Week 1 Introduction: What is Anthropology? How is the anthropological approach unique?
M: Introductions and Syllabus Review
W: Read: Spradley, Ethnography and Culture, BB
Week 2 Foundations: How do anthropologists study cities? Why do we need urban plans?
M: Jacobs, Life and Death of Great American Cities (excerpts), BB
W: Jacobs, Life and Death of Great American Cities (excerpts), BB
FILM: URBANIZED
Week 3 Inequality: What are the causes of urban poverty?
M: Lewis, Culture of Poverty, BB
W: Lamont, et. al, Reconsidering Culture and Poverty, BB
Week 4 Spatial Politics: How do built environments reflect and maintain inequality?
Read: Rodgers and O’Neil, Infrastructural Violence, BB
FILM: THE PRUITT-IGOE MYTH
Week 5 Urban Segregation: Who has access to the city? Is it equal for everyone?
M 2/29: How is urban segregation accomplished?
Read: Coates, The Case for Reparations, Blackboard
W 3/2: What are the implications of these practices?
Read: Harvey, Rights to the City, Blackboard
Week 6 Urban Fear: How does urban fear shape our experience in cities?
M 3/7: What is the difference between fear and danger?
Read: Merry, Urban Fear, Blackboard
W 3/9: How do urban residents respond to fear?
Read: Low, Urban Fear and Building the Fortress City, Blackboard
Week 7 Unregulated Landscapes: What is so informal about the informal economy?
M 3/14: What is the informal economy?
Read: Bourgois, Office Work and the Crack Alternative, Blackboard
W 3/16: FILM: RUBBLE KINGS (in-class) (No Reading)
Week 8 New Economies: What is the sharing economy and who is it helping?
M 3/21: What are the implications of the “sharing” economy?
SHARING ECONOMY DEBATE (in-class)
MID-TERM EXAM DISTRIBUTED
W 3/23: NO CLASS (No Reading)
Week 9 Gentrification: What is gentrification? How is gentrification a process?
M 3/28: What are the causes and effects of gentrification in urban areas?
Read: Douglas, Neighborhood Identity at the Gentrification Frontier, Blackboard
W 3/30: Is gentrification a positive or negative factor impacting urban environments?
Read: Boyd, The Downside of Racial Uplift, Blackboard
MID-TERM EXAM DUE
Week 10 Ethnography: How does ethnography help us understand people?
M 4/4: What is an ethnography? What is ethnographic authority?
Read: Duneier, pp. 1-42, Sidewalk
W 4/6: Why is ethnography good for studying people like the urban poor?
Read: Duneier, pp. 43-111, Sidewalk
Week 11 Why do people work in the informal economy of the street?
M 4/11: Who are workers in the informal economy of 6th Ave? Why are they there?
Read: Duneier, pp. 114-154, Sidewalk
W 4/13: How do those in power regulate spaces? What are the effects on urban residents?
Read: Duneier, pp. 156 – 228, Sidewalk
Week 12 Regulation: What is the responsibility of the police to urban residents?
M 4/18: What is the relationship between the vendors and law and order?
Read: Duneier, pp. 231 – 289, Sidewalk
W 4/20: How do we construct decency in society? What do we do to those who violate it?
Read: Duneier, pp. 293 – 330, Sidewalk
Week 13: Spring Break
M 4/25: NO CLASS (No Reading)
W 4/27: NO CLASS (No Reading)
Week 14 Student Presentations
M 5/2: Student Presentations (No Reading)
W 5/4: Student Presentations (No Reading)
Week 15 Student Presentations
M 5/9: Student Presentations (No Reading)
W 5/11: Student Presentations (No Reading)
Week 16: Wrap-Up: How do we use anthropology to solve real-world problems?
M 5/16: Where do anthropologists fit in a globalized world? What skills can they use?
Read: McCurdy, Using Anthropology, Blackboard
W 5/18: Course Wrap-Up/ FINAL EXAMINATION DISTRIBUTED
FINAL EXAMINATION DUE: MONDAY 5/23 1PM, ROOM 3304B JAMES HALL
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