Urban Anthropology - Essay Example

Urban Anthropology According to Sanjek "before the next century is out, Americans of African, Asian, and Latin American ancestry will outnumberthose of European origin. ((Sanjek) This statement has many implications. The approaches to stratification in urban life when coming to this statement. Sanjeck's concern in "Future Ahead of Us All" is essentially what the implications of this mean. In addition the approaches used will be compared and contrasted in the context of Sanjek's research. This book encompasses a look at urban anthropology in Elmhurst-Corona's social and political life from the 1960s through the 1990s. In this book Sanjek uses an ethnographic approach. This anthropological approach to fieldwork is common in anthropological research of the nature Sanjek writes about in his book. Dsmkjek describes his approach and reasoning behind it when he reported "Boas's public anthropological stance with respect to Native and African Americans, it identifies an alternative history that includes Morgan, Cushing, Wilson, Goldschmidt, and recent practitioners of advocacy anthropology." (Sanjek) Sanjek's approach to his work can be considered and it is based on observations and experiences a multiracial Queens, New York, neighborhood. His entire ethnography and book includes a look at different anthropological approaches. Sanjek describes his findings to be of significance to "society as a whole." (Sanjek) What this question aims to answer is; Sanjek refers to the power of resources, the power of organization, and the power of numbers (p. 12).In the neighborhood that Sanjek shoes to do the ethnography crack dealers are high in status socially. What this implies is that the crack dealers have power over the resources, which would be money and drugs. The two go hand in hand. Given Sanjek's ethnography and the details reported in his book the crack dealers are an organization with power. Sanjek also writes about power and the fact that that power is gained through numbers in Elmhurst/Corona. The crack dealers have all the power but the title of Sanjek's work comes into play involving respect. Although the crack dealers are not in search of power and certainly not number, perhaps Sanjek's reference to the search for respect involves the crack dealers. Although they are at the height of power within the organization they belong to, if they are respected it is not sincere and one wonders if they even, ultimately, respect themselves. It is important to take into consideration that they live in a society with a different set of values than the one that most of live in. However, Sanjek's approach to the description of his observations and experiences in his book was brilliant. Using an ethnographic approach is how any anthropologist presents and discusses a culture that is new or unknown to the readers of the ethnography. The residents are somewhat helpless against the organization of crack dealers in Elmhurst/Corona. The crack dealers hold more power and are greater in numbers and resources than most of the residents in the area. The crack dealers only hold their power and status because of the resources they are able to generate selling the drugs. The residents who live and work there do not have the control or the resources of the crack dealers but I feel they do have respect. The crack dealers feel their only chance for status and respect and to have money is by selling the drugs. Children see this and they become involved and the problem perpetuates. 2. This question involves a discussion of the relationship between migration, transnationalism and urban life. The questions that will be examined are; Is transnational migration making American urban life different than it has been in the past In what ways does contemporary transnational migration have effects similar to the effects it has had in the past A relationship between migration, transnationalism and urban life does exist. To answer the question Is transnational migration making American urban life different than it has been in the past My answer to that is yes and no. I think that urban life has not changed so much, rather the cultures that make it up has. Some of the first to migrate to New York City and Ellis Island were the Irish. They dealt with prejudices, racism and poverty. All agree that many of the problems in urban life revolve around poverty. Poverty results from a lack of education, which is difficult for poor immigrants to obtain. There is cycle that does not change so much when considering urban life. What changes is the immigrants involved into eh cycle. This cycle involvers the Irish all hose years ago, African Americans, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans. The migrations and immigrants differ in geological locations across the cities of the nation as can be seen in the instance of the Cubans in Miami. Gmelch and Zenner have researched this are of urban anthropology. There concern is the study of human beings and their cultural institutions in cities. These cultural institutions involve many different cultures of immigrants. These anthropologists also are concerned with globalism and transnationalism and their effects on urban life. Migration is the act of migrating. This is ambiguous unless we define where one is migration to and from. n respect to the discussion of urban life an individual could migrate from the city to the suburbs or the country or another state or country. However, according to the urban life studies to date this is not likely to happen. Mitchell explains, "Cities began to develop in several parts of the world around 