VISUAL APPROACHES TO URBAN ETHNOGRAPHY
My approach to visual sociology does not consider the images in the marginal role as additional documents or pictures, but as a source of relevant data, and as a tool and part of the research process, by capturing the specificity and the evocative power of interpretation of the data. It is suggested here that a visual approach to the study of street landscapes could encourage a synthesis of old and new approaches to the pre- to post- modern urban scenes. This approach could also provide insights as to how visible cultural resources are commodified.
View on my youtube channel some videos and slideshows: http://www.youtube.com/lidiakcm
In the NDSM docklands area in Amsterdam North. Photo credit Magda Bolzoni
URBAN VISUAL SOCIOLOGY
Toward the Gentrification of Milan’s Chinatown. There is a great buzz around the Sarpi neighborhood in the context of the outlook regarding the next 2015 Expo Fair. Many initiatives are being considered, and these are aimed at transforming and giving value to the surrounding area in the direction of Fiera City. This certainly is whetting the appetite of both residents, who would see an increase in the value of their homes, and speculators always have their ear to the ground too. In so doing, the redevelopment of the commercial strip is interweaving with the starting up process of a financial renaissance, a dynamics which is also engendering a change of skin and soul in an historical urban fabric. In short, a gentrification of the neighborhood is sought. See the slide show
Issue 5, October 2012, Newsletter of The ISA Visual Sociology Thematic Group TG05
Visual Approaches to Urban Ethnography. Film release article – The documentary is focused on contested urban spaces and it approaches the riots in Milan’s Chinatown under the lens of gentrification, globalization and migration policies in Italy. The author/director has recently won a Student Award by presenting her work at the Visual Sociology section of the American Sociological Association – ASA Annual Conference, in Denver Colorado, where the documentary was screened – August 2012. (Pages 19-24)
Issue 3, November 2011, Newsletter of The ISA Visual Sociology Thematic Group TG05
Make Creativity in Complex Urban Spaces: The transformation of the NDSM docklands area in Amsterdam North. As we know, the built environment may be used as an empirical source. In this area my visual research it concerns the visibility and reflection of the social relations, ideas and developments of creativity in urban space. (pp. 19-24) See the video on youtube
Issue 2, June 2011, Newsletter of The ISA Visual Sociology Thematic Group TG05
NOLA March 2011: Magazine Street and Warehouse District. The neighborhoods are still in trouble, the face of New Orleans continues to change. (p. 15) See the video on youtube
SOCIAL DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTIONS
2010. Director. 12 minutes, color.
AQUILA BIANCA. La differenza di abitare nell’ex-Italcementi di Trento [WHITE EAGLE. The difference of living in Trento ex-Italcementi factory]
This documentary analyses housing problems that immigrants encounter while arriving to Trento and the inequalities surrounding them thus making the ex-Italcementi factory their home.
2010. Co-Director (with Pierluigi Faggion). 9 minutes, black and white.
MILANO MONTECITY. La città sospesa [MILAN MONTECITY. The suspended city]
“The ideal city in the city”. This was the claim of the Zunino Real Estate, selling a dream: a passage to a modern life at the outskirts of Milan on the great Promenade boulevard. Watch the video: http://vimeo.com/55980822
2009. Director. 49 minutes, color.
VIA |da| PAOLO SARPI. Reportage Etnografico dalla Chinatown di Milano [A-WAY FROM PAOLO SARPI]
Ethnographic Documentary from the Milan’s Chinatown – the ethnically connoted District of Paolo Sarpi street – where a handful of roads, the global flow of Chinese goods and the daily routines of elderly people and families are merged.
Legalize BK
Lidia K.C. Manzo 