Abstract
Chapter 1, the book’s introductory chapter, outlines the state-of-the-art of urban ethnography, highlights the productive relationship between social anthropology and qualitative sociology, warns against abstract superimpositions and pointless classifications of cities and summarizes the bumpy story of ‘urban anthropology’; that is, the story of a major disciplinary contribution to the ethnographic study of today’s cities. Having pointed out the methodological and theoretical strength and value of ethnographically based analysis, the second part of the chapter discusses the structure of the volume through the insights offered by the 32 contributors. The final part argues that ethnography matters—particularly in terms of the unique contribution it has to offer to our understanding of our increasingly complex urban world.
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Notes
- 1.
In keeping with Diogène’s tradition, the English version of this Special Issue (251–252) is being published by Sage as Placing Urban Anthropology.
- 2.
This peer-reviewed open-access Journal of Urban Ethnography was established in 2011; 13 issues have been published to date. Available at: http://www.anthrojournal-urbanities.com.
- 3.
For details on the mission of this series, see: https://www.palgrave.com/in/series/14573.
- 4.
- 5.
As standard practice, a draft introduction and outline of the volume were also circulated, alongside reviewers’ comments, among the contributors, who were aware of their inclusion in specific sections and were encouraged to engage with this information.
- 6.
For example, the aforementioned Special Issue of Diogène and the seminar from which it sprang benefited from this kind of cross-disciplinary collaboration. The journal Urbanities has developed under the joint editorship of a social anthropologist and a qualitative sociologist. Formally, its book reviews and film and video reviews editors are, respectively, a sociologist and an anthropologist, and its scientific Board includes sociologists and anthropologists who actively contribute to the journal.
- 7.
Good examples, among others, are given by the activities of the International Urban Symposium—IUS (http://www.internationalurbansymposium.com) and the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) Commission on Urban Anthropology.
- 8.
For a detailed assessment of this debate, see Prato and Pardo (2013).
- 9.
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Pardo, I., Prato, G.B. (2018). Introduction: Urban Ethnography Matters—Analytical Strength, Theoretical Value and Significance to Society. In: Pardo, I., Prato, G. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Urban Ethnography. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64289-5_1
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