lo Squaderno (Jun 2012)
Beyond the aberrant city. Towards a critical ethnography of Naples
Abstract
How might the question of contemporary urban change be approached from an ethnographic perspective? Before engaging with the weighty questions of, say, gentrification or deindustrialization, it requires, at a very elementary level, starting from the premise that every city, however defined, is a dynamic place embedded in and shaped by multiple historical contexts, be these socioeconomic changes, technological innovations, shifts in public discourse or fluctuating fads. While this may sound like a truism, the fact of the matter is that many of the world’s cities are not perceived – at least in the eyes of the West – to be dynamic. Rather, they are lodged in a perpetual catch-up game, compelled to imitate a select group of trendsetters.