4,000-6,000 years ago. At the same time, in the Near East, south Asia, and nuclear America specialists began to cluster at particular points in order to coordinate agricultural and other activities to their economies and societies. "Mitchell) According to Kempner et al "organized money is power" and this can be seen in the previous discussion question involving the crack dealers in Elmhurst/Corona. The problem is that when it concerns all the different cultures and transnationalism they just first organizer themselves culturally. This is why different cultures are so apparent in urban institutions for example China Town, Little Havana and so on. In order for migrate and these transnational cultures to organize and gain a hold in urban institutions they must first band together culturally and gain their power that way. This leads us to the next portion of this discussion and that concerns the question ' In what ways does contemporary transnational migration have effects similar to the effects it has had in the past At the beginning of this discussion the Irish immigrants in New York City were discussed. Every urban city in the country has a culture or cultures that settled first in that city. This is why I have come to the conclusion, as was stated earlier, that urban life may not have changed all that much. The factors and the cultures that make up these cities changes. The changes are even constant in some areas yet the underlying factors and problems fore the urban areas remain the same or very similar in nature. Crime and drugs are rampant in most urban institutions. these are not not not new problems nor can they be blamed on one cultural group. The problems persist or it would be safe to conclude that it is not transnationalism, immigrants or globalization hat is the underlying factor. The one thing that remains constant through all of this is the fact that the events take place in an urban institution. 3. The last aspect of this discussion on urban life and the anthropological studies of it involves "Bombay Maximum City" by Mehta. This book involves a look at the people if India, however Mehta offers a view of something more than just India. From the title of the book to the conclusion this book offers a perspective of the urban institution that has not been presented before. Mehta writes about the city of Bombay ""the biggest, fastest, richest city in India". (Mehta) This is what leads me to believe that he was referring to more than population when he named his book. He calls it the fattest and richest city in India and deucedly so. Mehta's book tells of his return to Bombay after having been in New York city. I found his title interesting because New York city is what is thought of as the maximum city "The Big Apple". I found it most interesting due to the fact that Mehta had lived in both cities and found Bombay to be the maximum city. Mehta does not glorify the city. Rather he offers a true description of it both good and bad. He gave quite extensive descriptions of the living conditions in the city. As well the corruption of the city and the detritions of the judicial system were also presented. After Mehta gave these details and I considered his description if the rich fat city I pondered that perhaps these were the things that made a city fat and rich. Corruption leads to power and resources so I think maybe he was being a bit facetious when he titled his book what he did. The book is filled with descriptions of subcultures and there are characters that represent the many different sides of Bombay. One such character is Hindus. Hindus was responsible for the massacre of Muslims and their leader," the notorious Godfather-like founder of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party, Bal Thackeray, "the one man most directly responsible for ruining the city I grew up in." Daring to explore further the violent world of warring Hindu and Muslim gangs, Mehta travels into the city's labyrinthine criminal underworld with tough top cop Ajay Lal, developing an uneasy familiarity with hit men who display no remorse for their crimes. "(p 647) The book shows the not so pretty side of Urban life. It does however show a true depiction of an urban institution and the cultures and subcultures within it, Included in his description of the city is the sex industry of Bombay. He presents a character from this culture and refers to her as Bollywood. Mehta's book investigates all of the subcultures of Bombay and shows how intricate an urban institution can be. It is not necessarily immigrants or other cultures that make up the subcultures that he describes in his book. It seems that the constant factor in all of urban life and the problems and corruption that make up one of these complex institutions is humans. With all of the corruption and subcultures that make up this city of almost 18 million when Mehta calls it a maximum city he might be referring to all of the different components-good and bad-that make up this city and all others like it. Works Cited Bourgois, P. (1995) "In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio". New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. Gmelch, G. & Zenner, W. (2002) "Urban Life: Readings in the Anthropology of the City". Long Grove, Ill.: Waveland Press. Mitchell, Katherine. "What's culture got to do with it" Urban Geography, 1999, 20, 7, pp. 667-677. Mehta, S. (2004) "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found" New York: Knopf. Sanjek, R. (1998) "The Future of Us All: Race and Neighborhood Politics in New York City" Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. Read More