Table Of ContentIntroducing Urban Anthropology
This book provides an up-to-date introduction to the important and growing field of
urban anthropology. This is an increasingly critical area of study, as more than half of the
world’s population now lives in cities and anthropological research is increasingly done in
an urban context. Exploring contemporary anthropological approaches to the urban, the
authors consider:
• How can we define urban anthropology?
• What are the main themes of twenty-first-century urban anthropological research?
• What are the possible future directions in the field?
The chapters cover topics such as urban mobilities, place-making and public space,
production and consumption, politics and governance. These are illustrated by lively
case studies drawn from a diverse range of urban settings in the global North and South.
Accessible yet theoretically incisive, Introducing Urban Anthropology will be a valuable
resource for anthropology students as well as of interest to those working in urban studies
and related disciplines such as sociology and geography.
Rivke Jaffe is Associate Professor in the Centre for Urban Studies and the Department
of Human Geography, Planning and International Development Studies at the University
of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Anouk de Koning is Assistant Professor in the Department of Cultural Anthropology
and Development Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
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Introducing Urban
Anthropology
Rivke Jaffe and Anouk de Koning
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 R. Jaffe and A. de Koning
The right of Rivke Jaffe and Anouk de Koning to be identified as authors
of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jaffe, Rivke.
Introducing urban anthropology / Rivke Jaffe and Anouk De Koning.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Urban anthropology. I. Koning, Anouk de. II. Title.
GN395.J34 2016
307.76–dc23 2015018436
ISBN: 978-0-415-74480-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-74481-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-66939-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by HWA Text and Data Management, London
Contents
List of figures and boxes vi
Preface viii
1 Introduction 1
Part I
at home in the city? 21
2 Urban places 23
3 Urban mobilities 41
4 Social life in public space 55
Part II
Crafting urban lives and lifestyles 69
5 Urban economies 71
6 Consumption, leisure and lifestyles 87
7 Cities and globalization 101
Part III
Politics in and of the city 117
8 Planning the city 119
9 Cities, citizenship and politics 137
10 Violence, security and social control 151
11 Conclusion: the future of urban anthropology 165
Bibliography 168
Index 182
Figures and boxes
Figures
1.1 Bandit’s Roost, Mulberry Bend, New York City, 1888 7
1.2 Fieldwork in Kafanchan, Nigeria, 1975; Ulf Hannerz with Chief Ladipo,
leader of the Yoruba ethnic community in Kafanchan 10
1.3 Fieldwork in Kafanchan, Nigeria, 1975; Silver 40, a commercial artist and
major informant, in front of his workshop 10
1.4 Setha Low interviewing in Parque Central, San Jose, Costa Rica, 2014 12
2.1 Pentecostal church Deus é Amor (God is Love) in Rio de Janeiro 26
2.2 Roadside shrine in Mexico City, 2010 28
2.3 An example of Dutch colonial modernism in Indonesia 31
2.4 Public square in the favela of Pavão-Pavãozinho, Rio de Janeiro 35
3.1 Traffic in Hong Kong, 2013 49
3.2 Customized ‘low-rider’ car in Austin, Texas 51
3.3 Young women on motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 2015 53
4.1 Traders in Khari Baoli, Old Delhi, 2007 59
4.2 Young women in Istanbul, 2007 63
5.1 Office personnel at the Suriname Bauxite Company, Moengo,
Suriname, 1940 77
5.2 Abandoned houses in Detroit 78
5.3 Harrison Road Night Market, Baguio City, Philippines 81
6.1 Advertisements for host clubs in Kabukicho, Tokyo, 2013 92
6.2 1970s bar scene in Kafanchan, Nigeria 98
6.3 Bluffeurs at home in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire 99
7.1 Trianon, an upscale coffee shop in Cairo, 2004 107
7.2 Street vendors in Dar es Salaam, 2003 109
7.3 Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, 2010 111
7.4 Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong, 2013 113
8.1 Downtown Cairo, 2009 120
8.2 The Garden City concept by Ebenezer Howard, 1902 125
8.3 Jacarezinho favela in Recife, Brazil, 2004 129
8.4 New Prometropole housing project in Jacarezinho, Recife, Brazil, 2008 131
8.5 Dubai as construction site 133
8.6 Construction workers playing cards in a labour camp near Dubai, 2006 134
9.1 Urban village in Guangzhou, China, 2006 139
List of figures and boxes vii
9.2 Young men dismantling downtown walls near Tahrir Square, Cairo, 2012 148
9.3 Occupy Wall Street, New York City, 2011 149
