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2022/2023

Environment, Space and Housing

Code: 101248 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500256 Social and Cultural Anthropology OT 3 1
2500256 Social and Cultural Anthropology OT 4 1

Contact

Name:
Maria Teresa Tapada Berteli
Email:
teresa.tapada@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
spanish (spa)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
Yes

Prerequisites

There are no official prerequisites compulsory to attend this subject

Objectives and Contextualisation

The course aims the student to introduce to the theoretical contributions and applied knowledge of the anthropology of the built environment and the urban anthropology. After the acquirement of these basic knowledge, the course introduces to the critical approach of urban policies from the anthropological perspective.

Competences

    Social and Cultural Anthropology
  • Apprehending cultural diversity through ethnography and critically assessing ethnographic materials as knowledge of local contexts and as a proposal of theoretical models.
  • Carry out effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in different languages.
  • Introduce changes in the methods and processes of the field of knowledge to provide innovative responses to the needs and demands of society.
  • Producing cultural diversity materials that could have a critical impact on the common sense conceptions.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the history of anthropological theory and the genesis of its basic concepts.
  • Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Use digital tools and critically interpret specific documentary sources.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse a situation and identify points for improvement.
  2. Analysing a contemporary fact from an anthropological perspective.
  3. Analysing data critically from anthropological investigations and reports.
  4. Assess the reliability of sources, select important data and cross-check information.
  5. Carry out ethical use of the information especially when it is of a personal nature.
  6. Critically identify and compose a basic bibliography for the field opf study.
  7. Enumerating the theories about human species in their relation to society and culture production.
  8. Explaining the work's results narratively in accordance with the critical standards of discipline and bearing in mind the different target audiences.
  9. Express ideas with a specific vocabulary appropriate to the discipline.
  10. Identify main and secondary ideas and express them with linguistic correctness.
  11. Identify situations that require improvement or change.
  12. Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within one?s own area of knowledge.
  13. Identifying the contemporary interdisciplinary tendencies shared by the Anthropology and social disciplines related to the corresponding field.
  14. Identifying the recent disciplinary developments and the correlation between the anthropological theory and the social disciplines related in their historical development and the current interdisciplinary tendencies.
  15. Identifying the sociocultural variability in specific ethnographic contexts.
  16. Identifying the various relationship processes between human populations and their environment.
  17. Producing materials related to the human population-environment relationships that may have a critical impact on the political and common sense conceptions in their respective fields.

Content

 

1. Introduction and objectives of the course.

2. Perspectives from urban and space anthropology: the spatialization of culture.

a. Theoretical principles and basic concepts.

b. From urban anthropology to space anthropology.

c. From tangible to intangible: the physical space, the experience of the use of space and imagined space.

3.Forms of space appropriation and vernacular construction in the age of globalization.

a. Traditional and vernacular constructions.

b. Cultural diversity in the use of space.

c.The process of globalization and its impact on the perception of the territory: deterritorialization and identity.

4. Processes of adaptation and socio-symbolic meanings of physical space: sense of belonging

    

4. Processes of adaptation and socio-symbolic meanings of physical space: sense of belonging, identity and social and community empowerment.

a. The physical space as a projection of the social structure at various scales: housing, block, inter-block, street, neighbourhood, city.

b. The physical space as a projection of norms, habits and sociocultural practices. c. The urban re-accommodation as a reterritorialization experience.

5. The problem of housing, identity processes and social movements.

6. The applicability of anthropological knowledge from an interdisciplinary perspective.

7. Conclusions. Methodology

Methodology

Training activities: theoretical classes and guided practices, directed readings and presentation of the work.

Teaching methodology: master classes, viewing of documentaries, debates, individual reading and group discussion.

Training activities

Type: Directed

Theoretical classes and practices directed by the teacher

Discussions in the classroom

 15 minutes of a class will be reserved, within the calendar established by the center / degree, for the completion by the students of the surveys of evaluation of the performance of the teaching staff and of evaluation of the subject.

