Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2024 - SA 364 E100

Urban Communities and Cultures (A) (4)

Class Number: 7205

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 4 – Oct 11, 2024: Tue, 5:30–9:20 p.m.
    Vancouver

    Oct 16 – Dec 3, 2024: Tue, 5:30–9:20 p.m.
    Vancouver

  • Instructor:

    Bascom Guffin
    mguffin@sfu.ca
    Office Hours: By appointment, in person or online

  • Prerequisites:

    SA 101 or 150 or 201W.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Anthropological approaches to urbanization, the nature of the city as a social system, and urban cultures and lifestyles. Students with credit for SA 464 are not eligible to take SA 364 for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

More than half of the world’s population now lives in urban communities, and over 80% of Canadians do. As such, cities have become increasingly central to how we humans organize our lives, on both an individual and a societal level. Through this course we will analyze just a few aspects of contemporary cities and the urban, taking a global perspective that will afford us a deeper understanding of the diversities of urban life around the world and our own urban contexts, and the inequalities and power relations inherent in them. We will do this in large part by paying close attention to all of our senses and what they can tell us about the environment around us, and by thinking spatially, focusing on how systems and urban inhabitants consciously and unconsciously make and use spaces and how those spaces in turn shape us and our societies. We draw from an eclectic set of sources: ethnographies, music, films, recorded soundscapes, and maybe even a YouTube video or three. We will seek to both locate the city and displace our usual sense of what it means, and in the process gain a more complex, nuanced perspective on the urban. We approach this project as partners and will be insightful and generous critics to the material and each other.

Grading

  • Class participation and attendance 15%
  • Weekly reading responses 15%
  • Initial ethnographic observation of an urban space 20%
  • Critical synthesis of course themes 20%
  • Final project: putting it all together 30%

NOTES:

Grading: Where a final exam is scheduled and the student does not write the exam or withdraw from the course before the deadline date, an N grade will be assigned. Unless otherwise specified on the course syllabus, all graded assignments for this course must be completed for a final grade other than N to be assigned. An N is considered as an F for the purposes of scholastic standing.

Grading System: The Undergraduate Course Grading System is as follows:

A+ (95-100) | A (90-94) | A- (85-89) | B+ (80-84) | B (75-79) | B- (70-74) | C+ (65-69) | C (60-64) | C- (55-59) | D (50-54) | F (0-49) | N*
*N standing to indicate the student did not complete course requirements

Academic Honesty and Student Conduct Policies: The Department of Sociology & Anthropology follows SFU policy in relation to grading practices, grade appeals (Policy T20.01), and academic honesty and student conduct procedures (S10‐S10.05). Unless otherwise informed by your instructor in writing, in graded written assignments you must cite the sources you rely on and include a bibliography/list of references, following an instructor-approved citation style. It is the responsibility of students to inform themselves of the content of SFU policies available on the SFU website.

Centre for Accessible Learning: Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they may need classroom or exam accommodations are encouraged to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (1250 Maggie Benston Centre) as soon as possible to ensure that they are eligible and that approved accommodations and services are implemented in a timely fashion.

The Sociology and Anthropology Student Union, SASU, is a governing body of students who are engaged with the department and want to build the SA community. Get involved! Follow them on Instagram!

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Anand, Nikhil. 2017. Hydraulic City: Water and Infrastructures of Citizenship in Mumbai. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (Access via SFU Library)


Ghannam, Farha. 2002. Remaking the Modern: Space, Relocation, and the Politics of Identity in a Global Cairo. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Access via SFU Library)


Giles, David Boarder. 2021. A Mass Conspiracy to Feed People: Food Not Bombs and the World-Class Waste of Global Cities. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (Access via SFU Library)


Murphy, Timothy. 2019. Queerly Cosmopolitan: Bohemia and Belonging in a Brazilian Middle-of-Nowhere City. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Pivot. (Access via SFU Library)


RECOMMENDED READING:

Abani, Chris. 2004. GraceLand. New York: Picador.


Dolson, Mark. 2024. Street Youth in Canada: An Ethnography of Adversity and Artifice. London & New York: Routledge.


Hansen, Thomas Blom. 2012. Melancholia of Freedom: Social Life in an Indian Township in South Africa. Princeton: Princeton University Press.


REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.