Urban Life
Readings in the Anthropology of the City, Fourth
Edition
George Gmelch and Walter P. Zenner
This authoritative introduction to the study
of human beings and their cultural institutions in cities offer twenty-six
readings—more than one-half new or revised for the Fourth Edition—that form a
rich blend of classic studies of enduring interest and important new research.
Impressive in scope, the latest edition offers an entirely new section of
globalism and transnationalism.
“An excellent book for students interested in
classic and contemporary readings in urban anthropology. The book provides a
good look at how anthropologists have tried to understand cities and city life.”
—Patricia San Antonio, University of Maryland
“This is a first-class reader that covers the
field very completely.” —Alan Smart, University of Calgary
“An excellent book—broad in scope, very
readable, and very teachable. In addition, it is popular with my students.”
—Julia Goggin, University of Connecticut
“I have been teaching urban anthropology for
years and this book is simply the only edited text that meets the needs of my
students.” —Jay Sokolovsky, University of South Florida
Table of Contents
Part I. THE CITY IN HISTORY
The Earliest Cities (Michael E. Smith)
The Preindustrial City (Gideon Sjoberg)
Human Health and the City (Lawrence M. Schell)
Beyond Urban and Rural: Communities in the 21st Century (Walter P. Zenner)
Part II. URBANISM
Urbanism As a Way of Life (Louis Wirth)
The Urban Experience: A Psychological Analysis (Stanley Milgram)
The Metropolis and Everyday Life (Robert Rotenberg)
Urban Language in a Rural Setting: The Case of Phokeng, South Africa (Susan E.
Cook)
Urban Danger: Life in a Neighborhood of Strangers (Sally Engle Merry)
Part III. URBAN FIELDWORK: ANTHROPOLOGISTS IN CITIES
Anthropological Fieldwork in Cities (George M. Foster and Robert V. Kemper)
Networks, Neighborhoods, and Markets: Fieldwork in Tokyo (Theodore C. Bestor)
An Urban Field Experience: Irish Travellers in Dublin (Sharon Bohn Gmelch)
Part IV. MIGRATION AND THE ADAPTATION OF MIGRANTS TO CITY LIFE
Migration and Adaptation: Tzintzuntzeños in Mexico City and Beyond (Robert V.
Kemper)
A West Indian Life in Britain (George Gmelch)
Women Are Migrants Too: A Portuguese Perspective (Caroline B. Brettell)
Surviving in the City: Coping Strategies of Female Migrants in Nairobi, Kenya (Nici
Nelson)
European Cyclical Migration and Economic Development: The Case of Southern Spain
(Robert Rhoades)
Part V. URBAN CLASS AND FAMILY
The Culture of Poverty (Oscar Lewis)
How Urban Ethnography Counters Myths about the Poor (Judith Goode)
Life in a Soup Kitchen (Irene Glasser)
Office Work and the Crack Alternative Among Puerto Rican Drug Dealers in East
Harlem (Philippe Bourgois)
Urban Chinese: Family Life in a Communist Society (William Jankowiak)
Part VI. GLOBALIZATION AND TRANSNATIONALISM
Transnationalism, Old and New: New York Immigrants (Nancy Foner)
Globalization, Women’s Labor, and Men’s Pleasure: Sex Tourism in Sosúa, the
Dominican Republic (Denise Brennan)
Japanese Hip-Hop and the Globalization of Popular Culture (Ian Condry)
