Member
Alexandre PIRES
Position
Ph.D. Student
Institution
Université Paris Cité
Team
PARIS
E-mail
alexandre.pires ( at ) parisgeo.cnrs.fr
Research topics
Urban Studies
Radical Geography – Cultural, Feminist and Marxist perspectives in Economic Geography
Advertising – Body – Gender – Landscape – Public Spaces – Commodification
Address
Géographie-cités • Campus Condorcet
5 cours des Humanités 93322 Aubervilliers cedex
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.
Professional Responsibilities
2022 – … : Visiting Graduate Researcher – Latin American Institute, UCLA
2022 – … : 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
Education
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
Teaching Activities and Courses
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)
Publications
Book Reviews
PIRES, A. (2023). Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession (Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press, 2022, $29.00 cloth, $28.99 ebook). Pp. 443. isbn 978 0 2266 5110 1, 978 0 2266 5124 8. Journal of American Studies, 57(5), 729–731. doi:10.1017/S0021875823000464
Journal Articles
PIRES, A. (2024). Regards croisés Trans-Amériques. Echo des Amériques, 33. https://6lkxf.r.bh.d.sendibt3.com/mk/mr/sh/6rqJ8H0EanKJIFDWkuY5sGeW6df/OfWpWFrs42Vw
Presentations
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.
Awards and Fellowships
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
