Motherlands: Interpreting Home Through the Gaze of the Flâneuse

This thesis investigates flâneuserie as a mode of inquiry into the concept of home. Using both critical analysis and a creative inquiry, this research aims to define a methodology for flâneuserie using contemporary literary case studies. The critical component is centred on a literary analysis of nonfiction walking narratives by women writers: Valeria Luiselli’s Sidewalks (2014), Vivian Gornick’s The Odd Woman and the City (2015), and Igiaba Scego’s Roma Negata (2014). Applying flâneuserie to creative practice, the creative component features a series of experimental essays that follow my walks through the urban landscapes of my maternal heritage.