This course serves as an introduction to urban anthropology. It is organized around four particular places on the cityscape that stand as symbolic markers for larger anthropological questions we will examine throughout the course: the market stall, the gated community, the barricade, and the levee. We will explore the rise of global cities, including the role of labor migration, squatter settlements, and institutions of global capitalism, and interrogate the aesthetic practices that inscribe social exclusion onto the urban built environment. We will approach the city as contested space, a stage on which social, economic, and political struggles are waged. And, we will ask how those experiences shape our understanding of contemporary forms of social, political, and economic inequality, and how people “made do” and make claims to their right to the city.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 25

Crosslisted Courses:

Prerequisites: None.

Instructor: Ellison

Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis

Typical Periods Offered: Every other year

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered

Notes: