300058 Ethnicity in the City Urban Studies and Identity Politics: InterAmerican Perspectives. (S) (SoSe 2009)

„Cities can be seen as roiling maelstroms of affect“ states the geographer Nigel Thrift, furthermore they are a battleground for struggles over recognition, appropriations, resources and forms of urban governance. In the course of this seminar we will discuss theoretical approaches to urban studies and the conceptual processes of identity politics in urban spaces in the Americas with a multidimensional scope. The clash between multiple identities in urban space generates 1) new urban imaginaries for living the city, 2) the emergence of migration-related translocal networks, 3) a cultural economy of the city, 4) new definitions of gender and the gendering of spaces, and 5) urban violence and an architecture of fear.
The discussions will engage all these aspects of the city and urban cultures in North and South America.

The participation is limited to 10 students.

The students will receive specialized support from the fellows of the research group Pluribus Unum? Ethnic Identities in transnational integration processes in the Americas at ZiF.

Bibliography

Gary Bridge, Ed., A companion to the city, Blackwell, 2007

Richard T. LeGates, Ed., The city reader, Routledge, 1998

Löw, Martina; Silke Steets ; Sergej Stoetzer, Einführung in die Stadt- und Raumsoziologie, Budrich, 2007

Löw, Martina, Soziologie der Städte, Frankfurt am Main 2008

Michel, Boris, Stadt und Gouvernementalität , Münster 2005

Reguillo, Rossana and Godoy, Marcial, Ciudades translocales. Espacios, flujo y representación. Perspectivas desde las Américas, Mexico City 2005