Paper Short Abstract:

In my paper, I will explore the question of what role affects play when walking in public nocturnal (urban) space, drawing on the work 'Queer Phenomenology' (2006) by Sara Ahmed. In doing so, I will focus on a queerfeminist practice of walking (together), which I will develop based on so called Take Back the Night demonstrations. Of particular interest to me is the extent to which the affects of fear and rage influence the practice of walking.

Paper Abstract:

In my paper, I will explore the question of what role affects play when walking in public-nocturnal (urban) space. The starting point for these considerations is my dissertation project, in which I deal with the question of how the affect of fear and the public-nocturnal (urban) space are constituted in an interrelationship, also considering the resistive potential of rage and feminist enrollment in the examined space.

Of particular interest to me is the extent to which the affect of fear influences the practice of walking: the question arises as to which bodies can occupy/inhabit which spaces and which paths these bodies can take (cf. Ahmed 2006). From the point of reference of fear, I will work out how affects influence the walking practice of subjects. With a view to a queerfeminist practice of walking, I will also consider the extent to which rage can produce agency and whether subjects in contact with rage can claim other spaces for themselves and tread new paths (cf. Biwi Kefempom 2023; Ahmed 2006).

Using the annual Take Back the Night demonstrations as an example, I would like to talk about collective walking by WLINTA+ people. Based on the example I will show that walking in correlation with other factors, such as the night or being alone, is political and cannot be carried out by all people without hesitation. Boundaries between activism and performative practices are to be dissolved in the paper in order to develop a queer(ing) view of walking.