Anthropological Practice in urbis: Some Examples from Bucharest
Anthropological Practice in urbis: Some Examples from Bucharest

Summary/Abstract: Pursuing research in the urban world implies important changes on the anthropological units of analysis, the status of the ethnographer, the rhythm of everyday life, etc. Consequently, the strategies that anthropologists develop in the study of urban communities are (in turn) adapted to a context different from the way of life of rural groups, in terms of socioeconomic integration and cultural belonging. In conducting their fieldwork, practitioners of „human science” use to follow the mobility and routines of the urban population, as well as they consider the „networks” that unite individuals or its subgroups, undertake several investigative „roles” in the field, analyze public policies and their impact on neighborhoods and urbanization processes. The migration of some villagers to the city or the ethnic dimension of urban living are also themes of maximum relevance for the recognition of urban ethnology as a distinct and entirely legitimate branch of the anthropological discipline. In our paper, we will refer to these methodological aspects based on several case studies from Bucharest. The contribution of cultural anthropology to the understanding of the complexity of urban society consists in the application of direct documentation (especially through participatory observation), through the daily interaction of researchers with their interlocutors, in the residential or productive frameworks that define the existence of them.

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