URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY
(ANTH 210)

Prof. Vincenza Kay
( kayv@mail.montclair.edu  )

In1850, only 2% of the world's populations lived in cities of more than 10,000 persons.   Today as many as 25% do.  It is estimated that by the year 2000 the figure will jump to 40% (Fischer, 1984).  The United Nations estimates that by 2025, 61% of humanity will be city dwellers.  Pulled by bright lights and promises of jobs, pushed by starvation or political turmoil, millions of people are migrating to the cities of the world.  How will people adapt?  How will governments cope with the megacities?

This course will apply an anthropological perspective to the study of urban life through space and time.  We will study the impact that "the city" has on people and vice-verse.

A.   Grades:

Your grade will be based on two (2) exams -- a mid-term and final -- and one (1) reaction paper (paper length:  6 pages, double-spaced).  Each exam/paper will count for 25% of your grade.  (Class participation and preparedness will count for the remaining 25%.)  Short written analyses based on your readings will be assigned throughout the semester.

(NOTE:  Class attendance is central to a successful completion of this course.)

B.    Required Books:

        Lofland, L., A World of Strangers, Waveland.
        Fischer, The Urban Experience, Harcourt, 2nd edition.
        Gmelck/Zenner, Urban Life, Waveland.
        (Also, hand-outs will be given throughout the semester.)

C.    Outline of Course Content

I.     The Anthropological Perspective

(a)   Significance of urban anthropology
(b)   Fieldwork in an urban setting
(c)   Participant observation, survey research, and life-history methods, applied to urban settings
(d)   Determinist, Compositional, and Sub-cultural Theories (anthropological adaptation to these sociological theories)

II.    The Way It Was

(a)   Hunters and gatherers
(b)   Horticulturalists
(c)   Pastoralists
(d)   Agriculturalists/peasants

III.   The Origin of the City

(a)   The various theories of the origin of the city
(b)   Early cities throughout the world
(c)   Pre-industrial cities/Medieval cities
(d)   Industrialization's impact on city growth

Mid-term Exam

IV.   Urbanization

(a)   City size, growth-rate
(b)   Urban crowding:  the individual in the city
(c)   The social setting:  rural vs. urban vs. suburban
(d)   Crime in the cities, youth gangs, drugs, etc.
(e)   Urban schools
(f)   Homelessness as an urban problem

Reaction Paper

V.      Urban Ethnography

(a)   Ethnicity, class, caste
(b)   Emigrants (legal, illegal), migrants
(c)   Squatters, slums
(d)   Commuters
(e)   "Culture and poverty"
(f)    Sub-cultures

VI.    Culture of Cities

(a)   Family in the city
(b)   Sex and age roles
(c)   Alienation, anomie
(d)   Community/neighborhood
(e)   Cities of the Developing World

VII.   Post-Industrial Cities

(a)   Social-psychological consequences - urban stress
(b)   Ecological perspective
(c)   The future of the cities
(d)   Megacities and "floating populations of the unemployed"

Final Exam

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