Berlin, Alexanderplatz

Transforming Place in a Unified Germany

Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, Architecture, Planning, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology, Urban, Anthropology
Cover of the book Berlin, Alexanderplatz by Gisa Weszkalnys, Berghahn Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Gisa Weszkalnys ISBN: 9781845458355
Publisher: Berghahn Books Publication: May 1, 2010
Imprint: Berghahn Books Language: English
Author: Gisa Weszkalnys
ISBN: 9781845458355
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Publication: May 1, 2010
Imprint: Berghahn Books
Language: English

A benchmark study in the changing field of urban anthropology, Berlin, Alexanderplatz is an ethnographic examination of the rapid transformation of the unified Berlin. Through a captivating account of the controversy around this symbolic public square in East Berlin, the book raises acute questions about expertise, citizenship, government and belonging. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the city administration bureaus, developers’ offices, citizen groups and in Alexanderplatz itself, the author advances a richly innovative analysis of the multiplicity of place. She reveals how Alexanderplatz is assembled through the encounters between planners, citizen activists, social workers, artists and ordinary Berliners, in processes of popular participation and personal narratives, in plans, timetables, documents and files, and in the distribution of pipes, tram tracks and street lights. Alexanderplatz emerges as a socialist spatial exemplar, a ‘future’ under construction, an object of grievance, and a vision of robust public space. This book is both a critical contribution to the anthropology of contemporary modernity and a radical intervention in current cross-disciplinary debates on the city.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A benchmark study in the changing field of urban anthropology, Berlin, Alexanderplatz is an ethnographic examination of the rapid transformation of the unified Berlin. Through a captivating account of the controversy around this symbolic public square in East Berlin, the book raises acute questions about expertise, citizenship, government and belonging. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the city administration bureaus, developers’ offices, citizen groups and in Alexanderplatz itself, the author advances a richly innovative analysis of the multiplicity of place. She reveals how Alexanderplatz is assembled through the encounters between planners, citizen activists, social workers, artists and ordinary Berliners, in processes of popular participation and personal narratives, in plans, timetables, documents and files, and in the distribution of pipes, tram tracks and street lights. Alexanderplatz emerges as a socialist spatial exemplar, a ‘future’ under construction, an object of grievance, and a vision of robust public space. This book is both a critical contribution to the anthropology of contemporary modernity and a radical intervention in current cross-disciplinary debates on the city.

More books from Berghahn Books

Cover of the book Sibling Relations and the Transformations of European Kinship, 1300-1900 by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book The Nanking Atrocity, 1937-1938 by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book The Scope of Anthropology by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book Archaeogaming by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book Ambiguous Pleasures by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book Biopolitics, Militarism, and Development by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book House of the Waterlily by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book Taking on Technocracy by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book Journey Through America by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book Protest Beyond Borders by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book Capricious Borders by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book Tourism Imaginaries by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book Ethnographies of Conservation by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book Raising Citizens in the 'Century of the Child' by Gisa Weszkalnys
Cover of the book The New Face of Political Cinema by Gisa Weszkalnys
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy