Suzanne Scheld | California State University, Northridge (original) (raw)
Papers by Suzanne Scheld
The Journal of Effective Teaching, 2009
Writing has special importance in anthropology. Writing fieldnotes is a central methodology for d... more Writing has special importance in anthropology. Writing fieldnotes is a central methodology for documenting and analyzing culture, and written personal reflections upon this process are viewed as providing insight into how knowledge is produced by a "situated" researcher. That said, there is little discussion in the discipline about the use of writing as pedagogy or a tool for popularizing the discipline. This article considers how old fashion letter writing to anthropologists can strengthen students' learning to write and analyze culture. It also indicates how writing letters popularizes the discipline. Letter writing is communication, method, tradition, and now pedagogy in anthropology. This progression of uses has relevance to teaching and learning in other disciplines.
Routledge eBooks, Feb 24, 2023
By 2030, 80% of the entire world's population will live in cities. This trend has reinforced the ... more By 2030, 80% of the entire world's population will live in cities. This trend has reinforced the participation of anthropologists in the analysis of urban growth and change, defining distinctive features, appearances, qualities, and problems, as well as the emergence of unique and shared forms of urbanisms around the world. There is also a long tradition of anthropologists working in sub-Saharan Africa, for decades largely in rural townships and villages. And there are those who have combined the two, focusing their energies on African cities, observing the impact of the West, differences from the countryside, the new roles and relationships engaged in, the qualitative difference from so-called traditional society. Over the last 50 years, urbanization has become one of the most remarkable features of the African continent. Based on demographic studies, approximately 27 million people lived in urban centers in Africa in the 1950s, a time of increasing urbanization on the continent. Today, approximately 567 million people live in African cities (Kanos and Heitzig 2020; OCED/SWAC 2020). This growth is staggering and necessitates the reclassification of the urban, as new cities emerge in the interior and density has increased in existing cities. Despite these changes, and a tradition of anthropological research in and of the urban agglomeration in sub-Saharan Africa, there has been no volume published that focuses on urban African anthropology. We hatched the idea for this book at a conference, as we were conversing about our respective urban West African research. I, Deborah, was trained in the 1970s in British social anthropology, at a time when urban anthropology was broadening and focused on issues related to adaptive strategies, social stratification, social identity, and poverty. I went on to observe urban community processes in Ghana, especially in Accra, the capital located in the south, and subsequently Tamale and its environs, the gateway to northern Ghana. I, Suzanne, was trained in the 1990s with an accent placed on neo-Marxist perspectives of the urban. In anthropology, eclecticism was beginning to replace identifications with theoretical traditions, and urban anthropology was taking a turn toward spatial concerns. I went
City and society, Mar 28, 2022
In 2021, the Society for Urban, National, Transnational/Global Anthropology (SUNTA), a section of... more In 2021, the Society for Urban, National, Transnational/Global Anthropology (SUNTA), a section of the American Anthropological Association, changed its name to Critical Urban Anthropology Association (CUAA). This essay addresses the question “What is Critical About Critical Urban Anthropology?” by reflecting on problematic assumptions about African cities that are perpetuated over time and the need to critique these ideas. I suggest a more active and participatory approach to pedagogy is necessary to creating a critical urban anthropology that can help to challenge these assumptions.