10.1 Martyrs mural in downtown Cairo, 2013 158
10.2 Private security in Durban, South Africa, 2009 159
Boxes
1.1 City typologies 2
1.2 What is a city? 4
2.1 Space and place 24
2.2 Representing poor neighborhoods 34
3.1 Kevin Lynch’s The Image of the City 42
3.2 The new mobilities paradigm 43
4.1 Public space 56
4.2 Goffman’s symbolic interactionism 57
4.3 Intersectionality 62
5.1 Fordism and Post-Fordism 72
6.1 Bourdieu and cultural capital 89
6.2 Hebdige and subculture 96
7.1 Globalization 102
7.2 The global city 105
8.1 Foucault on space and power 121
8.2 James Scott and high modernism 124
9.1 The right to the city 145
10.1 Typologies of violence 152
Preface
We hope that Introducing Urban Anthropology will be able to fill a significant gap in the range
of existing introductory textbooks that cover anthropology and its subfields. We are both
city enthusiasts, interested in getting to know different cities, and excited to experience
the diversity, creativity and unexpected encounters they offer. We are also committed
to analyzing the various social problems found in cities, such as inequality, insecurity
and pollution. We hope our passion for city life and our critical engagement with urban
questions is evident throughout this book.
As is true of any text, and certainly of anthropological texts, our own personal and
academic trajectories inform the content of this book. While this book seeks to cover the
most important themes in current urban anthropology and includes a wide geographical
range of cities, our emphases will betray the influence of our own trajectories. Our
location in the Netherlands may provide the reader with a slightly different perspective on
urban anthropology and on cities across the world than if we were located in, for instance,
the United States. Our academic trajectories also influence the examples we give, our
selection of case studies to illustrate specific themes, and the particular insights we bring
to bear on the wider field of urban anthropology.
Rivke has worked mostly in the Caribbean, particularly in Kingston, Jamaica. Her
earlier research concentrated on urban pollution and environmental justice in Curaçao
and Jamaica, followed by a research project on the governance role of criminal ‘dons’ in
Jamaica. Her current research examines the political implications of the pluralization and
privatization of security provision in Kingston, Jerusalem, Miami, Nairobi and Recife. In
addition, her research has focused on the role of popular culture (music, video clips, street
dances, murals and graffiti) in how people experience and communicate urban exclusion
and solidarity.
Anouk’s academic career started with a study of middle-class professionals in
neoliberalizing Cairo, and she maintains strong ties to the city. Following this, she studied
Surinamese social history, including a focus on the bauxite mining town of Moengo. She
then turned to study her own city, Amsterdam, analyzing how new nationalist, racialized
public discourses shaped policy and everyday life in this multi-ethnic city. Her current
research uses migrant parenting as a vantage point from which to explore how citizenship
is negotiated in a Europe where migrants have increasingly been framed as a burden or a
threat.
Writing Introducing Urban Anthropology has been a stimulating journey. It has expanded
our understanding of current research in the field, and helped us discover the work of
Preface ix
colleagues around the world. Many of them have been kind enough to provide us with
photos to illustrate our discussion of their work. We have also benefited from informal
crowdsourcing, asking our colleagues for advice and tips.
We are grateful to the many people who have helped along the way. In addition to
the anonymous reviewers who provided constructive comments, we want to thank our
friends and colleagues who read parts of this manuscript closely and provided us with
invaluable feedback: Freek Colombijn, Henk Driessen, Martijn Koster, Eileen Moyer and
Martijn Oosterbaan. Rivke would also like to thank Peter Nas for encouraging her interest
in urban anthropology from early on in her career.
This book would not have come about if it were not for our editor at Routledge,
Katherine Ong, who launched the idea and helped us along the way, assisted by Lola
Harre. We also thank our partners, Wayne Modest and Ivo Bol, for their encouraging
words and patience throughout the process of writing. We are grateful to Anouk’s parents,
Marijke and Tom de Koning, for their baby sitting, which allowed us to go on writing
retreats together. We hope that this book will find its way into the classrooms and onto the
bookshelves of readers who are curious to learn more about the distinct approach to city
life that urban anthropology can provide.
Amsterdam, May 2015
Rivke Jaffe and Anouk de Koning
