Page - 174 - in >mcs_lab> - Mobile Culture Studies, Volume 2/2020

174 Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 6 2o20 (Travel) Tanja Kapp | Journeying the Page Understood as an open conceptual framework rather than a closed system or history, psy- chogeography is currently evolving into an increasingly heterogeneous field distinct from earlier literary psychogeography. Richardson declares this a ‘new psychogeography’, adding that it ‘is, first and foremost, one of heterogeneity’ (Richardson 2015: 250). Indeed, she claims the dawn of various ‘psychogeographies’ (2015: 3, original emphasis), emphasising how subversive walking can be easily recontextualized. Generally, scholars and practitioners agree on an extensive diver- sification of the field in relation to the practitioner’s gender, aim and approach (Smith 2014; Richardson 2015; Coverley 2018; Bonnett 2009). Psychogeography is thus not a mere means of deconstructing the forces responsible for the disconnection between humans and physical geo- graphy, it furthermore elucidates one’s own presence as a signifying, embodied identity within space. While in earlier incarnations psychogeography allowed first and foremost for a gaze outward onto the world, today’s practitioners are conscious about their presence in the world, too, and reflect about their own bodies being seen. Pursuing an exploration of space and one’s situation within it enables the walker to come to terms with the lines of influence between the embodied self and the world it is trying to navigate. Hopper adds that psychogeography ‘is lis- tening to place and hearing its polyphony — understanding that places can hold infinite stories and give each one its due’ (qtd. in Tromans, Hornsby and Nicholls 2019: 18). Psychogeography thus offers a way to negotiate anxieties of place by listening to various voices, including one’s own, and thus to acknowledge the palimpsestic, adaptable and inclusive aspect of landscape. Contemporary Media: The Zine The recent changes in psychogeographical praxis have been accompanied by shifts in media representation, both in form of digital infrastructure and mediality. Richardson highlights how the representational aspect of psychogeography has extended beyond the common realm of traditionally published travelogues: ‘While writing is an established method for representing urban walking, today the multiple forms of representation that are now available make for a new psychogeography’ (Richardson 2015: 249). She mentions two particular media that have gained prevalence in recent years, forms in which an increasing number of psychogeographical travelogues are published today: blogs and zines. Zooming in on the lesser known medium, the zine, this article aims to analyse its medium-specific properties in order to come closer to an understanding of how and why psychogeographical walking is transferred into this specific outlet, paying special attention to its combination of word and image. Available for purchase within specific places on- and offline, zines are independently or self-pub- lished works, often becoming available in the form of small booklets. Originally, zines were pro- duced by ‘physically cutting and gluing text and images together onto a master flat for photocopy- ing’ (Zine, 2015); however, in recent years it has also become common to create them via computer software. Often, both digital and analogue collage-making techniques are used in the production of a zine. The majority of research conducted around zines has been concerned with the medium’s proliferation within underground movements and with its position as an alternative mouthpiece for marginalized, under- or misrepresented groups, such as women and minorities. Writing about North American feminist circles of the 1990s, Alison Piepmeier gives a summary definition of the zine: