The paper will amount to 20% of the final grade: Undergraduate students will write a 5-7 page paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructors. The paper will be based on ethnographic research in an Atlanta location of the student’s choice. The paper topic must be approved by the instructor, and all students will upload their paper outline and bibliography no later than the day of the midterm exam. The paper will be due on the last day of class (late entries will be downgraded by one letter grade per day), and it will follow

the format of the American Anthropologist journal.

 

Topic for Research Question:

The Socioeconomic and Cultural Diversity of Urban Space

 

Explore Andersons idea of “cosmopolitan canopy applied to the Atlanta area through research and ethnographic observations.

Some areas that I will conduct Ethnographic Research:

Georgia State Campus

Hurt Park

Sweet Auburn Curb Market

Georgia State Marta Station

Ten Atlanta Midtown

Edgewood Avenue

Socially economic diverse population that can be observed existing together:

College Students, Heavy African American Population, Business people, Homeless, LGBT community.

Urban Anthropology and socially economic diversification and Urban Spaces

Anderson, Elijah.

The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life.

NY: Norton

and Co., 2011. Chapter 8

 

In The Cosmopolitan Canopy, Elijah Anderson argues that “cosmopolitan canopies”—urban spaces where socioeconomically diverse groups of people interact in an atmosphere of goodwill, are a feature of present-day U.S. cities, which are increasingly socioeconomically diverse. He argues that the “canopies” exist despite existing racial and class tensions that are also a part of contemporary urban life, and as such, they are good places to take the pulse of contemporary race relations, as observations within them reveal both tolerance and mutual understanding and “expose the racial fault lines that still exist in contemporary American society”, offering a window into the lived experience of race for American Blacks in particular.

 

Here is Anderson’s description of cosmopolitan canopies and what happens in them:

“Canopies are in essence pluralistic spaces where people engage one another in a spirit of civility, or even comity and goodwill. Through personal observation, they may come casually to appreciate one another’s differences and empathize with the other in a spirit of shared humanity. Under the canopy, this sense of familiarity often breeds comfort and encourages all to be on their best behavior, promoting peaceful relations. Here, racially, ethnically and socially diverse peoples spend casual and purposeful time together, coming to know one another through what I call folk ethnography, a form of people watching that allows individuals informally to father evidence in social interactions that supports their own viewpoints ore transforms their commonsense understandings of social life. In this context of diversity and cosmopolitanism, a cognitive and cultural basis for trust is established that often leads to the emergence of more civil behavior.” (pp. xiv-xv)

 

The public spaces of the city are more racially, ethnically, and socially diverse than ever. Social distance and tension as expressed by wariness of strangers appear to be the order of the day. But the “cosmopolitan canopy” offers a respite and an opportunity for diverse peoples to come together to do their business and also to engage in “folk ethnography” that serves as a cognitive and cultural base on which people construct behavior in public.