Walking in the City: The Arrival of the Rhetorical Subject

Abstract

Although hermeneutic habits of mind privilege the representation as a site of discovery and reflection, the reverse is equally true for residents in familiar environments. That is, the body’s movement through everyday spaces can engender an indexical map, thus a memory storehouse, and sites and substances for invention. This chapter forwards the generative, interpretive potential of oscillation, defined as sensations and reflections tied directly to bodily movements through a built environment leading, on occasion, to ecological thinking and equitable, inclusive action. Oscillation is visited through affect theory, De Certeau’s “Walking in the City” and narratives of non-hermeneutic exposure to include Ackerman’s fieldwork in post-industrial neighborhoods. Oscillation provides a techne beyond representational dependencies and closer to a given ecology’s vital potential.