Black Flânerie, or Wandering while Black in the City of Light
This project explores pedestrian black freedom dreams. It considers experiments with being-in-motion in the city as a way of reflecting on the world, engaging with the world, and being with others. By black flânerie, Hill means to highlight how people navigate the “grooves in sonic afro-modernity” (Weheliye) through social and cultural practices that require moving in a certain kind of way through the city. From cruising, bar-hopping, and site-seeing to shopping, street dancing, and daydreaming, the wandering black flâneur adopts modes of nomadism and errantry that emerge from experiences and histories of the African diaspora.
Edwin Hill will be the fifth presenter in the year-long lecture series Innovative Interdisciplinary Directions in Francophone, French, and Italian Studies.
