Dear all
Apologies for cross posting, but this workshop might be of interest to some ...
Bests
Kevin
Workshop: A World of Cities? Comparison across the disciplines
University of Manchester, 17-18 May 2012
Across the humanities and the social sciences there is a long tradition of comparative studies of cities. In disciplines such as anthropology, history, human geography, languages, linguistics, political science and sociology much work has been done comparing the differences and similarities between cities, with often one city often emerging as being the ‘norm’ against which others are compared. In urban studies, for example, think of the Chicago School of the 1920s, and the LA school of the 1980s as the most extreme and obvious examples of this phenomenon. In both cases theories were built on the experiences of particular cities at specific historical junctures. This in turn has shaped how scholars have understood and labelled other cities. For example, studies have compared cities across the world, positioning them as either more or less ‘developed’ on the basis of urban theories generated in a small number of cities in the global north. Likewise, cities have become understood as more of less ‘global’, often paying little attention to historical trends. Most recently there has been an intellectual drive to move beyond these distinctions and instead to consider a world of cities, moving beyond both simple categories and past assumptions in the constructions of urban theories. What thinking about comparison in this way means for a comparative study of cities in the twentieth first century remains unclear. This is the intellectual context for this two day workshop, which will draw on leadings scholars from across the humanities and the social science.
Speakers to include:
Dr Leif Jerram, University of Manchester
Dr Colin McFarlane, Durham University
Dr Garth Myers, University of Kansas
Prof J.B.F. (Jan) Nijman, University of Amsterdam
Prof Sue Parnell, University of Cape Town
Dr Martina Rieker, American University in Cairo
Prof. Vanessa Watson, University of Cape Town
Please note places for the workshop are very limited. If you are interested in attending, please email [log in to unmask] by 30 April 2012.
Workshop webpage: http://www.cities.manchester.ac.uk/events/wos/
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