Member

I question how constructing the visibility of feminine bodies within public spaces entangles in producing the economic value of Los Angeles’s metropolitan spaces.

In my thesis, I conduct a cultural geography of visible feminine bodies within the metropolitan landscape of Los Angeles.

By constructing photographic archives, analyzing their pictures, and conducting ethnographic fieldworks, I am exploring the geographic implications of the changing visibility of feminine bodies across the socioeconomic spaces in Los Angeles.

2022 – 2025 : Visiting Graduate Researcher – Latin American Institute, UCLA & Supervisor of the California Center – Institut des Amériques

2023 : Official Helper for Elsa Devienne et Alison Rose Jefferson’s guided tour about “The Hidden Histories of Los Angeles’ Beaches” – 2023 Meeting of the Organization of American Historians, Los Angeles

2022 : Contractor Staff – Workshop of the 2022 International Congress of the International Geographical Union

2022 – … : PhD in Geography under the supervision of Renaud LE GOIX and Pauline GUINARD – Université Paris Cité, Graduate School 624, “Sciences des Sociétés”

“Billboards, representations of feminine bodies, and the production of space in Los Angeles. Analyzing the dialectical interrelation between the construction of stereotypes associated with female bodies and the production of socio-spatial injustices in Los Angeles.” lien

2020 – 2022 : Master Degree in Geography, GéoPrisme – Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne et Université Paris-Cité

2019 – 2020 : Bachelor in Geography – Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

2016 – 2019 : Preparatory Course for Grand Ecoles (CPGE A/L) – Lycée Henri IV

2024, October 23 : Workshop WeDanSe on Space and Performance, Università degli studi dell’Insubria, Varèse, Italy (2h).

• “Spatial Performances: Geographic Objects, Subjects and Methods. Perspectives from Glamour and Tacky Spaces”. Year 3 of Bachelor Degree.

2023-2024 : Teaching Assistant, Université Paris Cité (64h)

• Global Issues, Local Challenges, “Postmodern Geographies of the City ou Geographies of Post-Modern Cities ? Los Angeles, the Glamour Metropolis in Urban Studies”, Year 3 of Bachelor Degree (4h)
• Economic Space, Year 2 of Bachelor Degree (48h)
• Urban and Rural Geographies, Year 1 of Bachelor Degree (12h)

2023-2024 : Teaching Assistant, Université Paris Cité (64h)

• Economic Space, Year 2 of Bachelor Degree (24h)
• Introduction to Geography, Year 1 of Bachelor Degree (24h)
• Urban and Rural Geographies, Year 1 of Bachelor Degree (16h)

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Pires, Alexandre. 2026. Obscene Theming as Strategic Commodification of Public Spaces: Analyzing the Material Outcomes of Staging Sexualized Feminine Bodies in Venice Beach. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies. (article accepted for publication).

Book Reviews

Journal Articles

Pires, Alexandre. 2025. « Faking Democracy: The Moral Geographies of Feminine Body Aesthetics. » Dissertation Workshop, LA History & Metro Studies Group, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, October 17 2025, San Marino, CA, USA.

Pires, Alexandre. 2025. « Exploring Urban Segregation Through the Lens of Feminine Body Aesthetics in Los Angeles. » ‘Marginalités et inégalités (1) : ségrégations et exclusions urbaines’, California as Epicenter of Social Sciences, October 16 2025, University of Chicago, John W. Boyer Center in Paris, Paris, France.

Pires, Alexandre. 2025. « Archiving the Landscape in Los Angeles. » Perspectives on Twentieth Century Los Angeles, Urban History Association Eleventh Biennial Conference, October 12 2025, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Pires, Alexandre. 2025. « Body aesthetics, Spatial Matters. » Body and the City, May 22 2025, Université de Californie à Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Kocsis, Joanna et Pires, Alexandre. 2025. « Research, rigour, and rape: facing the reality of gender-based violence in academic fieldwork. » March 26 2025, Detroit, MI, USA.

Monnier-Reyna, Madalena, Cleasby, Ellie, Pires, Alexandre, Gibbs, Christine et Bergan, Ellen. 2025. « Creativity in Geography: Spaces, Methods, Outputs. » Rencontre annuelle de l’association des géographes américains (AAG), March 25 2025, Detroit, MI, USA.

Pires Alexandre, (2024). “Aesthetic Challenges for a Geography of the Bodies. Staging of Feminine Beauty in Los Angeles’s Socioeconomic Space“. PARIS Seminar, Laboratory Géographie-cités, December 20, Aubervilliers, France.

Pires Alexandre, (2024). “Beauty, a Spatial Construct? Geographic Conversations on the Role of Beauty in Segregating Bodies in Los Angeles”. CitéPhilo and Université Picardie Jules Verne, ‘A Body Alphabet’, December 3, Amiens, France.

Pires Alexandre, (2024). “Spatial Performances: Geographic Objects, Subjects and Methods. Perspectives from Glamour and Tacky Spaces”. Workshop WeDanSe, October 23, Università degli studi dell’Insubria, Varèse, Italy.

Pires Alexandre, (2024). “Branding the Capital of Beautiful. Exploring the Spatial Semiotics of Feminine Bodies within the Sunset Strip’s Landscape (Los Angeles)”, Material Cultures in Geography 3, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, April 17, Honolulu, HI, USA.

Pires Alexandre and Jaouen Lucie, (2023). “Fertile and Beautiful: Alienating Feminine Bodies within Puritanical and Spectacular Fields”, Doctoral Seminar organized by Geographie-cités and PRODIG facilities, December 14, 2023, Campus Condorcet, Aubervilliers, France.

2024 – Recipient of the Socialist and Critical Geography Student Travel Award at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers

2024 – Recipient of the Paris Gender Institute (IdG) Fellowship for the promotion of Young Research Mobility

2024 – Recipient of the International Mobility Fellowship of the 624 Graduate School, “Sciences des Sociétés”, Université Paris Cité

2022 – Recipient of the 2022 Master’s Thesis Award from the Institut des Amériques