ANT 347: Metropolis: Global Cities, 2007-08
Please note: On-line material for this course is available on Blackboard through the U of T Portal. Participate in the course blog at
http://metropolis347.blogspot.com
Sometime this decade a statistical landmark will be passed:
for the first time in human history more than half of the world's
population will live in cities. The tremendous growth of cities
around the world poses a challenge to anthropologists, whose discipline
originated in the study of small groups and villages. This course
addresses this challenge by examining attempts by anthropologists
and others to make sense of the socio-cultural aspects of urban
life.
The first half of the course takes a global view of cities, drawing
out some of the main problems and questions that orient anthropological
research on city life. How are we to define and categorize cities?
How do we understand the relation of cities to the world economic
system? How does life in the modern and postmodern city differ from
other modes of life? To help work through these questions, students
are introduced to some of the theoretical and methodological tools
anthropologists have developed for studying cities: theories of
space and place, the idea of spatial practices, the methodological
focus on social groups and subcultures, and the flaneur's technique
of studying fragments of everyday city life. Throughout the term,
students will be encouraged to reflect upon the cultural and social
significance of specific sites in the metropolis: the mall, the
intersection, the home, the street, the park, the billboard, etc.
The second half
of the course focuses on two full-length ethnographic studies of
urban life. One of the things that distinguishes socio-cultural
anthropology from related disciplines is its dependence on ethnographic
fieldwork as the basis for its knowledge. Yet by virtue of their
size and complexity, cities would seem to defy use of ethnographic
methods. This portion of the course thus examines some of the techniques
ethnographers have developed for making sense of urban complexity.
It also focuses on the specific theme of criminality and policing
in two very different urban contexts: Harlem, New York and Sao Paulo,
Brazil.
Street Vendors, Cicadas, Bandung. Photo by Andar Manik
