| Urban Anthropology: Imagining The City Sarah Lawrence College (ANTH-3161-R) Fall 2002 Instructor: David Valentine Class time: M/W 3:35 - 5:00pm, Sheffield 01 Office: Sheffield 05 Fall class dates: September 9 - December 18, 2002 Phone: 914.395.2363 email: [email protected] Course Description: We all think we know what a city is -- but what, exactly are the defining features of a city? Many criteria have been proposed -- from the presence of a cathedral or governmental institutions, to the anonymous nature of urban life and the lack of a community ethos. But is urban life always anonymous? How does "village" life differ significantly from "city" life? While anthropologists are traditionally thought of as working in remote and rural places, many anthropologists both past and present have been concerned with urban life, and trying to understand human experience in urban settings, from the Zambian Copperbelt, to the self-proclaimed "capital of the world," New York City. As anthropologists have studied cities, though, new questions have arisen: what is the relationship of a city to its immigrant populations, and vice versa? How do the realities of globalization impact life in cities across the globe? How is social space organized and policed? How does one define an "urban community?" Urban Anthropology looks at a range of questions that have animated anthropological investigations of urban life in the past hundred years. Through looking at ethnographic studies of cities globally, we will explore questions about the nature of urban experience, the differences and similarities between different urban settings, and the vexing question of: what is a city, anyway? In an increasingly globalizing world, does it even make sense to talk about cities anymore? In the spring semester, we will switch our attention specifically to New York City. Classes in the spring will be supplemented by field trips to the city. These field trips are part of the course, and will usually take place on Saturdays. Please ensure you organize your spring schedule to take these into account. Note on Films The films shown in class are a part of the course, and should be considered as required texts. Required Texts: A course reading packet is available at the library, and from me should you want to borrow it to make copies. As well as the reading packet, the following books will be needed, all of which are on reserve at the library and available for purchase in the bookstore: 1. Bestor, Theodore C. 1989 Neighborhood Tokyo . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 2. Liebow, Elliot. 1993 Tell them who I am : the lives of homeless women. New York: Free Press. 3. Ferguson, James. 1999 Expectations of Modernity : Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt. University of California Press Policies and Requirements Course and Conference Requirements Class work for the semester will consist of the following formal projects: 1. Three 4-5 page papers, due in class on days noted in syllabus below. 2. Two mini-research projects, to be discussed in class. Class work is due in class on the days noted in the syllabus below. I do not grant extensions other than for exceptional circumstances. If you believe you are embroiled in such a circumstance, I expect you to request an extension at least a day before the paper is due; DO NOT come to class without completed work unless I have granted you an extension. I am always willing to look at drafts of your work up until two days before the due date, which you may email me. I will not, however, accept emailed versions of your papers. Conferences I expect that you will complete the tasks we have agreed on for your conference work prior to your conference. Policy on Lateness and Attendance Please pay particular attention to the following: you are, naturally, expected to attend all classes and conferences associated with this class. It is expected that if you have to miss a class for a valid reason (such as illness or family emergency), you will inform me prior to the class, or as soon after as is possible. Since this is a seminar, your attendance and participation in class discussions is a central part of the course. I will take attendance in the first ten minutes of class. If you arrive late for class, you will not have the opportunity to sign the attendance sheet, and this will be noted as an absence. Please note the attendance policy: more than two unexcused absences will result in reduced credit for this course. Course Outline Part 1: Defining "The City" 1. Introduction to the Course (9/9/02) 2. What is a City? (Part 1) (9/11/02) Readings: Mumford, Lewis Miller 1986 East Side, West Side and All around the town In The Lewis Mumford reader. Donald L. Miller (ed.) pp. 15-30. New York: Pantheon Books. Peterson, Elmer Theodore 1946 Cities are abnormal. In Cities are abnormal, Elmer T. Peterson (ed.) pp. 3-26. Norman: University of Oklahoma press 3. What is a City? (Part 2) (9/16/02) Readings: Simmel, Georg 1969 the metropolis and Mental life. In Classic Essays in the Culture of Cities. Richard Sennett (ed.) pp. 47-60. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Wirth, Louis 1969 Urbanism as a Way of Life. In Classic Essays in the Culture of Cities. Richard Sennett (ed.) pp. 143-164. