An Ethnography of Urban Exploration: Unpacking Heterotopic Social Space 3030562506, 9783030562502

Table of contents :
Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Figures
Part I Setting the Scene
1 In Between the Everyday and the Imaginary
Why a Book on Urban Exploration as Heterotopia?
A Definition of Heterotopic Social Space
Conceptualising the Non-conceptual
Outline of the Book
References
2 Some Reflections on the Existing Literature
Introduction
Aestheticising Decay
Evading the Spectacle
Gender Trouble
Tightly Fractured ‘Communities’
Consumers in Disguise
The Performativity of Urban Exploration
Heterotopia Redux
Summary
References
3 Constructing a Critical Lens
Introduction
Metaphysical Orientations
The Research Design
On Being an Insider
Introducing WildBoyz
Raising Ethical Issues and Making Moral Choices
Summary
References
Part II Exploring the Interregnum
4 Seeking Spaces of Compensation in Modernity’s Dark Side
Introduction
The Utopian Dream
Rethinking the Nightmare of Disenchantment
Unpacking the Twenty-First-Century Interregnum
Finding Enchantment in Disenchantment: Taking the Spillway
Heterotopic Social Space
An Interim Summary
References
5 Finding a Way in the Garden of Forked Paths: The Ontological Hybrids Extraordinaire
Introduction
Obligation and Responsibility: Skholērs Unite
The ‘Art of Living’ Performatively: The Realm of the Khôraster
‘Of Other Spaces’: The Non-absolutes
Summary
References
Part III Unpacking Heterotopic Social Space
6 The Cognitive Spacing of WildBoyz: On Thinking Skholērly
Introduction
Skiing in the Interregnum
Cognitive Spacing in Heterotopia: The WildBoyz Way
Traitors and Ominous Strangers: Overcoming the Arcane ‘Other’
‘The Fr3e Roamer Cunts’
Heterotopic Space and Its Politics of ‘Otherness’
References
7 Aesthetic Social Spacing: Altogether Now with the Khôrasters
Introduction
Admission to the Attractions of the Underground
The Playful Ingeniousness of Urban Exploration
Chaos: On Exploiting the ‘Telecity’
The Ephemeral Ecstasy of Aesthetic Space
References
8 Being with and Being for: Moral Social Spacing in Action
Introduction
A Night on the Town
On Free Floating Responsibility
Re-examining the Moral Party
Another Interim Summary
References
Part IV Heterotopic Ways of Being
9 Practised Life Strategies of WildBoyz
Introduction
Schizophrenia: A Polymorphic Life Strategy
The Schizo Crisis
Seeking the Craic: A Nostalgic Life Strategy
Finding the Craic in France
‘Good Craic’: The Art of Reliving the Mundane and the Spectacular
The Differend and the Sublime: A Parasitical Life Strategy
A Twenty-First-Century Lesson in Sublimation
The Feeling of the Traumatic Sublime
Living in a ‘Viewer Society’: The Life Strategy for Media Whores
The Pub Brawl
Competing for Fame and Stardom in a Digital World
The Synoptic Life: The Performativity of Deviance
Summary
References
Part V Restorative Dreams and Potential Futures
10 No End in Sight
Some New Research Directions
Re-Imagining Urban Exploration
The Ongoing Myth
References
Index