Universität Wien

240029 VS The anthropology of space: ethnographic and participatory approaches (3.3.3) (2020W)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 24 - Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
Prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung

Participation at first session is obligatory!

The lecturer can invite students to a grade-relevant discussion about partial achievements. Partial achievements that are obtained by fraud or plagiarized result in the non-evaluation of the course (entry 'X' in certificate). The plagiarism software 'Turnitin' will be used for courses with continuous assessment.
Moodle

An/Abmeldung

Hinweis: Ihr Anmeldezeitpunkt innerhalb der Frist hat keine Auswirkungen auf die Platzvergabe (kein "first come, first served").

Details

max. 20 Teilnehmer*innen
Sprache: Englisch

Lehrende

Termine (iCal) - nächster Termin ist mit N markiert

Update 11.12.2020: Due to the current Covid-19 Situation the course will change to digital till the end of the semester.

Update 3.11.2020: Due to the current Covid-19 Situation the course will change to digital till the end of the year.

Dienstag 06.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
Dienstag 13.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
Dienstag 20.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
Dienstag 27.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
Dienstag 03.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
Dienstag 10.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
Dienstag 17.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
Dienstag 24.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
Dienstag 01.12. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
Dienstag 15.12. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
Dienstag 12.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
Dienstag 19.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
Dienstag 26.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital

Information

Ziele, Inhalte und Methode der Lehrveranstaltung

This course offers an introduction to the anthropology of place, space and landscape. Students read into anthropological monographs, ethnographic methods, and anthropological theory of spatial forms, identities, and experiences. In classroom discussions and papers, they consider how these anthropological approaches of space can inform broader public and political discussions about urgent spatial questions of forest destruction, sustainable mobility, urban (re)development, and digital city-making. Alongside this theoretical track, the course includes a research component. Students will learn about creative and participatory methods through which communities can be involved in research and decision making about urban development, including new ideas about digital city-making to support bottom-up urban development. Students will consider the aims, challenges and dilemmas of these ideas of participatory development and put theory into practice in a research project on place-making in Vienna. This enables them to gain experience with participatory research approaches, and to reflect on their potential role of anthropologists in interdisciplinary and public debates about space and spatial development.

After completing this course,
-Students have gained theoretical knowledge about the anthropology of place, space, landscapes, and environment;
-Students have gained insights into recent ideas and practices of participation in urban development, and the discussions this generates;
-Students have gained experience with participatory (creative) methods and can reflect on the merits and challenges of such methods in urban development projects.

The following topics will be discussed:
- overview of theories of place, space, and landscape in anthropology
- the social construction versus the social production of space
- translocal space, multi-sitedness, scale
- digital place-making: smart cities versus hackable cities
- sensory, embodied, and affective space
- participatory research approaches in urban development

Art der Leistungskontrolle und erlaubte Hilfsmittel

There will be two individual mid-term papers for this class, each on the basis of a thorough reading of an entire ethnographic monograph (each worth 35%, total 70% of the final grade). In the final research assignment, students apply what they have learnt in a small research project, resulting in a collaborative final assignment in groups of 2 or 3 students (30% of the final grade).

In order to receive a passing grade, weekly participation is compulsory (to evaluated as either "sufficient" or "not sufficient" at the end of the course). "Sufficient" participation includes a maximum of 2 missed classes, and evidence of active engagement with the study materials through participation in discussions and/or the completion of occasional assignments during or in advance of the classes.

Mindestanforderungen und Beurteilungsmaßstab

A = 1 (Very Good): 87 - 100%
B = 2 (Good): 75 - 86,99%
C = 3 (Satisfactory): 63 - 74,99%
D = 4 (Enough): 50 - 62,99%
F = 5 (Not Enough): 00 - 49,99%

Prüfungsstoff

Readings and multimedia examples of research projects, to be studied weekly in advance of the class. Links will be made available on Moodle.

Literatur

Selection of literature
The short list below is included to give an indication. Students will read a selection of ethnographic monographs and will additionally study multimedia resources with examples of creative and participatory research projects into spatial issues. A full list of readings and audio-visual resources will be announced during the first class.
- Low, Setha. 2017. Spatializing Culture: The Ethnography of Space and Place. London: Routledge.
- Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. 2015. The Mushroom at the End of the World:On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton: Princeton University Press (available as audiobook on Audible, narrated by Susan Ericksen).
- Basso, Keith. 1996. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press (accessible as audiobook on Audible, narrated by Steven Jay Cohen).

Zuordnung im Vorlesungsverzeichnis

Letzte Änderung: Fr 12.05.2023 00:20