Antioch Review, 2006
ABSTRACT
City and society, 2003
In Dakar, footwear and clothing markets are unstoppable forces of urbanism and modernity They are... more In Dakar, footwear and clothing markets are unstoppable forces of urbanism and modernity They are packed with merchandise, and they sprawl beyond the official boundaries set by the municipality. For better or for worse, footwear and apparel keep the city in motion, give it life, and keep it current with global trends. The movement of traders and transmigrants through Dakar and global' ly'dispersed Senegalese communities informs style and taste at "home" and "abroad." This paper examines the production, exchange and consumption tra' jectory of a particular commodity, Sebago shoes, as a means to highlight the spatial dimensions of Dakar clothing markets and the city itself. The "social Ufe" of Sebago and its various symbolic meanings assigned by Senegalese in Dakar and New York illustrates: 1) the complex nature of global flows and 2) that the city and its transmigrant communities share a continuous social space. This picture of complex flows and exchanges suggests the redefinition of city and market boundaries. [Dakar, transmigrant communities, commodity chains, Sebago shoes]
Human Organization, Mar 1, 2002
P ark managers are continually planning for improvements to their parks. While it is not unusual ... more P ark managers are continually planning for improvements to their parks. While it is not unusual for parks to conduct visitor counts and even survey public opinion on facilities and programs as part of the planning process, managers are less likely to see ethnography as a basis for decision making. Park managers tend to concentrate on the physical resource, valuing it as wildlife habitat, conservation land, or as a scenic or historic landscape. Improvements consequently are driven by perceived needs to improve biodiversity, stem erosion, protect scenic values, or restore historic structures. In our work on various urban parks, we have found that applied ethnographic research produces information of great utility in planning and policy making. Park ethnography can complement the opinion survey by uncovering the cultural ties between parks and local communities.
University of Texas Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2005
During the 2006-07 school year, the TNE Evidence Committee conducted an evaluative study of the i... more During the 2006-07 school year, the TNE Evidence Committee conducted an evaluative study of the impact of a Department of Secondary Education (SED) teaching-credential program. The specifics: Research Questions To what degree do new credential-program graduates implement CSUN-identified effective teaching practices in their classrooms? What factors facilitate or impede implementation of pedagogies taught in the credential program? Future question: Is the program improving over the years in terms of this implementation? Participants All 1 st and 2 nd-year fulltime secondary math teachers who earned CSUN Traditional Single-Subject Math credentials from Fall 2004 to Spring 2006, and who agreed to be observed Methods Collaborative development with key SED personnel of a structured protocol for classroom observations (the "tool") to detect the presence/significance of research-based "effective practices" Collection of written background information from each participant prior to observation 1 period-long observation of each participant, using the "tool" Audiotaped interview of each participant immediately after each observed lesson A second observation and interview of some participants Data Analysis % of time spent per teaching mode total (i.e., breakdown of the average lesson) Significance of each effective practice in the lessons overall [Add brief description of qualitative analysis]
Routledge eBooks, Feb 24, 2023
By 2030, 80% of the entire world's population will live in cities. This trend has reinforced the ... more By 2030, 80% of the entire world's population will live in cities. This trend has reinforced the participation of anthropologists in the analysis of urban growth and change, defining distinctive features, appearances, qualities, and problems, as well as the emergence of unique and shared forms of urbanisms around the world. There is also a long tradition of anthropologists working in sub-Saharan Africa, for decades largely in rural townships and villages. And there are those who have combined the two, focusing their energies on African cities, observing the impact of the West, differences from the countryside, the new roles and relationships engaged in, the qualitative difference from so-called traditional society. Over the last 50 years, urbanization has become one of the most remarkable features of the African continent. Based on demographic studies, approximately 27 million people lived in urban centers in Africa in the 1950s, a time of increasing urbanization on the continent. Today, approximately 567 million people live in African cities (Kanos and Heitzig 2020; OCED/SWAC 2020). This growth is staggering and necessitates the reclassification of the urban, as new cities emerge in the interior and density has increased in existing cities. Despite these changes, and a tradition of anthropological research in and of the urban agglomeration in sub-Saharan Africa, there has been no volume published that focuses on urban African anthropology. We hatched the idea for this book at a conference, as we were conversing about our respective urban West African research. I, Deborah, was trained in the 1970s in British social anthropology, at a time when urban anthropology was broadening and focused on issues related to adaptive strategies, social stratification, social identity, and poverty. I went on to observe urban community processes in Ghana, especially in Accra, the capital located in the south, and subsequently Tamale and its environs, the gateway to northern Ghana. I, Suzanne, was trained in the 1990s with an accent placed on neo-Marxist perspectives of the urban. In anthropology, eclecticism was beginning to replace identifications with theoretical traditions, and urban anthropology was taking a turn toward spatial concerns. I went
During the 2006-07 school year, the TNE Evidence Committee conducted an evaluative study of the i... more During the 2006-07 school year, the TNE Evidence Committee conducted an evaluative study of the impact of a Department of Secondary Education (SED) teaching-credential program. The specifics: Research Questions � To what degree do new credential-program graduates implement CSUN-identified effective teaching practices in their classrooms? � What factors facilitate or impede implementation of pedagogies taught in the credential program? � Future question: Is the program improving over the years in terms of this implementation? Participants � All 1 st and 2 nd-year fulltime secondary math teachers who earned CSUN Traditional Single-Subject Math credentials from Fall 2004 to Spring 2006, and who agreed to be observed Methods � Collaborative development with key SED personnel of a structured protocol for classroom observations (the “tool”) to detect the presence/significance of research-based “effective practices” � Collection of written background information from each participant prior...
