Urban Ethnography

This course provides an introduction to how the ethnographic method, with its focus on empirical observation and description, intersects with and diverges from classic approaches to researching the urban, a certain kind of social formation. Drawing upon a range of examples from across different cultural and historical contexts, we will consider the political dilemmas and possibilities associated with cities shaped by industrial capitalism, histories of colonialism, and emergent, transnational processes. The final part of the course will study the relationship between the refugee camp and city.