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Discussions in the classroom 15 0.6 3, 8, 16, 15, 17
Theoretical Classes and practices directed by the teacher 30 1.2 3, 8, 16, 15, 17
Type: Supervised      
Individual tutorials 5 0.2 3, 8, 16, 15, 17
Tutorials-supervised work 19 0.76 3, 8, 16, 15, 17
Type: Autonomous      
Personal Study 25 1 3, 8, 5, 16, 6, 15, 17, 4
Reading 25 1 3, 8, 16, 15, 17
Search for information (libraries or other sources). Personal study. Reading. 10 0.4 3, 8, 9, 5, 16, 6, 15, 17, 4

Assessment

30% Essay as theoretical framework of the individual work with the incorporation of the subjects taught in class, mandatory and specific theoretical readings on the topic of work, videos and lectures.

40% Individual work (theoretical framework with the introduction of corrections + incorporation of the case study). The subject will be of free choice with supervision of the teacher (urban social movement, case of use of space, etc.).

20% Presentation of the course work at the Final Seminar (individual). Non-recoverable activity.

10% Participation in the discussions in class, exercises in the classroom of compulsory texts and participation in the presentations of the final work of the classmates.Non-recoverable activity.

The student must obtain a minimum mark of 4.5 in the first essay . If you take less than this note, the subject will be suspended, and the exam must be reevaluated to the reassessment period. If, despite having passed the exam, the average of the final grade is less than 5, the subject will be suspended. Attendance and participation are not recoverable during the reassessment period. Obviously, the examination is recoverable during the reassessment period.

On carrying out each evaluation activity, the lecturer will inform the students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date of review on which such a review will take place. 

Misconduct in assessment activities

Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the students involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the subject.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for thisactivity,regardless of any disciplinary process thatmay takeplace. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Essay 30% 3 0.12 7, 9, 14, 6, 10, 13
Individual Work 40% 3 0.12 3, 2, 1, 9, 5, 16, 6, 15, 10, 12, 11, 17, 4
Participation 10% 5 0.2 2, 16, 15
Presentation of the course work at the Final Seminar (individual) 20% 10 0.4 8

Bibliography

Altman, Irvin, Rapoport, Amos, & Wohlwill, Joachim F. (1980). Environment and culture. New York: Plenum Press.

Altman, Irvin, & Wohlwill Joachim F. (1976). Human behavior and environment: Advances in theory and research. New York: Plenum Press.

Ashmore, Wendy, & Kent, Susan (2006). Integrating the diversity of twenty-first-century anthropology : The life and intellectual legacies of Susan Kent. Arlington, Va.: American Anthropological Association.

Atkin, Tony, & Rykwert, Joseph (2005). Structure and meaning in human settlements (1st ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Augé, M. (1995). Non-places : Introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity [Non-lieux.] .London ; New York: Verso.

Bergalli,Roberto & Rivera, Iñaki, Emergencias Urbanas. Barcelona: Anthropos. Observatori del Sistema Penal i els Drets Humans de la Universitat de Barcelona.

Cátedra Tomás, María. (1997). Un santo para una ciudad : Ensayo de antropología urbana (1a ed.). Barcelona: Editorial Ariel.

Cieraad, Irene (1999). At home: An anthropology of domestic space (1st ed.). Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.

Cohen, Abner (Ed)(1974). Urban ethnicity. London, New York: Tavistock Publications Distributed in the USA by Harper & Row Publishers, Barnes & Noble Import Division.

Coleman, Simon, & Collins, Peter (2006). Locating the field: Space, place and context in anthropology. Oxford; New York: Berg.

Cordeiro, Graça Indias, Baptista, Luis Vicente, Costa, da Costa, Antonio Firmino (2019). Etnografias urbanas Oeiras, Portugal: Celta Editora.

Cucó Giner, Josepa (2004). Antropología urbana (1a ed.). Barcelona: Ariel.

