Anthropology

Cities and Urban Lives

Module code: L6076
Level 5
15 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Seminar
Assessment modes: Essay, Coursework

In this module, you’ll explore literature and debates in urban anthropology and the anthropology of the city.

This module unpacks the everyday experiences of urban life in cities worldwide. Tracing the history of urbanisation, you’ll consider features that define modern cities, including:

• the spatial
• the cultural
• the political
• the social.

Using comparative case studies, you’ll analyse the diversity of urban forms and experiences. You’ll engage with theories that suggest there are universal characteristics to modern societies and cultures.

Module learning outcomes

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of anthropological approaches to the understanding of cities and urban lives.
• Demonstrate the ability to analyse, evaluate and assess critically the main theoretical debates in the fields of urban anthropology and anthropology of the city, and to have an awareness of the history of these debates and how specific theoretical trends have developed over time.
• Demonstrate the capacity to relate theory to specific ethnographic contexts in the analysis of the spatial, cultural, political and social characteristics of modern cities.
• Demonstrate the ability to evaluate and compare strengths and weaknesses of anthropological theories developed and deployed to understand urban spaces and urban lives.