Description: This course invites students to critically analyze the concept of social spaces and its impact on individuals and communities in contemporary society. Through a combination of theoretical frameworks, case studies, and interactive discussions, students will explore the ways in which social spaces shape our experiences and relationships. Thus, it will explored how these spaces shape and are shaped by social, political, and economic forces. Through critical readings, discussions, and case studies, students will gain the tools to analyze and understand social spaces in their own communities and beyond.

Duration: 4 sessions (one per week). Each session lasts 1 hour.

Modality: Online.

Language: Spanish.

Language level: Intermediate (recommended for students with A2 level or higher in Spanish).

Audience: Undergraduate/graduate students in sociology, political science, social work, or related fields. Also, professionals interested in social justice and community building in contemporary societies.

Course objectives:

• To define “critical social spaces” and explain their role in social theory and practice.
• To identify various types of social spaces (public, private, virtual, informal, etc.) and the power dynamics within them.
• To analyze the ways in which power dynamics, social norms, and cultural values influence the creation and maintenance of social spaces.
• To apply critical theory to real-world examples of social spaces.
• To propose possible interventions or strategies for transforming oppressive or exclusionary social spaces.

Content:

Session 1: Social spaces: critical notions of spaces and subjects.

• What is a social space and what kind of space can we analyze critically?
• Critical ideas of complex relationships between mankind and nature.
• History of a lack: the absence of a spatial analysis in modern and contemporary thought.
• From the lefebvrian concept of social spaces to a foucauldian heterotopology.

Session 2: Dictatorship and fascism appropriation of social spaces.

• The rise of urban control: a counter-revolutionary policy in the cities.