Admission requirements
This course is only available for students in the BA Urban Studies programme.
Description
This course explores some theoretical insights in anthropology and cognate disciplines about urban practices of belonging to do with infrastructure, mobility, citizenship, leisure, labour, and so forth. How are urban space and time used and produced by a city’s inhabitants? Who, in this process, makes claims to a city? How do they use language and other resources to do so? Which issues and contestations emerge, and how are these negotiated in practices of belonging? Who, eventually, loses out? Traditionally, within the interdisciplinary field of urban studies the focus has been on the human inhabitants of cities, directing us to the political issues and social inequalities emerging as urban life unfolds. In this course, we will critically engage with this take on the production of belonging in cities and add a more-than-human perspective through reading some ethnographic case studies. How do humans, plants, and microbes make themselves at home in cities? And how does this interfere with the practices of belonging of their human urban companions? You will learn that ‘culture’ is not something that is only beholden to humans, but something that animals engage in too, and that plants and microorganisms help shape as well. This opens up our imagination of the ‘multicultural city’.
This is the Multicultural City Thematic Elective.
Course objectives
General learning outcomes
See tab Additional information for the overview of the programme's general learning outcomes. In the assessment methods below is outlined which general learning outcome will be tested through which method.
Course objectives, pertaining to this course
Successful completion of this course will mean that students will be able to:
explain key theoretical insights in anthropology and cognate disciplines about urban practices of belonging of both human and more-than-human inhabitants of cities;
appraise various practices of belonging and their social and political effects through ethnographic case studies;
analyse a contemporary urban practice of belonging yourself by comparing key theoretical insights in anthropology and cognate disciplines
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
- Tutorial (compulsory attendance)
This means that students have to attend every tutorial session of the course. If a student is unable to attend a tutorial or lecture, they should inform the lecturer in advance, providing a valid reason for absence. The teacher will determine if and how the missed session can be compensated by an additional assignment. If they are absent from a tutorial without a valid reason, they can be excluded from the final exam in the course.
Assessment method
Assessment
Attendance, presentation, and participation in workgroups
-measured programme's general learning outcomes: 1, 4-5, 8, 10-11, 13-21, 23-26
-measured course specific objectives: 1-3Written assignments
-measured programme's general learning outcomes: 1, 4-6, 8, 11, 13-17, 19-20, 24-26
-measured course specific objectives: 1-3
Weighing
| Partial grade | Weighing |
|---|---|
| Workgroup grade: Attendance, presentation, and participation | 20% |
| Midterm written assignment | 30% |
| Final written assignment | 50% |
End grade
To successfully complete the course, please take note that the end grade of the course is established by determining the weighted average of all assessment components. In order to pass the course, the written assignments and workgroup grade have to be graded with at least a 5.5 or higher.
Attendance to and active participation in workgroups is mandatory.
Resit
Students who have been active participants in class but scored an overall insufficient end grade (lower than a 6.0), are entitled to a resit. For the resit, the students are given a chance to hand in a new written assignment, replacing the previous assignment grade(s). The deadline for resubmission is to be consulted with the lecturer. No resit for the workgroup grade is possible.
If students need to retake any course for a second time, they are required to retake all elements of the course assessment, and may not carry over individual assessment grades from previous years.
Faculty regulations concerning participation in resits are listed in article 4.1 of the Faculty Course and Examination Regulations.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organised.
Reading list
To be announced.
Registration
- Enrolment through My Studymap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Registration Exchange
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Student Affairs Office for BA Urban Studies.
Remarks
You may only sign up for one thematic and one methodological elective in each semester of the second year (via MyStudyMap). Only if there is place left, you can take up a second Thematic and/or Methodological elective. A week before the start of the semester, you will receive an email from the administration which will indicate if any spots are still available. If this is the case, you can enroll by replying to this message. If more students show interest in a second elective than the number of places available, students will be selected via a lottery.