| THE COURSE AIMS TO INTRODUCE STUDENTS TO THE PERSPECTIVES AND TOOLS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON THE CITY IN RELATION TO ISSUES OF IDENTITY AND CULTURAL ENCOUNTER. AT A TIME WHEN THE DIVIDE BETWEEN THE WESTERN WORLD AND OTHER WORLDS SEEMS LESS CLEAR THAN IT ONCE WAS, THE CITY IS MORE THAN EVER THE SITE OF CONTACT, CONFLICT OR CONFRONTATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT HUMAN GROUPS, AS WELL AS A SPACE CONSTANTLY CHARACTERISED BY INTERESTING PHENOMENA OF CULTURAL CREATIVITY. AT THE SAME TIME, IT IS AN IMPORTANT TEST CASE FOR ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES, WHICH HAVE HISTORICALLY BEEN DEVELOPED TO STUDY VERY DIFFERENT TYPES OF CONTEXTS.
THE COURSE WILL BEGIN BY OUTLINING 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 WERE ORIGINALLY THE FOCUS OF ITS INTERESTS. THE STUDY OF THE CITY IS ALSO A REFLECTION ON INDUSTRIAL AND CAPITALIST MODERNITY, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF APPLYING ANTHROPOLOGICAL METHODS AND CONCEPTS TO WHAT WERE CALLED "COMPLEX SOCIETIES". REMAINED CONTROVERSIAL FOR A LONG TIME. IN THIS SLOW PROCESS OF RAPPROCHEMENT, THERE WERE SOME CRUCIAL JUNCTURES, SUCH AS THE PIONEERING WORK OF THE CHICAGO SCHOOL, WHICH USED BOTH SOCIOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL TOOLS TO LINK SOCIAL RESEARCH TO CONCRETE INHABITED SPACES (SLUMS, GHETTOS, BUT ALSO MIDDLE-CLASS OR ELITE NEIGHBOURHOODS). OR, LATER, THE STUDY OF THE NEW URBAN CENTRES OF AFRICA'S COPPERBELT MINING REGION BY ANTHROPOLOGISTS OF THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, IN THE CONTEXT OF A GROWING FOCUS ON THE URBANISATION OF GROUPS FROM AGRO-PASTORAL CONTEXTS.
IT IS NOW COMMON FOR ANTHROPOLOGISTS TO STUDY URBAN CONTEXTS, BOTH WESTERN AND NON-WESTERN. THE MAIN APPROACHES OF CONTEMPORARY URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY WILL THEREFORE BE PRESENTED, STARTING WITH THOSE THAT ANALYSE THE CITY WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF A GENERAL VIEW OF SOCIETY AND THE ECONOMY IN ITS GLOBALISED 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 FORMERLY WORKING-CLASS NEIGHBOURHOODS, 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 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", AS WELL AS COGNITIVE TOOLS SUCH AS NETWORK ANALYSIS AND MENTAL MAPS. POSSIBLE INTERDISCIPLINARY CONVERGENCES AND APPLICATIONS AT THE LEVEL OF SPATIAL GOVERNANCE WILL ALSO BE EXPLORED, IN DIALOGUE WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES CONCERNED WITH THE CITY, STARTING WITH URBAN PLANNING.
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