ANTHRO 138B:
Urban Africa (AFRICAST 138B, URBANST 139)
This course explores the production of urban space and the social, cultural, and political significance of cities in sub-Saharan Africa. Topics include: architecture and the built environment; urban planning and colonial public health; migration and rural-urban dynamics; youth, politics, and popular culture; violence, policing, and the privatization of public space; (in)formality in housing, transportation, and employment; class, gender, and mobility in the public sphere; urban citizenship and `right to the city¿ movements; gentrification, tourism, and the commodification of poverty; and efforts to (re)theorize postcolonial African cities. Readings are drawn from anthropology, history, urban studies, and geography. Discussion will situate struggles over urban forms and the contours of everyday life within broader trends in the political economy of the region from the late colonial period to the present.
| Units: 5