Spring 2010 courses

Please check the Registrar for the most up-to-date course information.

Syllabi not found online may be available in binders in the Urban Studies office, Room 130 McNeil Building.

URBS-104/HIST-153 Urban Crisis: American Cities since World War II
SEM-401 (Katz)
MW 3:30-5:00
Society Sector
The course traces the economic, social, and political history of American cities after World War II. It focuses on how the economic problems of the industrial city were compounded by the racial conflicts of the 1950s and 1960s and the fiscal crises of the 1970s. The last part of the course examines the forces that led to the revitalization of cities in recent years.

URBS-112/SOCI-011 Urban Sociology
SEM-401 (Flippen)
W 2-5
Cultural Diversity in US
A comprehensive introduction to the sociological study of cities. Topics will include theories of urbanism, methods of research, migration, history of cities, gentrification, poverty, urban politics, suburbanization and globalization. Philadelphia will be used as a recurring example, though the course will devote attention to cities around the U.S. and the world.

URBS-122/ANTH-107/SAST-002 The City in South Asia
LEC-401 (Mitchell)
MWF 10-11
Society Sector
This course surveys important themes and methods in the study of South Asia by focusing on one or more South Asian cities, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Lahore, Lucknow, Banaras, Kathmandu, Lhasa, Dhaka, etc. Topics to becovered include urban planning, globalization, trade, labor, development, artistic production, politics, cultural exchange, and so on. Students draw literary and scholarly studies, investigating films, memoirs, ethnographies, histories, and other sources to understand the life of one or more major metropolitan centers

URBS-136/PSCI 136 Urban Politics in the US
LEC-401 (Reed) TR 3-4
REC-402 F 3-4
REC-403 F 2-3
REC-404 F 11-12
Cultural Divesity in US
Society Sector
This course explores the political character of contemporary urban American life. It seeks to familiarize students with the structural and ideological factors (e.g., dynamics of political economy, race, ethnicity, pluralism and gender) that constrain the policy context and define the urban environment as a terrain for commingling, competition and conflict over uses of space. It makes considerable use of case studies to throw into relief the complex and sometimes subtle processes that shape urban life.

URBS-178.401/AFRC-078/HIST-173 Urban University-Community Relations
SEM-401 (Harkavy)
W 2-5
ABCS Course
Benjamin Franklin Seminars
One of the seminar's aims is to help students develop their capacity to solve strategic, real-world problems by working collaboratively in the classroom and in the West Philadelphia community. Students work as members of research teams to help solve universal problems (e.g., poverty, poor schooling, inadequate health care, etc.) as they are manifested in Penn's local geographic community of West Philadelphia. The seminar currently focuses on improving education, specifically college and career readiness and pathways. Specifically, students focus their problem-solving research at Sayre High School in West Philadelphia, which functions as the real-world site for the seminar's activities. Students typically are engaged in academically based service-learning at the Sayre School, with the primary activities occurring on Mondays from 3-5. Other arrangements can be made at the school if needed. Another goal of the seminar is to help students develop proposals as to how a Penn undergraduate education might better empower students to produce, not simply "consume," societally-useful knowledge, as well as function as life-long societally-useful citizens.

URBS-200 Introduction to Urban Research
SEM-401 (Goldstein)
R 5-8
College Quantitative Data Analysis Course
This course will examine different ways of undertaking urban research. The goal will be to link substantive research questions to appropriate research methods. Microcomputer based quantitative methods, demographic techniques, and ethnographic approaches will be the primary foci of the course. In addition to classroom assignments, students will have the opportunity to undertake their own research involving micro-based statistical analysis of data files which address relevant and timely public policy issues.

URBS-202/EDUC-202 Urban Education
SEM-401 (Throop)
T 4:30-7:30
ABCS Course
This course is an introduction to and an overview of many of the key issues confronting urban public schools in America. Urban education is often the most publicized of public school experiences and frequently the least well understood. In this course, we will examine some of the historical, social, and cultural contexts of urban education, as well as look at issues and events directly affecting the Philadelphia public schools. This course will incorporate developmental perspectives on urban youth and explore how issues of developmental-environmental fit have been addressed, or, more often, overlooked by education researchers and policymakers. We will also examine and critique recent reforms and policies which have been designed to remedy the urban public school "crisis." In addition to readings and class discussions, students will have an opportunity to explore these issues through a review of popular media (e.g., films and documentaries on urban schools) and observation and participation in urban public schools.

URBS-205 People and Design
SEM-401 (Berman)
R 1:30-4:30
The built environment of a city is more than a mere backdrop. The design can affect people's experiences. Environmental design focuses on the relationship between people and the built environment. It also looks at how the built environment interacts with the natural one. This course will allow students to gain a deeper understanding of how people create, perceive, and use the designed environment. We'll approach these concepts by analyzing design at a variety of scales, from products to interior design to architecture. Finally, using that knowledge, we'll conclude by analyzing urban spaces of the city.  

URBS-206/URBS-506/CPLN-620 The Public Environment of Cities: An Introduction to the Urban Landscape
SEM-401 (Nairn)
W 2-5
This course will explore the role of public spaces- streets, boulevards, parks and squares- in cities and their social uses. With the University of Pennsylvania campus and the City of Philadelphia serving as our laboratory, we will critically examine the evolution of the movement corridors, open space and buildings of the urban landscape and their changing uses. Case Studies of social spaces on campus and public open spaces in Center City will help inform our understanding of how public environment serves, well or poorly, the varying needs of diverse users. While graphic skills are not required, graphic means as well as writing will be employed to communicate critical thought, ideas, and conclusions.

