Who We Are

The Critical Urban Anthropology Association (CUAA), formerly SUNTA, a section of the American Anthropological Association, concerns itself with the theories, problems, processes, and institutions of urban, national and transnational life. Urban life and problems in the modern world are interrelated with national and transnational processes, forces and  institutions, especially capitalism and the nation-state. At the same time, urban residents  interact with their rural hinterlands and have become increasingly aware of their interdependencies with rural areas through the movement of people, commodities (e.g., food, energy), and ideas. CUAA therefore particularly focuses on the interrelationships of urban, national, and transnational processes as they affect and are affected by the everyday social and cultural lives of people living, acting, and struggling in particular places, anthropology’s traditional area of concern. 

During the current period of climate change, ecological shifts, population mobilities, and political instability, urban anthropology has become a key discipline for the critical rethinking of these issues.

CUAA members live both in the U.S.A. and outside it, and  include academic, practitioner/applied, and student anthropologists. Members’ expertise covers most nations of the world and their cities, residents, cultures, and connections to other places. In addition to conducting original research and teaching, many CUAA members consult and work in or with private and public agencies dealing with social problems, development, and policy formation.