AANB11067U Urban Anthropology - NB: The course is closed for further registration

Volume 2015/2016
Content

More than half of the world’s population currently lives in cities, and the United Nations predicts that this proportion will increase to over 70% by 2050. Urban settlements are growing and will continue to grow whether this is planned or they simply spread with cities not only expanding physically but also in density with increasing numbers of residents within the existing urban settings. Processes of globalization, poverty, social inequality increasingly occur in urban settings, and more and more people will experience, negotiate, and struggle with urbanized lives. The course in Urban Anthropology aims towards presenting the students with a range of anthropological questions, theoretical approaches, and methodological perspectives of doing anthropology in and on an urban setting. We will look at urban life from various perspectives; ethnographic, historical, geographic, and critical-theoretical – drawing on empirical cases from the Global South. The course is organized around exploring the following ‘pillars’:

1) Anthropology in the city: Defining anthropology and urban anthropology exploring what urban anthropology is and how the field of urban anthropology has developed. Here we will also explore and reflect on doing ethnographic research in an urban setting.

2) Anthropology of cities: theorizing the city, urbanism and urban space discussing theories of place and public space, space as structured by the state and the market, poverty and class as mapped onto the city.

3) Anthropology on the development of an international urban system through time and space: we will discuss and explore themes of contemporary urban anthropology including themes as global cities and processes of globalization, gentrification, the local and the global, new forms of urban inequality, issues of governance and citizenship.

Learning Outcome

By the end of the course students should be able to:

  • Formulate an independent anthropological problem statement within urban anthropology

  • Demonstrate factual knowledge on selected ethnographic circumstances or empirical embeddedness of urban anthropology

  • Demonstrate insight into relevant and chosen theoretical concepts and that relate specifically to urban anthropology

  • Complete an analysis based on the relevant concepts or themes as introduced during the course

 

BSc and Open Education students: 500 pages obligatory literature.
MSc students: 500 pages obligatory literature + 200 pages of literature chosen by students

Literature chosen by students must be relevant to the course’s subject matter.

Course literature will be available in Absalon on the course website

A combination of lectures, discussions, group work and student presentations
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 4
  • Exam
  • 37
  • Exam Preparation
  • 25
  • Lectures
  • 4
  • Practical exercises
  • 8
  • Preparation
  • 116
  • Seminar
  • 12
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Portfolio
Obligatory portfolio assignments: The course lecturer determines the number and length of portfolio assignments. A minimum of 75% thereof will be assessed as the exam. At the end of the course, the lecturer will announce upon which portfolio assignments the assessment will be based.
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
There is appointed a second internal assessor to assist with the assessment
when the first assessor finds this necessary.
Re-exam

1. re-exam:

A new essay with a revised problem statement must be submitted at the announced date. The students are automatically registered for the 1. re-exam. Please note that the re-exam is an essay even for courses, where the ordinary exam is a portfolio exam.

2. re-exam:

A new essay with a revised problem statement must be submitted at the announced date next semester. The students must sign up for the 2. re-exam.

Criteria for exam assesment

See description of learning outcome. Formalities for Written Works must be fulfilled, read more: MSc Students/ BA students (in Danish)/ exchange, credit and Open University students