With global issues and internationalization becoming an integral part of everyday life, there is a definite need for information that helps people understand other cultures.
Encyclopedia of Urban Cultures makes a contribution by describing and analyzing nearly 240 country capitals and urban areas with a population of at least 25,000. The editors are husband and wife and serve respectively as president and executive director of the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University, an international research organization in the field of cultural anthropology. As is the case with other Yale Human Relations Area Files products, there is a strong international flavor as many of the urban areas covered are from outside North American. This is one of the strong points of the encyclopedia. Places like Tallinn, Estonia, or Windhoek, Namibia, will not be discussed in most other urban-studies resources.
Following 16 overview essays on topics such as "Migration and Cities" and "Urbanization in Latin America," entries are arranged alphabetically by city name. The academic writing style reflects the scholarly training of the more than 300 contributors. The signed essays follow a uniform pattern, with sections on "Orientation" (i.e., location, population, distinctive features, and main attractions); "History"; "Infrastructure"; "Cultural and Social Life"; "Quality of Life"; and "Future of the City." Each entry includes a thumbnail map of the region with the location of the urban area highlighted, helping readers to get a sense of where the specified city is located. There is also a black-and-white photo as part of each essay. Each entry concludes with a short bibliography directing users to more in-depth work. Although some have greater narrative and analytical qualities, entries represent solid research, and there is a wealth of data that researchers will be glad is in one place. A strong reading of these entries will not only help readers understand a specific city but also underscore the forces at work in many urban environments. The 50-page index adds value by indexing categories like class system to help readers link to similar themes in different entries. There is also an appendix that provides finding aids to locate cities by country and region.
Although Encyclopedia of Urban Cultures is a place to get authoritative data on urban areas, a good general encyclopedia like the Encyclopedia Britannica also can do this job and often does it a bit better. For example, the Vienna entry in Britannica has a longer description of the cultural influences of Beethoven and Mozart and includes Viennese cultural and political figures, such as Freud, Herzl, and Hitler. On the other hand, a general encyclopedia will not provide nearly as much detail about a smaller city such as Asmara, Eritrea.
The editors have published other material in this field, including Countries and Their Cultures (Macmillan, 2001), which is valuable for students who are studying cultures by country, rather than by urban area. The other way that many people study different cultures is by the cultural group itself (Latinos, French Canadians, etc.). A strong resource for this type of approach is Encyclopedia of World Cultures (1991, G. K. Hall), which was also prepared under the auspices of the Yale Human Relations Area Files. For the range of international cities it covers and the convenience of having so much information about cities in a single reference tool, Encyclopedia of Urban Cultures is recommended for academic and public libraries. RBB
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