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 4. What is a City? (Part 3) (9/18/02) ** PROJECT 1 DUE IN CLASS** Readings: Film: The social life of small urban spaces Whyte, William Hollingsworth 1980 The social life of small urban spaces. Washington DC: The Conservation Foundation (selections). Part 2: The Formalized City: Neighborhoods and Communities 5. Neighborhood Tokyo (9/23/02) Readings: Bestor, Theodore C. 1989 Neighborhood Tokyo . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press (Introduction, chapters 1-2). 6. Neighborhood Tokyo (9/25/02) Film: Neighborhood Tokyo Readings: Bestor, Theodore C. 1989 Neighborhood Tokyo . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press (chapters 3-4). 7. Neighborhood Tokyo (9/30/02) Readings: Bestor, Theodore C. 1989 Neighborhood Tokyo . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press (chapters 5-6). 8. Neighborhood Tokyo (10/2/02) Readings: Bestor, Theodore C. 1989 Neighborhood Tokyo . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press (chapter 7, conclusion). Part 3: The Informal City: a Different View of "Community" 9. Disputes over the use of urban space (10/7/02) **PAPER 1 DUE IN CLASS** Readings: Smart, Alan 2001 Unruly places: urban governance and the persistence of illegality in Hong Kong's urban squatter areas. American Anthropologist 103(1):30-44. 10. Different kinds of Community (10/9/02) Readings: Shirley, Robert W. 1990 Recreating communities: the formation of community in a Brazilian shanty town. Urban Anthropology 19(3):255-276. 11. Homelessness I (10/14/02) Readings: Liebow, Elliot. 1993 Tell them who I am : the lives of homeless women. New York: Free Press. (Introduction, chapters 1-2) 12. Homelessness II (10/16/02) Film: It Was a Wonderful Life Readings: Liebow, Elliot. 1993 Tell them who I am : the lives of homeless women. New York: Free Press. (chapters 3-4) 13. Homelessness III (10/21/02) Readings: Liebow, Elliot. 1993 Tell them who I am : the lives of homeless women. New York: Free Press. (chapters 5-7) 14. Sex, Gender, and the City I (10/23/02) Readings: Forest, Benjamin 1995 West Hollywood as a symbol: the significance of place in the construction of a gay identity. Society and Space 13:133-157. Rothenberg, Tamar 1995 "And she told two friends": lesbians creating urban social space. In Mapping desire: geographies of sexuality. David Bell & Gill Valentine (eds.) pp. 165-181 New York: Routledge. 15. Sex, Gender, and the City II (10/28/02) Readings: Hart, Angie 1995 (Re)constructing a Spanish red-light district: prostitution, space, and power. In Mapping desire: geographies of sexuality. David Bell & Gill Valentine (eds.) pp.215-228. New York: Routledge Part 4: The Colonial/Post-Colonial City 16. Colonial Cities (10/30/02) **PAPER 2 DUE IN CLASS** Readings: King, Anthony D. 1985 Colonial cities: global pivots of change. In Colonial cities. Robert J. Ross and Gerard J. Telkamp (eds). Pp. 7-32. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff. 17. Making Cities, Making Citizens (11/4/02) Readings: Mitchell, Timothy 1991[1988] An appearance of order. In Colonising Egypt. Second Edition. Pp. 63-94. Berkeley: University of California Press. 18. The Consequences of Colonialism: The Zambian Copperbelt I (11/6/02) Readings: Ferguson, James. 1999 Expectations of Modernity : Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt. University of California Press. (chapters 1-2) 19. The Consequences of Colonialism: The Zambian Copperbelt II (11/11/02) Readings: Film: The Debt Crisis: an African Dilemma Ferguson, James. 1999 Expectations of Modernity : Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt. University of California Press. (chapters 3-4) 20. The Consequences of Colonialism: The Zambian Copperbelt III (11/13/02) Readings: Ferguson, James. 1999 Expectations of Modernity : Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt. University of California Press. (chapters 5- 6) 21. The Consequences of Colonialism: The Zambian Copperbelt IV (11/18/02) Readings: Ferguson, James. 1999 Expectations of Modernity : Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt. University of California Press. (chapter 7 and postscript) 22. (11/20/02) No class (American Anthropological Association meetings) 23. 11/25/02 **PAPER 3 DUE IN CLASS** Class round-table. 11/27/02 -- Thanksgiving Break Part 5: From Colonialism to Globalization 24. The Global City (12/2/02) Readings: Sassen, Saskia 1996 The global city. In Readings in urban theory. Susan S. Fainstein and Scott Campbell (eds.). pp. 61-71. Oxford: Blackwell. Horton, John 1996 The Chinese Suburban Immigration and Political Diversity in Monterey Park, California. Social Justice 23(3):100-110. 25. The Global City II (12/4/02) Readings: Garc�a Canclini, N�stor. 1995 Mexico: cultural globalization in a disintegrating city. American Ethnologist 22(4):743-755. 26. The Impact of De-industrialization I (12/9/02) Film: Roger and Me Readings: Nash, June 1989 Community and corporate hegemony. In From tank town to high tech: the clash of communities and industrial cycles. Albany: State University of New York Press. 27. The Impact of De-industrialization II (12/11/02) Readings: Rosenberger, Nancy R. 1999 Global capital in small town USA: justice versus efficiency for bus drivers. Urban Anthropology 28(3-4):447-481. Maxwell, Andrew H. 1998 Motorcyclists and community in post-industrial urban America. Urban Anthropology 27(3-4):263-299. 28. (12/16/02) Presentation of conference projects 29. (12/18/02) Course Review and organizational and planning meeting for spring semester. |