240102 SE Exploring the Post-Socialist City (P4) (2012W)

Traditionally, cities have been seen as places of change and conflict. With the post-socialist acceleration of change, what has happened to the city? Which distinctively new places and conflicts have emerged - and what is post-socialist about them? This seminar will explore the anthropology of post-socialist cities in order to determine whether - if at all - there is something as distinct as a post-socialist city. We will follow recent anthropological perspectives on post-socialist urban spaces and locate them critically in contemporary anthropological thought on both cities and post-socialist transformation. We will focus on a variety of ethnographic case studies (including Berlin, Moscow, and Bejing) in order to investigate how these cities have accommodated post-socialist life as much as they have been changed by recent political, economic, social and cultural changes.