Cities and senses in Late Antique North Africa: transformations of urban topographies and sensorial fields (c. IV-VII AD)

• Grant number: 19/22320-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): January 07, 2020
• Effective date (End): July 06, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Julio Cesar Magalhães de Oliveira
• Grantee: Rafael Aparecido Monpean
• Supervisor: Laubry Nicolas
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Research place: École Française de Rome, Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/19476-6 - Cities and senses in Late Antique North Africa: transformations of urban topographies and sensorial fields (c. IV-VII AD), BP.DR

Abstract

This project proposes investigate the transformations of some cities landscapes in North Africa and their correlations with the sensorial changes during c. IV-VII AD. Therefore it begins with the study of developments of three topographic components interpreted like structuring of the cities: the spaces of production, habitation, and burial, complemented by the element that connects them all at the same time, the public roads. The sites chosen for the achievement of this research were those whom showed, in a first moment, changes in at least two of the topographic elements cited, added to the possible evidence of reuse of public and/or private building materials. Based on the analyses of changes in urban materialities, we sustains the hypothesis that is perceptible the emergence of new sensibilities in and towards the city space, which question and mix up normative/normativizing divisions formerly consolidated for ancient cities. New regimes of sensibility and visibility are set out by social actors once neglected, such as workers and inhabitants of humble houses, whose sensorial perceptions and expressions become apprehensible to us through the significant changes in the cities landscapes. (AU)