challenges. Portrait of Chilean Society and its Individuals, with  Danilo Martuccelli, 2 Vols. LOM, 2012) , El miedo a los subordinados. Una teoría de la autoridad (Fear from subordinates. A theory of authority. LOM, 2016); ¿Cómo estudiar la autoridad? (How to study authority? Ed. USACH, 2021), and The Circuit of Detachment (Cambridge University Press, 2022).

Email address for registration: stefano.palestini@unitn.it