Delgado Ruiz, Manuel (1999). Ciudad líquida, ciudad interrumpida : La urbs contra la polis (1.th ed.). Medellín, Colombia: Facultad de Ciencias Humanas y Económicas de la Universidad de Antioquia:Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Medellín. Delgado Ruiz, M. (1999). El animal público : Hacia una antropología de los espacios urbanos. Barcelona: Editorial Anagrama.

Delgado Ruiz, Manuel (2007).Sociedades movedizas. Pasos hacia una antropología de las calles. Barcelona: Editorial Anagrama.

Fernández de Rota y Monter, José Antonio. (1992). Espacio y vida en la ciudad gallega : Un enfoque antropológico. La Coruña: Universidade da Coruña, Sercivio de Publicacións.

Fernández Martorell, Mercedes (1997). Antropología de la convivencia : Manifiesto de antropología urbana. Madrid: Cátedra.

Gaggiotti, Hugo (2006). Un lugar en su sitio: Narrativas y organización cultural urbana en el espacio latinoamericano. Sevilla: Comunicación Social : Doble J.

Giglia, Angela (2012) El Habitar y la cultura. Perspectivas teóricas y de investigación. Barcelona; Anthropos. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana de México. Unidad Iztapalapa.

Giglia, Angela & Signorelli, Amalia (Eds) (2012) Nuevas topografías de la cultura.México: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. Juan Pablos Editor.

Gmelch, George., & Zenner, Walter P. (2002). Urban life: Readings in the anthropology of the city (4th ed.). Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press.

Gravano, Ariel (2003). Antropología de lo barrial : Estudios sobre producción simbólica de la vida urbana (1a. ed.). Buenos Aires: Espacio.

Gray, J. N. (2006). Domestic mandala: Architecture of lifeworlds in Nepal. Aldershot, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

Hatzfeld, Marc (2007) la cultura de los suburbios. Barcelona: Laertes.

Hannerz, Ulf (1980). Exploring the city: Inquiries toward an urban anthropology. New York: Columbia University Press.

Hirsch, Eric, & O'Hanlon, Michael. (1995). The anthropology of landscape: 5 Hirsch, E.,& O'Hanlon, M. (1995). The anthropology of landscape: Perspectives on place and space. Oxford; New York: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press.

Lovejoy, Paul E., & Williams, Pat Ama Tokunbo (1997). Displacement and the politics of violence in Nigeria. Leiden; New York: Brill.

Low, Setha (1999). Theorizing the city: The new urban anthropology reader. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.

Low, Setha, & Chambers, Erve (1989). Housing, culture, and design : A comparative perspective. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Low, Setha, & Lawrence-Zúñiga, Denise (2003). The anthropology of space and place : Locating culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.

Pellow, Devora (1996). Setting boundaries: The anthropology of spatial and social organization. Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey.

Perrault, Ray (2022) Urban Regeneration. Methods, Implementation and Management. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Rapoport, Amos. (1990). History and precedent in environmental design. New York: Plenum Press. Rapoport, A. (1990). The meaning of the built environment: A nonverbal communication approach. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

Rapoport, Amos (1982). The meaning of the built environment: A nonverbal communication approach. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

Rapoport, Amos (1977). Human aspects of urban form: Towards a man-environment approach to urban form and design (1st ed.). Oxford; New York: Pergamon Press. Rapoport, A. (1976). The mutual interaction of people and their built environment: A cross-cultural perspective. The Hague; Chicago: Mouton; distributed in the USA and Canada by Aldine.

Rapoport, Amos (1969). House form and culture. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Rotenberg, R. L., & McDonogh, G. W. (1993). The cultural meaning of urban space. Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey.

Signorelli, Amalia (1999) Antropología urbana. Anthropos. Barcelona: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.

Wacquant, Loïc (2007) Pàriesurbans. Guetos, banlieues, Estat. Barcelona: Edicionsde 1984

 

Software

There is no specific sofware for this course