The upper level seminar examines the everyday lives and the urban experience of city-dwellers in major cities in the United States, India, Pakistan, Brazil and Japan through ethnographic case studies. The course conceptualizes urban experience from a number of perspectives and points of view, examining the distinctive forms of expressive and performative cultures, leisure and social activities, ethnic and racial conflict, globalization and transnationalism, and the political and economic activities that cities generate. Lectures will frame the numerous dimensions that inform city life and its inhabitants. Readings, film screenings, class discussions, writing assignments and other learning activities will provide a variety of forums for thinking analytically about the complexities of the urban experience.
Topics include the emergence of the study of city and urban life in anthropology; race, ethnicity and political economy; urban sexualities; governance, violence, and technologies of surveillance in the city; informal urban power and authority; gated communities and gentrification; transnational labor and financial flows and the global city; urban squatters and poverty; and ethnic celebrations and cultural performances.
- Teacher: Ahmed Afzal