L’antropologia urbana italiana. Un inquadramento diacronico

The article traces the history of urban anthropology in Italy, resuming a three-stage division proposed by Fulvia D'Aloisio in 2011: propaedeutic phase (between the 1950s and the 1980s), phase of definition and acquisition of visibility (between the 1980s and the mid-1990s), phase of consolidation, systematization, institutional recognition and the opening of new research strands (between the mid-1990s and the first decade of the 2000s). To these phases is added a fourth, concerning the most recent developments in anthropological investigation of cities. Subsequently, opening up the reflection to an interdisciplinary perspective – embracing the field of critical urban studies – the article defines the research object of ‘urban transformations’, connecting it to the broader analysis of social change. Urban dimension and social change will emerge as two interconnected elements, which assume contextually and historically determined peculiar characteristics.