La solution à tous vos /pʁɔblɛm/.

Ce que nous dit la langue.

Why did the word « problem » almost completely vanish from French-speaking public communication ? This event does confirm the importance of hyperbole, euphemism, and litotes in the dynamic of languages. This process also gives us clues about the actors of these changes: an uncoordinated multitude of ordinary speakers is capable, without any pre-set scheme, to set languages in motion. [...]

Mangez, c’est du luxe !

Le petit déjeuner, exception accessible.

Réouvert en juillet 2018 après être resté fermé quatre ans pour d’importants travaux d’aménagement, l’hôtel Lutetia de Paris a d’emblée proposé des services de luxe au-delà de la simple hôtellerie. Centre de bien-être (associant spa, cours de fitness et de nutrition), piscine, salon de coiffure… viennent ainsi compléter une offre de restauration élargie. Comme d’autres [...]

Emporté par la foule.

Moment ordinaire de l’inhabitable.

To experience the crowd, whether in the metropolitan area or anywhere else, is, strictly speaking, to suffer under the weight of others. What is revealed are the workings of these uninhabitable ordinary people, who occasionally populate daily life and make us wonder : is the « overflow » of men and women a reasonable way to think the notion of habiter (to dwell), starting from its worst variations ? [...]

Qui mange qui ? Une psychatnalyse.

Making cats veggie ? This is a plan well under way, which deserves attention. It is quite different from a classical protest against animal exploitation, but rather the sketch of a new political relationship that humans could entertain with the living world. [...]

Attention, traversée de zèbres !

Sous le passage, les piétons…

Au printemps 2018, le quartier du Marais à Paris a été le théâtre d’évènements politiques qui n’ont pas manqué d’attirer l’attention. Rappelons les faits. À l’occasion, en juin, de l’anniversaire de « la Marche des Fiertés » ou Gay Pride, plusieurs passages piétons avaient été peints aux couleurs de l’arc-en-ciel, une référence aujourd’hui bien identifiée de la [...]

Où t’habites, Johnny ?

Les pays de Jean-Philippe Smet

La rumeur ne devint-elle pas certitude ? Elle enflait depuis quelques temps, mais cette fois c’était sûr. Chacun pourra bientôt le voir, le toucher, l’écouter. L’entendre ? Il faut dire que le choc avait été rude dans le pays. Un cortège d’un million de personnes dans Paris. Plus de dix millions devant leur télévision : Arc de Triomphe, [...]

Toilettes en tous genres.

Graves dissensions au sein du cabinet.

Controversies, sometimes strongly conflictual, on public toilets signs tell us something about the state of a notable societal debate : can we choose our sex or should we comply with what (various) others say ? Do we want a hyper-gendered or a post-gender world ? [...]

Playing Perm : A Cut for the Cup.

Why football players’ haircuts have gained such prominence on stadiums ? What do they tell us about those who choose them, about those who look at them, and about the relation forged thanks to them ? Numerous and various things turn out to be condensed in little information : the length, the colour, and the arrangement of a haircut. [...]

Traverser l’espace.

This work is about the “traverser” as a scientific notion. It is understood as the stacking of rhythms and spatial figures. Building a relation between space of departure and arrival through a reference space is a social challenge that mobilizes all spatial skills. This paper outlines the languages used to define the “traverser” : spatial architectures and spatialities are decoded with different figures and spatial maps ; visibility rules are developed through the study of tangible and intangible materials. [...]

This paper justifies “le traverser” as a scientific notion ; it argues that it can be defined as the social validation of spatial practices organized a posteriori. ”Le traveser” is a process of social “substantivation” that treats the distance traveled as a spatial unit. With examples from various scales and cultural materials, such as promotional films, webdocumentaries, cartoon or experimental movies, the purpose of this work is to define more precisely the linguistic and spatial uses of what can [...]