Theorizing the City: The New Urban Anthropology Reader [Paperback]

Setha M. Low (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1999

"Theorizing the City has become fundamental reading for those students of urban society and culture who wish to better understand twentieth-century city forms and spaces, as well as why certain race, gender, age, and class inequalities continue to be manifested today." -- Alejandro Lugo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "Using rich comparative material, this volume presents an intriguing anthropological vision of how cities are shaped. A major addition to a comparative anthropology of cities." --Judith Goode, co-editor of The New Poverty Studies "These informative essays make clear that anthropology has much to offer to urban theory and policy debates." --Nancy Foner, author of From Ellis Island to JFK: New York's Two Great Waves of Immigration Anthopological perspectives are not often represented in urban studies, even though many anthropologists have been contributing actively to theory and research on urban poverty, racism, globalization, and architecture. Theorizing the City corrects this omission. Following a brief history of urban anthroplogy, emphasizing developments in the field during the 1990s, this volume presents twelve ethnographies of major cities in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Five images of the city--the divided city, the contested city, the global city, the modernist city, and the postmodern city--serve as frameworks for the essays. Each section highlights current research trends such as poststructural studies of race, class, and gender in the urban context; political economic studies of transnational culture; and studies of the symbolic meanings and social production or urban spaces. Setha M. Low is professor of environmental psychology and anthopology and director of the Public Space Research Group at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She is the author of On the Plaza: The Politics of Public Space and Culture.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Theorizing the City is a welcome addition to the urban anthropology literature. The informative essays make clear that anthropology has much to offer to urban theory and public debates." -- Nancy Foner, editor of New Immigrants in New York and professor of anthropology at SUNY-Purchase

"Using rich comparative material, this volume presents an intriguing anthropological vision of how cities are shaped. A major addition to a comparative anthropology of cities, this volume demonstrates the complex structural and cultural forces that shape urban experience. -- Anonymous reviewer

From the Back Cover

Anthropological perspective are not often represented in urban studies, even though many anthropologist have been contributing actively to theory and research on urban poverty, racism, globalization, and architecture. Theorizing the City corrects this omission. Following a brief history of urban anthropology, emphasizing developments in the field during the 1990s, this volume presents twelve ethnographies of major cities in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Five images of the city-the divided city, the contested city, the global city, the modernist city, and the postmodern city-serve as frameworks for the essays. Each section highlights current research trends such as poststructural studies of race, class and gender in the urban context; political economic studies of transnational culture; and studies of the symbolic meanings and social production of urban spaces.

The contributors- Ted Bestor, Teresa P. R. Caldeira, Matthew Cooper, Steven Gregory, James Holston, Setha M. Low, Gary McDonogh, Deborah Pellow, Robert Rotenberg, Charles Rutheiser, Ida Susser, Josephine Smart, and Alan Smart- are leading scholars in urban and spatial anthropology.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813527201
• ISBN-13: 978-0813527208
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #414,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)