Course Syllabus
Athabasca University
Anthropology (ANTH) 394
Urban Anthropology
ANTH 394 closed August 3, 2007, replaced by current version.
Delivery mode: Individualized study or grouped study.
Credits: 3 - Social Science.
Prerequisite: ANTH 275 or SOCI 287.
Centre: Centre for Work and Community Studies
ANTH 394 has a Challenge for Credit option.
Course website
Overview
ANTH 394 has three broad objectives:
- to demonstrate that the term “urban” has many meanings and is not something that can be taken for granted
- to examine the concepts used by urban anthropologists to describe and analyse urbandwellers' strategies to cope with urban environments
- to explore some of the ways anthropological concepts have been used (and misused) to deal with problems arising from political and economic inequalities.
Outline
The course consists of the following nine units.
Unit 1: Orientation
Unit 2: Origins
Unit 3: Typologies
Unit 4: Primary Units
Unit 5: Urban Components
Unit 6: Junctures and Linkages
Unit 7: Up and Out
Unit 8: Poverty
Unit 9: Case Studies
Evaluation
To receive credit for ANTH 394, you must achieve a composite course grade of at least a “D” (50 percent) and a grade of at least 60 percent on the final examination. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| Essay 1 | Essay 2 | Essay 3 | Final Exam | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20% | 20% | 20% | 40% | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.
Course Materials
Textbooks
Guillemin, Jeanne. 1975. Urban Renegades, The Cultural Strategy of American Indians. New York and London: Columbia University Press.
Emecheta, Buchi. 1979. The Joys of Motherhood. New York.
Safa, Helen I. 1974. The Urban Poor of Puerto Rico, A Study in Development and Inequality. Holt Rinehart and Winston.
Other materials
The course materials include a reader.