Flâneur • (flä-nər) • noun
Definition: A city wanderer who becomes aware of and observes the minutiae of urban life
Origin: French
Prior to COVID-19, I spent a considerable amount of time wandering around Washington, D.C. On any given day, I would take walks sporadically without a plan or destination because the grind to be efficient or productive was actually making me less efficient or productive.
As a freelance writer, I recognized the importance of taking these walks, which were invigorating for me. I would walk at my own cadence, clear my head, and observe the city. The walks would start and end when I decided they would and no one could ask me where I went or why I was away for so long. Through this freedom, it became easier to observe the city in a different light because my perspective or personal cadence was no longer governed by the rhythm of an industrialized 9 to 5 workweek. When you are no longer battling with a horde of people racing to work, lunch, or home, your environment takes on a new shape even if you traverse the same places.
One day I had a conversation with a friend of mine about how much I enjoy these walks, and she asked me if I knew the word “flâneur.” I had never heard of this word, but upon learning about it, I not only began to appreciate my need for walks even more but had the language to articulate the cultural benefits of having a walkable city. I also had a new language for describing it.
The Cultural Importance of Flâneurs
The idea of the flâneur emerged in the 19th century as a subtle response to the rapid industrialization that was transforming Europe. More and more people’s lives were governed by the hours of large factories which influenced the entire cadence of cities. Instead of finding work near your home or even having your business exist as a physical extension of it, people were traveling far away to work in factories. The movement of people within cities became increasingly governed by their economic attachment to low-paying, alienating work. What was once a soul-affirming extension of life, cities increasingly became a faceless impediment to people on their way to their labor-intensive, monotonous jobs. The flâneur needed to exist in the 1800s to preserve and observe the life of cities in the modern world, and we need flâneurs today for the very same reason.
In the 1800s, French poet Charles Baudelaire popularized the concept of the flâneur, which literally means “a stroller or saunterer.” To Baudelaire, a flâneur needed to be a well-dressed person with refined manners and an appreciation for language, and someone who also valued leisurely hobbies. Essentially, you had to be affluent enough to not get forced into the rhythm of industrialization to become a flâneur. Also due to the dangers of city life and the social stigma towards unattended women, it became next to impossible for a “flâneuse” to exist in the 1800s.
In the early 20th century, cultural Marxist and member of the Frankfurt School, Walter Benjamin, brought back the idea of the flâneur through his book The Arcades Project to counter the cultural impact of capitalism and industrialization. Benjamin’s “flâneur” existed at a non-industrialized pace, which not only allowed the individual to see, feel, and co-exist with the life of a city, but also made them adept at remembering and exploring its history. The flâneur existed as the poet of the city. As people spent more time being industrious, the poetry of modern life became increasingly rare.
Ethnocide & the Flâneur in America
When I first learned about the word flâneur, I immediately thought about the time I spent studying abroad in France during college and how much I enjoyed walking around the city. I had no need for a car, which was a revolutionary concept for a kid who grew up in the suburbs. The cities that I grew up in were built for cars, not people, so the ability to walk and be a part of a city made a big impression on me.
Due to America’s ethnocidal culture, our cities and towns have never been designed around encouraging Black Americans to move freely. For most of America’s existence, Black Americans have been forced to live and move within spaces governed by white Americans. The Montgomery bus boycott started on December 5, 1955 -- 65 years ago -- to protest Jim Crow segregation, which declared that Black Americans could only “freely” move within the spaces that white Americans had cordoned off for them to live. A key component of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s has been the demand for greater freedom of movement.
Even though our society has made progress, it is abundantly clear that we still suffer from our life-destroying infrastructure and culture. Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012 for walking in his own neighborhood because a security guard did not believe that a Black person should occupy that space. In 2020, Ahmaud Arbery was chased down by two gun-toting white men in a pickup truck because he was jogging in a space they did not believe he should be allowed to freely move within.
A Black flâneur is not supposed to exist in America because our cities were not built to be lived in. They were built to oppress. Yet, as America confronts our troubling history and ethnocidal culture, the role of the flâneur can only grow.
This week The New York Times published “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Ghosts of Segregation” and in this series photojournalist Richard Frishman photographed buildings still bearing the scars of segregation. These are buildings that we see every day but never took the time to examine the peculiar second entrance that is no longer in use or has been bricked over. We are too busy hurrying to work and being productive to notice this architectural flaw, and we are too detached from our history to wonder if the segregated door off to the side is where America forced “colored” people to enter and exit the building.
Frishman’s photos display the life of American cities and the physical embodiment of ethnocide, which can be an uncomfortable existence. However, as we become more aware of the history of cultural destruction that exists within our cities, we can become empowered to remake our cities so that they are more equitable and create culture.
Within urban life, the flâneur plays an important role in preserving the humanity and history of the places in which we live. When COVID-19 ends, we must all take the time to be a flâneur or flâneuse every once in a while.