Course: Urban Anthropology

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Course title Urban Anthropology
Course code KSKA/ANME
Organizational form of instruction Lecture
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study 2
Semester Summer
Number of ECTS credits 5
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Uherek Zdeněk, doc. PhDr. CSc.
Course content
Structure of the course (each topic roughly corresponds to one lecture): Town as a historical phenomenon and a specific social field. Development of urban anthropology: from place for living to symbolism. Town symbolism in the past and in the present. Class division of towns, now centre for everyone. Pre-historic town, ancient town, medieval town. Modern town in Europe, rural exodus and industrialisation. Traditional non-European town and pre-colonial town. Colonial and post-colonial urbanisation and problem of emergency settlements. Modern western cities: their advantages and problems. Socialistic town: suburbs, blocks of flats and "the new man". Town and suburb of today: culture and sub-culture, deviation, folklore. Fight for towns: demonstrations, revitalisation of town centres, minorities, ghetto. Future of the town: megalopolis, ruralisation or implosion?

Learning activities and teaching methods
Monologic (reading, lecture, briefing), Work with text (with textbook, with book)
Learning outcomes
The objective of the course Urban anthropology is to offer a general overview of the discipline: urban anthropology of North-American industrial cities, northern Europe school, Czech town ethnology, study of towns in developing countries. Students will be also introduced to research into the Czech urban space. The course presents the town mainly as a kind of social space, where specific culture evolves (urban communities, institutions and sub-culture, urban social events and festivities, and finally public space) with its own symbolic value.
This course presents to students the urban phenomenon, which is now the environment of majority of inhabitants of the industrial countries as well as of ever growing number of people in the developing countries. The topics listed bellow roughly correspond to one lecture.
Prerequisites
unspecified
KSKA/MEFI and KSKA/TEDA

Assessment methods and criteria
Oral examination

1. Research report on symbolism of a town of your choice. Range: about 2500 words. 30% of the grade. Deadline for submission: Late submission will be penalised by decrease of the grade by 10%. 2. Essay on problems of the Czech town based on one's own research and study of literature. 30% of the grade. Range: about 2500 words. Deadline for submission: Late submission will be penalised by decrease of the grade by 10%. 3. Oral exam. Students may gain up to 40% of the maximum of 100%. Only completion of the previous two tasks entitles students to take the oral exam.
Recommended literature
  • Mega-Urbanization in Asia. IIAS Newsletter.
  • ALTMAN, K. Krčemné Brno. Brno: Doplněk, 1993.
  • AOYAGI, K., NAS, P., TRAPHAGAN, J. eds. Toward Sustainable Cities. Leiden: Leiden Development Studies, Institute of Cultural and Social Studies, University of Leiden, 1998.
  • COHEN, A. Custom and Politics in Urban Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969.
  • FOSTER, G. M., KEMPER, R. V., eds. Anthropologists in the Cities. Boston:, 1974.
  • JEZERNIK, B., ed. Urban Symbolism and Rituals. Ljubljana, pp. 173-189., 1999.
  • KOLEKTIV. Stará dělnická Praha. Praha: Academia, 1981.
  • LITTLE, K. African Women in Towns. London: Cambridge University Press, 1973.
  • MUSIL, J. a kol. Zrození velkoměsta. Praha, 2001.
  • NAS, P. Jakarta, City Full of Symbols: An Essay in Symbolic Ecology. Sojourn: Social Issues in Southeast Asia Volume 7, 1992.
  • RAULIN, A. Anthropologie urbaine. Paris: Armand Colin, 2001.
  • SALNER, P. a kol. Taká bola Bratislava. Bratislava: Veda, 1991.
  • SIROVÁTKA, O. a kol. Město pod Špilberkem. Brno: Doplněk, 1993.
  • SJOBER, G. The Preindustrial City. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1960.
  • SOUTHALL, A., ed. Urban Anthropology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973.
  • SOUTHALL, A. The City. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  • THOMPSON, R. The Winds of Tomorrow. Social Change in a Maya Town. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1974.
  • UHEREK, Z. Europe from the urban culture perspective. In P.Skalník (ed.), Anthropology of Europe: Teaching and Research. Praha, 2005.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Study plan (Version): Social Anthropology (2013) Category: Social sciences 3 Recommended year of study:3, Recommended semester: Summer
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Study plan (Version): Social Anthropology (2015) Category: Social sciences 2 Recommended year of study:2, Recommended semester: Summer