A Feminist Urban Theory for Our Time - (Antipode Book) (Paperback)

About the Book

"In this book, as feminist, Marxist, postcolonial, and queer scholars, we argue that social reproduction is foundational to comprehending urbanization and urban transformations by contributing to the feminist project of writing social reproduction and everyday life into urban theory." Social reproduction is, of course, not just an analytical framing but also an organising call for feminist scholars and our contention is that if we want an urban theory for our time, it needs to be feminist. Feminism is not simply a 'discipline,' 'theory', or 'ideology', but a worldview, a lived praxis that provides a platform for engaged analysis. The book's origins lie in our belief in the necessity of feminist urban knowledge production, a belief further endorsed by our prior critical engagement with the analytical framework of planetary urbanization and our collective ruminations during and post this engagement on the nature of urban theory (Reddy 2018; Ruddick et al. 2018). Not least the considerable response to the theme issue of Society and Space (Peake et al. 2018) showed us that there was an audience desirous of troubling the hegemony of urban theory. Moreover, our approach of working as a team across hierarchies of junior and senior scholars, generations, genders, sexualities, institutions, and disciplines-a praxis we refer to as "the intergenerational social reproductive labor of knowledge production" (Peake et al. 2018, p. 377)-had been fruitful and positive and we wanted it to continue. It was as much a pedagogical experience of reading and writing together, and sharing meals, as it was an exploration of our places within the academy and an intellectual foray into urban theory. And while Roza Tchoukaleyska left for Newfoundland, Elsa Koleth, a new post-doctoral fellow at the City Institute at York University, joined us"

Book Synopsis

What does a feminist urban theory look like for the twenty first century? This book puts knowledges of feminist urban scholars, feminist scholars of social reproduction, and other urban theorists into conversation to propose an approach to the urban that recognises social reproduction both as foundational to urban transformations and as a methodological entry-point for urban studies.

• Offers an approach feminist urban theory that remains intentionally cautious of universal uses of social reproduction theory, instead focusing analytical attention on historical contingency and social difference
• Eleven chapters that collectively address distinct elements of the contemporary crisis in social reproduction and the urban through the lenses of infrastructure and subjectivity formation as well as through feminist efforts to decolonize urban knowledge production
• Deepens understandings of how people shape and reshape the spatial forms of their everyday lives, furthering understandings of the 'infinite variety' of the urban
• Essential reading for academics, researchers and scholars within urban studies, human geography, gender and sexuality studies, and sociology

From the Back Cover

'Our time is fraught--global, intimate, differentiated--lived at different speeds with different horizons, but its insecurities and possibilities place social reproduction at its heart. This collection creatively and incisively reveals how centering social reproduction as theory and method reshapes the social ontology of the urban. Across sites and scales, an international group of authors offer compelling and original analyses of the material social practices and struggles that make social reproduction such a resonant frame to reimagine and remake urban social life so that it sings with possibility.'
Cindi Katz, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Environmental Psychology at The City University of New York, Graduate Center, USA

What does a feminist urban theory look like for the twenty first century? This book puts knowledges of feminist urban scholars, feminist scholars of social reproduction, and other urban theorists into conversation to propose an approach to the urban that recognises social reproduction both as foundational to urban transformations and as a methodological entry-point for urban studies. This approach remains intentionally cautious of universal uses of social reproduction theory, instead focusing analytical attention on historical contingency and social difference. The eleven contributions to this volume address distinct elements of contemporary urban crises in social reproduction through the lenses of infrastructure and subjectivity formation as well as through feminist efforts to decolonize urban knowledge production. Collectively, the chapters serve to deepen understandings of how people shape and reshape the spatial forms of their everyday lives, furthering understandings of the 'infinite variety' of the urban.

Review Quotes

'Our time is fraught--global, intimate, differentiated--lived at different speeds with different horizons, but its insecurities and possibilities place social reproduction at its heart. This collection creatively and incisively reveals how centering social reproduction as theory and method reshapes the social ontology of the urban. Across sites and scales, an international group of authors offer compelling and original analyses of the material social practices and struggles that make social reproduction such a resonant frame to reimagine and remake urban social life so that it sings with possibility.'
Cindi Katz, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Environmental Psychology at The City University of New York, Graduate Center, USA

About the Author

Linda Peake is Principal Investigator on the SSHRC Partnership Grant, Urbanization, Gender and the Global South: A Transformative Knowledge Network (GenUrb) and Director of the City Institute at York University, Toronto, Canada.

Elsa Koleth is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the SSHRC Partnership Project Urbanization, Gender and the Global South: A Transformative Knowledge Network (GenUrb) at the City Institute at York University, Toronto, Canada.

Gökbörü Sarp Tanyildiz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Brock University, Canada.

Rajyashree N. Reddy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada.

darren patrick/dp is a writer, organizer, teacher, and Publications Manager and Editor for Urbanization, Gender and the Global South: A Transformative Knowledge Network (GenUrb) based at the City Institute at York University, Canada.