Africa’s informal workers, 2010
Human-Centered Built Environment Heritage Preservation, 2018
Proceedings of the African Futures Conference, 2016
Writing has special importance in anthropology. Writing fieldnotes is a central methodology for d... more Writing has special importance in anthropology. Writing fieldnotes is a central methodology for documenting and analyzing culture, and written personal reflections upon this process are viewed as providing insight into how knowledge is produced by a "situated" researcher. That said, there is little discussion in the discipline about the use of writing as pedagogy or a tool for popularizing the discipline. This article considers how old fashion letter writing to anthropologists can strengthen students' learning to write and analyze culture. It also indicates how writing letters popularizes the discipline. Letter writing is communication, method, tradition, and now pedagogy in anthropology. This progression of uses has relevance to teaching and learning in other disciplines.
The Journal of Effective Teaching, 2009
Writing has special importance in anthropology. Writing fieldnotes is a central methodology for d... more Writing has special importance in anthropology. Writing fieldnotes is a central methodology for documenting and analyzing culture, and written personal reflections upon this process are viewed as providing insight into how knowledge is produced by a "situated" researcher. That said, there is little discussion in the discipline about the use of writing as pedagogy or a tool for popularizing the discipline. This article considers how old fashion letter writing to anthropologists can strengthen students' learning to write and analyze culture. It also indicates how writing letters popularizes the discipline. Letter writing is communication, method, tradition, and now pedagogy in anthropology. This progression of uses has relevance to teaching and learning in other disciplines.
Routledge eBooks, Feb 24, 2023
By 2030, 80% of the entire world's population will live in cities. This trend has reinforced the ... more By 2030, 80% of the entire world's population will live in cities. This trend has reinforced the participation of anthropologists in the analysis of urban growth and change, defining distinctive features, appearances, qualities, and problems, as well as the emergence of unique and shared forms of urbanisms around the world. There is also a long tradition of anthropologists working in sub-Saharan Africa, for decades largely in rural townships and villages. And there are those who have combined the two, focusing their energies on African cities, observing the impact of the West, differences from the countryside, the new roles and relationships engaged in, the qualitative difference from so-called traditional society. Over the last 50 years, urbanization has become one of the most remarkable features of the African continent. Based on demographic studies, approximately 27 million people lived in urban centers in Africa in the 1950s, a time of increasing urbanization on the continent. Today, approximately 567 million people live in African cities (Kanos and Heitzig 2020; OCED/SWAC 2020). This growth is staggering and necessitates the reclassification of the urban, as new cities emerge in the interior and density has increased in existing cities. Despite these changes, and a tradition of anthropological research in and of the urban agglomeration in sub-Saharan Africa, there has been no volume published that focuses on urban African anthropology. We hatched the idea for this book at a conference, as we were conversing about our respective urban West African research. I, Deborah, was trained in the 1970s in British social anthropology, at a time when urban anthropology was broadening and focused on issues related to adaptive strategies, social stratification, social identity, and poverty. I went on to observe urban community processes in Ghana, especially in Accra, the capital located in the south, and subsequently Tamale and its environs, the gateway to northern Ghana. I, Suzanne, was trained in the 1990s with an accent placed on neo-Marxist perspectives of the urban. In anthropology, eclecticism was beginning to replace identifications with theoretical traditions, and urban anthropology was taking a turn toward spatial concerns. I went
City and society, Mar 28, 2022
In 2021, the Society for Urban, National, Transnational/Global Anthropology (SUNTA), a section of... more In 2021, the Society for Urban, National, Transnational/Global Anthropology (SUNTA), a section of the American Anthropological Association, changed its name to Critical Urban Anthropology Association (CUAA). This essay addresses the question “What is Critical About Critical Urban Anthropology?” by reflecting on problematic assumptions about African cities that are perpetuated over time and the need to critique these ideas. I suggest a more active and participatory approach to pedagogy is necessary to creating a critical urban anthropology that can help to challenge these assumptions.
