240207 SE Selling Ethnicity - Anthropological Approaches to Material Culture and Consumption (P4) (2013W)

'Global Cities' are strategic nodes of globalizing processes. Here, effects of globalization become visible: Migration processes, high availability of commodities and a high differentiated consumption system that satisfies (basic) needs of different pressure groups cause cities to be of interest to social scientists, especially consumption and material culture anthropologists. Consumption patterns of different ethnic, social, religious and other groups and their valuation within urban societies show the complexity of different urban life-styles. Places (street food, supermarkets, etc.), practices (festivals, ceremonies, etc.) and unique urban areas (public spaces, museums, etc.) are of high anthropological interest because an analysis shows differences and similarities between and within selected target groups. To understand urban societies in the context of material culture from a contemporary anthropological perspective, the analisis of the commercialization of authenticity and ethnicity is essential and indispensable.