Notes de la rédaction
This is the press release related to the article from Aurore Van de Winkel, published on November 14th 2010. Read the article.
A city is made up of buildings, populations, comings and goings, institutions, cultural activities, etc. But it is also made up of stories. And some of these stories play a special part. Urban legends are stories spread by word of mouth, email and internet forums, telling us of often worrying and usually edifying adventures which have taken place in a city – in this case Brussels.
In this 54th issue of Brussels Studies, Aurore Van de Winkel (UCL – Institut Langage et Communication) focuses on certain urban legends which are being told in Brussels and take place there. She has identified the basic components and suggests a specific interpretation: they are urban stories which unite a community based on the assertion of values and the stigmatisation of ‘other’ groups, and express anxieties which are specific to urbanity. Most of the time, these urban legends take place in anonymous places of forced sociality rather than in emblematic places in the city which are already full of history and are the objects of traditional legends.
References
Van de Winkel, Aurore, “Brussels at the heart of urban legends?”, Brussels Studies [Online], General collection, No 54, November 14th, 2010. URL: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1068
Contact
Benjamin Wayens, Senior Editor: bwayens[at]brusselsstudies.be