Cities & Urban Culture

The urbanization process is one of the most significant social phenomena of the 20th century. This course explores the dynamics of urbanization and urban life from an anthropological perspective. It looks at issues such as rural-urban migration; migrant adaptation to city life; the construction of communal bonds in cities through such things as kinship, informal networks and ethnic identity; the meaning of slums, squatter settlements, and homelessness for both its inhabitants and others; and the issues of de-urbanization or urban blight.