Investigating Through Fiction

• Published in: GeoHumanities Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 234 - 243
• Main Author: Matthey, Laurent
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 02.01.2025; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Architecture, space management; faction; fiction; Geography; Humanities and Social Sciences; narrative; redescription; scientific writing; fiction; redescription; scientific; writing; faction; narrative
• ISSN: 2373-566X; 2373-5678
• DOI: 10.1080/2373566X.2025.2482622

The relationship between academic writing and literary writing has been the subject of many studies, whether in narratology, anthropology, history, or geography. Initially viewed from the angle of the poetics specific to each genre, this relationship has recently been examined through the role of fiction in the production of scientific facts. This essay wishes to contribute to these reflections on the modes of existence of academic writing. To this end, it takes a look back at an urban-planning study conducted by a university at the request of a public body. Writing up the report provided the opportunity to experiment with writing techniques that drew on the principle of contamination developed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. This method made it possible to oralise the language of the research by opening it up to the diversity of voices heard in the field. These techniques led to the production of chimeric characters, in the sense that they were the aggregates of fragments of various narratives. These artefacts were opened up for discussion at the participative workshop that concluded the investigation, providing the chance to recontextualise the things that had been said, seen, and heard while gathering material for the study. They thus encouraged a period of redescription in the sense established by Richard Rorty, opening up new interpretations of the space studied.