‘Les femmes et les milieux urbains/Women and Urban Environments’
Women in French (UK) One-day Conference at King’s College London
30 May 2014

manmade expression, both literal and symbolic, of men’s intellectual and spiritual projects and ideals. In
contrast, rural domains, metaphorical ‘wild zones’, are associated with the natural, the non-rational, the
feminine. This gendered perception of the city finds further reinforcement in the binary opposition of
culture/nature. A brief consideration of literary and filmic texts dealing with representations of the city
brings to mind a host of male writers and directors ranging from Baudelaire to Zola, to Carné (Hôtel du
nord) and Kassovitz (La Haine). It would appear to be men who found, plan, build and dominate cities –
who constitute the City Fathers and Sons – while women figure far less frequently in cityscapes and feel
less ‘at home’ when they do. Yet, in 1405, Christine de Pizan wrote an allegorical account about women
planning, building and living in an urban environment in Le livre de la cité des dames. This conference
seeks to question and challenge many of the idées reçues surrounding women’s ongoing association with
the private, the domestic, and the rural. Is the urban flâneur a quintessentially male phenomenon? ‘I love
walking in London’ remarks Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, expressing the confidence and pleasure of a
woman moving freely in the urban environment, a true flâneuse as active agent. Is the city environment
inevitably hostile and threatening to (lone) women, an intimidating and dehumanizing force? Or, rather,
does it represent a liberating space – whether anonymous or sororal – of rich social and cultural horizons
where women can self-determine?
We invite proposals on the theme of ‘Les femmes et les milieux urbains/Women and Urban Environments’
for this interdisciplinary conference.