Antioch Review, 2006
ABSTRACT
City and society, 2003
In Dakar, footwear and clothing markets are unstoppable forces of urbanism and modernity They are... more In Dakar, footwear and clothing markets are unstoppable forces of urbanism and modernity They are packed with merchandise, and they sprawl beyond the official boundaries set by the municipality. For better or for worse, footwear and apparel keep the city in motion, give it life, and keep it current with global trends. The movement of traders and transmigrants through Dakar and global' ly'dispersed Senegalese communities informs style and taste at "home" and "abroad." This paper examines the production, exchange and consumption tra' jectory of a particular commodity, Sebago shoes, as a means to highlight the spatial dimensions of Dakar clothing markets and the city itself. The "social Ufe" of Sebago and its various symbolic meanings assigned by Senegalese in Dakar and New York illustrates: 1) the complex nature of global flows and 2) that the city and its transmigrant communities share a continuous social space. This picture of complex flows and exchanges suggests the redefinition of city and market boundaries. [Dakar, transmigrant communities, commodity chains, Sebago shoes]
Human Organization, Mar 1, 2002
P ark managers are continually planning for improvements to their parks. While it is not unusual ... more P ark managers are continually planning for improvements to their parks. While it is not unusual for parks to conduct visitor counts and even survey public opinion on facilities and programs as part of the planning process, managers are less likely to see ethnography as a basis for decision making. Park managers tend to concentrate on the physical resource, valuing it as wildlife habitat, conservation land, or as a scenic or historic landscape. Improvements consequently are driven by perceived needs to improve biodiversity, stem erosion, protect scenic values, or restore historic structures. In our work on various urban parks, we have found that applied ethnographic research produces information of great utility in planning and policy making. Park ethnography can complement the opinion survey by uncovering the cultural ties between parks and local communities.
University of Texas Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2005
During the 2006-07 school year, the TNE Evidence Committee conducted an evaluative study of the i... more During the 2006-07 school year, the TNE Evidence Committee conducted an evaluative study of the impact of a Department of Secondary Education (SED) teaching-credential program. The specifics: Research Questions To what degree do new credential-program graduates implement CSUN-identified effective teaching practices in their classrooms? What factors facilitate or impede implementation of pedagogies taught in the credential program? Future question: Is the program improving over the years in terms of this implementation? Participants All 1 st and 2 nd-year fulltime secondary math teachers who earned CSUN Traditional Single-Subject Math credentials from Fall 2004 to Spring 2006, and who agreed to be observed Methods Collaborative development with key SED personnel of a structured protocol for classroom observations (the "tool") to detect the presence/significance of research-based "effective practices" Collection of written background information from each participant prior to observation 1 period-long observation of each participant, using the "tool" Audiotaped interview of each participant immediately after each observed lesson A second observation and interview of some participants Data Analysis % of time spent per teaching mode total (i.e., breakdown of the average lesson) Significance of each effective practice in the lessons overall [Add brief description of qualitative analysis]
Routledge eBooks, Feb 24, 2023
By 2030, 80% of the entire world's population will live in cities. This trend has reinforced the ... more By 2030, 80% of the entire world's population will live in cities. This trend has reinforced the participation of anthropologists in the analysis of urban growth and change, defining distinctive features, appearances, qualities, and problems, as well as the emergence of unique and shared forms of urbanisms around the world. There is also a long tradition of anthropologists working in sub-Saharan Africa, for decades largely in rural townships and villages. And there are those who have combined the two, focusing their energies on African cities, observing the impact of the West, differences from the