In an effort to decentralize our academic knowledge and discussion on urban spaces, the Urban Ethnography Group at UofT’s Ethnography Lab has launched its Urban Ethnography from the Global South reading group and speaker series, dedicated to the study and analysis of ethnographic research produced on the Global South and by academics from the Global South. The initiative has two main goals: 1) to create a reading group where we can collectively learn and discuss the work of scholars working on Global South urban issues, and 2) to host a speaker series in which students and professors currently doing research on the urban Global South can present their work and receive feedback, and in which the authors of our readings or professors at U of T can present their studies and respond to questions from participants.
The reading group will take place every three weeks, while the speaker series will take place monthly on a different day than the reading group. People are welcome to come to a single event or both, suggest readings, and present their work. The reading list will be collectively created by participants, who are also invited to present the readings and conduct discussions. The idea is to create a community where students, professors and other people interested in the urban Global South can feel comfortable sharing ideas and learning.
They will start our reading group by discussing the book Flammable. Environmental Suffering in an Argentine Shantytown by Javier Auyero and Deborah Swistun (2009). The first meeting date will be Thursday, March 7, from 5 to 7 pm at the Ethnography Lab (University of Toronto Anthropology Building, Room 330, 19 Russel Street, Toronto). If interested, please register HERE so they can provide you with the readings and information on our group.
Alternatively, you may send an email to ethnography.lab@utoronto.ca to join the group.
Urban Ethnography Lab 