Convenors: Italo Pardo & Giuliana B. Prato (School of Anthropology and Conservation)
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, and this proportion set to increase to two-thirds by 2050, the ethnographic study of life in urban settings is urgent and important. Urbanisation proceeding at such a pace has meant increases in the number and size of cities but also continues to alter the social fabric of urban centres, sometimes in profound ways, leading to new policy priorities (such as the globally encompassing Sustainable Development Goals). ‘States of emergency’ (prompted by violence, pandemics, crises) add a further layer of complexity. These multifaceted contemporary urban changes raise pressing methodological and theoretical questions.
This eight-day Field Training School and Research Seminar is addressed to postgraduate and doctoral students, and to postdoctoral researchers, professionals and practitioners who are interested in ethnographic research and empirically-grounded analysis. It is organised and hosted by the International Urban Symposium-IUS in collaboration with an international group of senior scholars from European, Indian, Middle Eastern and US Universities, who will lead a series of teaching seminars, student research seminars and field trips. Teaching will be in English. Social events will also take place taking advantage of the centrality of the location within easy reach of Tuscany’s world-renowned iconic places.
The School will offer an interactive learning environment and opportunities to discuss the rationale and practices of traditional and new research methods and mainstream debates. Students will have the opportunity to present their own research and receive feedback from leading scholars; and to engage in team work and networking,
The Teaching Seminars will focus on methodological and theoretical debates, benefiting from senior scholars’ wide range of ethnographic, methodological and theoretical expertise to address interrelated topical issues, including:
• urban diversity, migration, informality;
• legitimacy and legitimation;
• governance, stereotype and stigma;
• sport mega-events;
• rituals;
• crisis, emergency and conflict;
• public space, vernacular landscape, heritage, identity.
Participants will be required to complete readings for the teaching seminars and actively engage in discussion during the sessions.
The primary aim is to train students in the ‘art’ of conducting ethnographic fieldwork and develop the link between ethnographically-based analysis and social theory. The in-class work will be supplemented by structured city walks and focused observational field trips during which students will be asked to take notes and, then, produce a field report. Students will work in small groups. Two seminar sessions will be dedicated to the teams’ presentation, with the aim of developing and fine-tuning skills on writing research reports and engaging in the ensuing discussion.
With a view to honing and developing junior scholars’ skills as future professionals, the School will culminate in a full-day Research Seminar that will give students who are engaged in research the opportunity to:
• Present their work, engage in academic debate and benefit from expert feedback from the teaching staff.
• Produce a publishable article based on original research.
• Receive feedback from the Editorial and Scientific Board of Urbanities-Journal of Urban Ethnography, the expert peer reviewers for the journal, and the Editors of the book series Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology”“.
Publication. It is anticipated that expanded and revised versions of select Seminar papers will be published in outlets associated with the IUS, including the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Urbanities-Journal of Urban Ethnography.
Students are expected to have a good command of written and spoken English.
Application Deadline: 21st March 2022.
Further Information and Details on How to Apply are available at https://www.internationalurbansymposium.com/events/2022-field-training-school/
CONTACTS: For further details and additional queries, please contact Prof. Italo Pardo at: i.pardo@kent.ac.uk