countryside, the new roles and relationships engaged in, the qualitative difference from so-called traditional society. Over the last 50 years, urbanization has become one of the most remarkable features of the African continent. Based on demographic studies, approximately 27 million people lived in urban centers in Africa in the 1950s, a time of increasing urbanization on the continent. Today, approximately 567 million people live in African cities (Kanos and Heitzig 2020; OCED/SWAC 2020). This growth is staggering and necessitates the reclassification of the urban, as new cities emerge in the interior and density has increased in existing cities. Despite these changes, and a tradition of anthropological research in and of the urban agglomeration in sub-Saharan Africa, there has been no volume published that focuses on urban African anthropology. We hatched the idea for this book at a conference, as we were conversing about our respective urban West African research. I, Deborah, was trained in the 1970s in British social anthropology, at a time when urban anthropology was broadening and focused on issues related to adaptive strategies, social stratification, social identity, and poverty. I went on to observe urban community processes in Ghana, especially in Accra, the capital located in the south, and subsequently Tamale and its environs, the gateway to northern Ghana. I, Suzanne, was trained in the 1990s with an accent placed on neo-Marxist perspectives of the urban. In anthropology, eclecticism was beginning to replace identifications with theoretical traditions, and urban anthropology was taking a turn toward spatial concerns. I went
During the 2006-07 school year, the TNE Evidence Committee conducted an evaluative study of the i... more During the 2006-07 school year, the TNE Evidence Committee conducted an evaluative study of the impact of a Department of Secondary Education (SED) teaching-credential program. The specifics: Research Questions � To what degree do new credential-program graduates implement CSUN-identified effective teaching practices in their classrooms? � What factors facilitate or impede implementation of pedagogies taught in the credential program? � Future question: Is the program improving over the years in terms of this implementation? Participants � All 1 st and 2 nd-year fulltime secondary math teachers who earned CSUN Traditional Single-Subject Math credentials from Fall 2004 to Spring 2006, and who agreed to be observed Methods � Collaborative development with key SED personnel of a structured protocol for classroom observations (the “tool”) to detect the presence/significance of research-based “effective practices” � Collection of written background information from each participant prior...
Africa’s informal workers, 2010
Human-Centered Built Environment Heritage Preservation, 2018
Proceedings of the African Futures Conference, 2016
Writing has special importance in anthropology. Writing fieldnotes is a central methodology for d... more Writing has special importance in anthropology. Writing fieldnotes is a central methodology for documenting and analyzing culture, and written personal reflections upon this process are viewed as providing insight into how knowledge is produced by a "situated" researcher. That said, there is little discussion in the discipline about the use of writing as pedagogy or a tool for popularizing the discipline. This article considers how old fashion letter writing to anthropologists can strengthen students' learning to write and analyze culture. It also indicates how writing letters popularizes the discipline. Letter writing is communication, method, tradition, and now pedagogy in anthropology. This progression of uses has relevance to teaching and learning in other disciplines.
Teaching and Learning Anthropology, 2024
This article explores how teaching Urban Anthropology can engender new relationships between citi... more This article explores how teaching Urban Anthropology can engender new relationships between cities, students, and classrooms. We discuss the generative connections between these actors as processes of becoming, which connect students with practices and theories for understanding urban life. Serving also as an introduction to a Special Issue on "Teaching the City," this article introduces the issue's pieces, which discuss teaching and learning across three continents. It also reflects on their collective contributions as an opportunity to think anew about the city through teaching. The four authors of this piece contributed equal labor.