Anthropology of the City: Practices, Communities, Images

 For the social sciences the city is not a static fact, but a constant conflict of social, ethnic, generational and cultural differences. The city is a continuous confirmation and questioning of borders , invention of rituals, which give the imaginative unity of the place. This seminar aims at discussing the practices and representations of the urban in the rapidly changing global context, while keeping the balance between the concrete observations on the field and the theoretical analyses. The seminar is interdisciplinary and is open to those interested in the topic of “the city”.

The main theme that we will be focusing on November 12 is “City identities: rediscovered, re-defines, re-invented?

• How does the Bulgarian city conceptualise itself in the new global context?
• How does the perception of culture change in the period of crisis of national ideologies?
• In what relation do the instrumental and the spontaneous find themselves while constructing local identities?
• Visual material will be shown

With the participation of Irena Bokova (Institute of Folklore, BAS), Rayna Gavrilova (“Cultural Studies” department of Sofia Universityand OSI), Maya Grekova (department of Sociology, SU).

Discussion leader: Ivaylo Ditchev (cultural studies department of Sofia University)