COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will explore the dynamics of race and class in American cities during the post-World War II period. The readings and discussions will focus on suburbanization, the decline of central cities, conflict over the use and definition of urban space, and the globalization of urban processes. Most of the works read will represent the latest approaches to the study of cities.

Overview
Using the latest scholarship in urban studies, this course aspires to introduce students to problems that American cities have encountered during the post-1945 period. Although the course will focus on cities located in the United States, it will end with statements on the globalization of cities, and take a look at cities located in central and south America. This comparative perspective will help students to understand the international dimension of contemporary urban trends in the United States.

This course has four specific aims:

•  To introduce students to the interdisciplinary and the transnational nature of American Studies and to encourage the study of complex and interrelated topics such as race, class, the city, and globalization from diverse perspectives.
•  To investigate some of the recent literature in urban studies.
•  To expand students’ knowledge of the sources available for urban research.
•  To guide students in the preparation of a research paper

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. 10% of the grade: Attendance at all classes and reading, class-preparation, and participation in all class discussions.



2. 15% of the grade: Participation in organizing and leading one class session.



3. 5% of the grade: A page with questions you intend to discuss during the class session that you are organizing and leading. Due in office hours before that class session.



4. 20% of the grade: Short review essay (5 pages) on two or more books that relate to the course. This paper should function as a starting point for the final longer paper. Students should pick at least two books that examine an issue that fits within the parameters of the course and critically review them. The books cannot be those assigned in this course. Due on the seventh week class meeting (one-page proposal for that paper that identifies the books to be reviewed is due on the fifth week).



5. 40% of the grade: Final paper (15-20 pages). The paper should engage at least one of the following:
   1. The historical origins of an issue discussed in the readings (such as the proliferation of gated communities);
   2. Interactions of ethnic and racial groups with each other and with their urban environment;
   3. how urban culture is imagined, invented, and used as a source of empowerment;
   4. how urban history helps us illuminate on contemporary urban problems;
   5. how transnational flows of people and capital have affected city politics. Due on December 18 (two-page proposal for that paper is due on the ninth week). Students are encouraged to consult with instructor regularly about their paper and research.


6. 10% of the grade: Brief in-class presentation of final paper.

READINGS

1. The following books should be available for purchase at the Brown University Bookstore (listed alphabetically):

Joe Austin, Taking the Train: How Graffiti Art Became an Urban Crisis in New York City (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002).

Todd Boyd, Am I Black Enough for You? Popular Culture from the ‘Hood and Beyond (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997).

Teresa P. R. Caldeira, City of Walls: Crime, Segregation, and Citizenship in São Paulo (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001).

Néstor García Canclini, Consumers and Citizens: Globalization and Multicultural Conflicts (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).

Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (New York: Verso, 1990).

Samuel R. Delaney, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (New York: New York University Press, 1999).

Bernard E. Harcourt, Illusion of Order: The False Promise of Broken Windows Policing (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001).

Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985).

Thomas J. Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).

Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh, American Project: The Rise and Fall of A Modern Ghetto (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000). Optional: See Review (H-Urban: January, 2001) by D. Bradford Hunt, Department of History, University of California at Berkeley.

Camilo José Vergara, The New American Ghetto (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1999).

2. The following articles have been placed on reserve at the Rockefeller Library:

Heather Barr, “More Like Disneyland: State Action, 42 U. S. C. 1 1983, and Business Improvement Districts in New York,” Columbia Human Rights Law Review (Winter 1997): 393-429. Available online through Lexis Nexis.

Setha M. Low, “The Edge and the Center: Gated Communities and the Discourse of Urban Fear,” American Anthropologist (March 2001): 45-59. Placed on reserve.

3. The following videos will be viewed during special screenings:

Ric Burns, New York: A Documentary Film (2001), Episode 7: "The City and the World".

Steve James, Hoop Dreams (1994).

Bill Moyers, The Fire Next Door (1977).

John Singleton, Boyz N The Hood (1991).

SCHEDULE

September 3: Introduction

September 10: Suburbanization of the United States

Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985).

Film: Ric Burns, New York: A Documentary Film (2001), Episode 7: "The City and the World".

September 17: Photography and the City

Camilo José Vergara, The New American Ghetto (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1999).

September 24: Public Housing

Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh, American Project: The Rise and Fall of A Modern Ghetto (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000).

Film: Steve James, Hoop Dreams (1994).

October 1: The Maintenance of Urban Social Order

Bernard E. Harcourt, Illusion of Order: The False Promise of Broken Windows Policing (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001).

REVIEW ESSAY PROPOSAL DUE

October 8: Gated Communities and Business Improvement Districts

Setha M. Low, “The Edge and the Center: Gated Communities and the Discourse of Urban Fear,” American Anthropologist (March 2001): 45-59. Available on reserve.

Heather Barr, “More Like Disneyland: State Action, 42 U. S. C. 1 1983, and Business Improvement Districts in New York,” Columbia Human Rights Law Review (Winter 1997): 393-429. Available online through Lexis Nexis.

Samuel R. Delaney, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (New York: New York University Press, 1999).

REVIEW ESSAY DUE

October 22: Youth and Cultural Dissent in the City

Joe Austin, Taking the Train: How Graffiti Art Became an Urban Crisis in New York City (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002).

October 29: Work, Residence, and the Urban Crisis

Thomas J. Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).

Film: Bill Moyers, The Fire Next Door (1977).

FINAL PAPER PROPOSAL DUE

November 5: World Cities

Néstor García Canclini, Consumers and Citizens: Globalization and Multicultural Conflicts (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).

November 12: Los Angeles as a World City and as Urban Dystopia

Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (New York: Verso, 1990).

Film: John Singleton, Boyz N The Hood (1991).

PAPER PRESENTATIONS

November 19: Crime, Democracy, and Space

Teresa P. R. Caldeira, City of Walls: Crime, Segregation, and Citizenship in São Paulo (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001).

PAPER PRESENTATIONS

December 3: African Americans, Popular Culture, and the City

Todd Boyd, Am I Black Enough for You? Popular Culture from the ‘Hood and Beyond (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997).

PAPER PRESENTATIONS

December 18:  FINAL PAPER DUE