Town Talk

Theory and research were presented in Vienna, July 17 - 19, 1982; the volume Town-Talk resulted from this coop to publish results on a worldwide level. Walter Dostal was the chair of the Vienna Institute, then, as is André Gingrich, today. The introduction prefigures The Global Approach, which is "the analyses of urbanism and urbanization on a worldwide level"  with regard to The National and Regional Processes of Urbanization and Aspects of Urban Culture (Ansari/Nas 1983: 3 f.). Several papers explain various scientific approaches, "The approaches of the contributors cover a wide range of the study of urban urban phenomena: action-behaviourist, politico-economic, dependency and underdevelopmental, world systems, symbolic and aesthetic." (Southall 1983: 6) Aidan Southall formulates his interest in "Cities in Time and Space" (Ansari/Nas 1983: 7), and later he writes, "I would argue that in the post-industrial age urbanization is still concentration, but in a new sense, at a new level. It is no longer a local concentration contrasting urban and rural areas, but a global concentration corresponding to the global scale of the world capitalist system, in which even socialist countries are partially involved." (Southall 1983: 19) The author then explains what he means, "The concentration is no longer one of buildings, or bodies, or even of face to face relationships, but rather a concentrated network of electronically mediated relationships."(Southall 1983: 19)

Oshomha Imoagene analyses 1 The nature of West African cities, 2 Patterns of migration in West Africa, and 3 Urbanization and underdevelopment in West Africa. West Africa has long history of cultures, and so in urbanization, where with i. e. Yoruba, "In this places land was communally rather than lineage owned and individuals had rights to their share as long as theirs crops grew."(Imoagene 1983: 68)

Joyce Aschenbrenner and Kathryn Skinner present a paper about art traditions in urban communities of the  U. S. A., where the suburbs were striken by poverty and development programs supported political and economic life, "For the artists in our research, the distinction between art and other areas of life is not clearly delineated; several noted the artistic values expressed in clothing and decorating onself and one´s house, in cooking and other mundane activities."(Aschenbrenner/Skinner 1983: 116).

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Contents

Introduction (G. Ansari and P. J. M. Nas)

1. Towards a Universal Urban Anthropology (A. Southall)

2. New Directions in Urban Anthropology (P. C. W. Gutkind)

3. The Struggle for the Third World City (W. J. M. Prins and P. J. M. Nas)

4. Charcteristics of Urban Growth in the Gulf States (G. Ansari and I. Qutub)

5. Urbanism, Urbanization and Underdevolpment: The West African Experience (O. Imoagene)

6. From Pre-Industrial to Modern Igbo Towns (A. A. Dike)

7. Viable Traditions in Urban Japan: Matsuri and Chonaikai (K. Aoyagi)

8. Family Art Traditions in Contemporary Society (J. Aschenbrenner and K. Skinner)

9. Divorce and Development in Kuwait (A. H. Hussein)

10. The Historical Development of Urban Anthropology in Venezuela (M. Suárez and R. Torrealba)

11. Urban Anthropology in the U. S. A.: Current Work and Directions for the Future (L. Plotnicov)

12. Past, Present and Future of Dutch Urban Anthropology (P. J. M. Nas and W. J. M. Prins)

Contributors

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Ansari, Ghaus/Nas, Peter J. M. (Editors) (1983) Town-Talk. The Dynamics of Urban Anthropology. Leiden: Brill.
  

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Amber, Sybil (2007) Anthropo Logic Journals.