| THE COURSE AIMS TO INTRODUCE STUDENTS TO PERSPECTIVES AND TOOLS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON THE CITY IN RELATION TO ISSUES OF IDENTITY AND CULTURAL ENCOUNTER. IN AN AGE WHEN THE SEPARATION BETWEEN THE WESTERN WORLD AND OTHER WORLDS APPEARS LESS CLEAR-CUT THAN IT USED TO BE, THE CITY IS MORE THAN EVER THE SITE OF CONTACT, CONFLICT OR CONFRONTATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT HUMAN GROUPS, AS WELL AS A SPACE CONSTANTLY CHARACTERIZED BY INTERESTING PHENOMENA OF CULTURAL CREATIVITY. AT THE SAME TIME, IT REPRESENTS AN IMPORTANT TEST CASE FOR ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES, DEVELOPED, HISTORICALLY, FOR THE STUDY OF VERY DIFFERENT TYPES OF CONTEXTS.
THE COURSE WILL FIRST PRESENT THE GENERAL OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY. FOR CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, THE MODERN CITY HAS BEEN AN ANOMALOUS OBJECT OF STUDY, COMPARED TO THE EXOTIC OR TRADITIONAL CULTURAL WORLDS THAT ARE ORIGINALLY THE FOCUS OF ITS INTERESTS. RESEARCH ON THE CITY IS ALSO A REFLECTION ON INDUSTRIAL AND CAPITALIST MODERNITY, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF APPLYING ANTHROPOLOGY'S METHODS AND CONCEPTS TO WHAT WERE TERMED "COMPLEX SOCIETIES" REMAINED A CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE FOR A LONG TIME. THIS SLOW PROCESS OF RAPPROCHEMENT PRESENTS SOME CRUCIAL JUNCTURES, SUCH AS THE PIONEERING WORK OF THE CHICAGO SCHOOL, WHICH DEPLOYS BOTH SOCIOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL TOOLS TO HOOK SOCIAL RESEARCH TO CONCRETE INHABITED SPACES (SLUMS, GHETTOS, BUT ALSO MIDDLE CLASS OR ELITE NEIGHBORHOODS). OR, LATER, THE STUDY OF THE NEW URBAN CENTERS OF THE AFRICAN COPPERBELT MINING AREA BY MANCHESTER SCHOOL ANTHROPOLOGISTS, IN THE CONTEXT OF A GROWING FOCUS ON THE URBANIZATION OF GROUPS FROM AGRO-PASTORAL CONTEXTS.
TODAY, IT IS QUITE USUAL FOR ANTHROPOLOGISTS TO STUDY IN URBAN CONTEXTS, BOTH WESTERN AND NON-WESTERN. THE MAIN APPROACHES OF CONTEMPORARY URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY WILL THEREFORE BE PRESENTED, BEGINNING WITH THOSE THAT ANALYZE THE CITY WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF A GENERAL VIEW OF SOCIETY AND THE ECONOMY, IN THEIR GLOBALIZED FORMS, WITH AUTHORS SUCH AS ULF HANNERZ, MARC AUGÉ OR ARJUN APPADURAI. FROM THIS PERSPECTIVE, CHARACTERISTIC CONTEMPORARY PHENOMENA EMERGE, SUCH AS THE GENTRIFICATION AND TOURISTIFICATION OF ONCE WORKING-CLASS NEIGHBORHOODS, OR SITUATIONS SUCH AS GATED COMMUNITIES IN WHICH EVEN PUBLIC SPACE BECOMES PRIVATE, OR NEW FORMS OF INEQUALITY AND URBAN SEGREGATION. KEY CONCEPTS IN THE ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE CITY, SUCH AS, FOR EXAMPLE, THOSE OF "DWELLING" AND "SENSE OF PLACE" (I.E., THE MEANINGS THAT PLACES TAKE ON FOR THOSE WHO LIVE IN THEM), THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN "PLACE" AND "SPACE" AND THE NOTION OF "NON-PLACE," AND COGNITIVE TOOLS SUCH AS NETWORK ANALYSIS AND MENTAL MAPS, WILL ALSO BE EXPLAINED. POSSIBLE INTERDISCIPLINARY CONVERGENCES AND APPLICATION OPPORTUNITIES ON THE SPATIAL GOVERNANCE LEVEL WILL ALSO BE EXPLORED, IN DIALOGUE WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES THAT STUDY THE CITY, BEGINNING WITH URBAN PLANNING.
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