URBS-210/HIST-210/CPLN-605/URBS-602 The City
SEM-401 (Schneider)
TR 3-4:30
Humanities & Social Science
This course is an introduction to major forces that shape urban life in the United States from the eighteenth century to the present, with a focus on Philadelphia. Through weekly assignments and discussions, students will examine the physical formation and historical development of cities and learn to "read" the sociological and geographic organization of the contemporary city. Prominent themes include urban growth, decline, and restructuring; the ecological bases of urban life; race, class, and gender relations in urban space; and the formation and re-formation of neighborhoods, downtowns, and suburbs.

URBS-235/CINE-305/ARTH-305 Film and the City
SEM-401 (Charney)
T 1:30-4:30
Romance and sex. Paranoia and violence. Energy and fun. Cynicism and danger. Every emotion, every social upheaval, every class, racial, and sexual struggle of three centuries has been channeled, by now, through the city on film. In fact, cities and cinema were partners from the start. Early films first emerged from 19th century Paris and world capitals ( New York, Berlin, Paris, Moscow) figured prominently in cinema's early years. Since then, cities have been regularly at the center of major films and film movements,
Whether gangster movies in the 1930s; film noir in the 1940s; MGM musicals in the 1950s; French New Wave in the 1960s; Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese in the 1970s; Stephen Frears, Hanif Kureishi, Spike Lee, and Mike Leigh in the 1980s; and DIY, indie, and "mumblecore" movements today.
This special, one-time-only course, offered as part of Penn's Arts & The City Year, will examine both cities and cinema, including a wide range of movies, from all different countries and periods; theories and histories of urban planning and urban experience, from the Frankfurt School to Richard Florida; and film culture, resources, and events in Philadelphia, New York, and elsewhere.
All students will make a short film in Philadelphia as a final class project. Other required work will include screenings, readings, class participation, and writing assignments.

URBS-244/GRMN-244/COML-254 Metropolis: Culture of the City
LEC-401 (MacLeod)  MW 12-1
REC-402 F 10-11
REC-403 F 11-12
REC-404 F 12-1
REC-405 F 1-2
Arts & Letters
An exploration of modern discourses on and of the city. Topics include: the city as site of avant-garde experimentation; technology and culture; the city as embodiment of social order and disorder; traffic and speed; ways of seeing the city; the crowd; city figures such as the detective, the criminal, the flaneur, the dandy; film as the new medium of the city. Special emphasis on Berlin. Readings by, among others, Dickens, Poe, Baudelaire, Rilke, Doeblin, Marx, Engels, Benjamin, Kracauer. Films include Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run.

URBS-250 Urban Public Policy
SEM-401 (Hershberg)
T 1:30-4:30
An introduction to a broad range of substantive policy areas affecting the city and an exploration into the complexities of policy formulation and implementation in a large and pluralistic metropolitan setting. The course subtitle, "Contemporary Philadelphia: A Case Study," describes our approach.

URBS-252.301 Urban Journalism
SEM-301 (Rubin)
M 5:30-8:30
This course will examine the state of urban journalism today with special emphasis on how large newspapers are redefining themselves, and news, in an era of dwindling readership and growing corporate pressures. The course will look at local television news, photojournalism, alternative weeklies and ethics, and will discuss the techniques journalists use in reporting the news.
The course is taught by Dan Rubin, Metro columnist and former foreign correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

URBS-253/SOCI-254 Cities, Suburbs, and Their Regions
SEM-401 (Black)
T 1:30-4:30
This course will explore the political, economic, social, and demographic forces impacting development patterns in metropolitan areas, with a particular focus on Philadelphia.  We will examine the government policies, economic forces, and social attitudes that affect the way a region grows and develops. Specific topics to be discussed include the factors that make a region competitive, the city's changing role in the region, evolving regional housing markets,  and the impacts of the recent global financial crisis on American markets, regions, institutions, and neighborhoods .

URBS-259 Understanding the Post-Industrial City - Media City: New Lifestyles/New Forms
SEM-301 (Thomas/Snyder)
M 2-5
Urban lifestyles have a reciprocal relationship with urban form. While lifestyle might have been once determined by the circumstances of birth, limited horizons and a hierarchical society, today social and physical mobility combined with increasing affluence makes lifestyle yet another choice in the construction of a modern identity. Lifestyle choices have become an engine of urban growth and are instrumental in the transformation of urban life and form of the city.

URBS-264/SOCI-264 Poverty, Race, and Health
SEM-401 (Culhane, J)
T 1:30-4:30
Cultural Diversity in US
This course is designed to introduce students to current literature on race/ethnic difference in health and mortality in the United States, covering such topics as explanations for why some race/ethnic groups fare better than others, how inner city poverty and residential segregation may contribute to racial/ethnic differences in health outcomes, and health of immigrants versus native-born populations. Current policy debated and recent policy developments related to health are also briely discussed. The course is organized as a seminar with a combination of lectures and class discussions. We will meet only once a week. It is important that students attend seminars regularly and actively participate in class discussions. There are four short assignments designed around the topics covered in class and students will be required to present data/information, pose questions and lead class discussions as appropriate for each topic. There will be one in-class exam towards the end of the course. In addition, students are required to write a research paper (12­15 pages), which will consist of a health profile of a race/ethnic group of a student's choice and its possible explanations. There are no prerequisites, although a prior sociology course and familiarity with a spreadsheet program would be useful.

URBS-270/SOCI-270/AFRC-272/CPLN-670/URBS-670 The Immigrant City
SEM-401 (Vitiello)
T 1:30-4:30
Cultural Diversity in US
Immigration is a controversial issue, dividing Americans from Congress to big cities to small towns. What’s at stake in these debates? What does immigration mean for cities and regions? And what roles should policy makers, planners, and community organizations play in shaping migration and its impacts? This course examines these questions in the context of immigrant, refugee, and receiving communities in the United States. It surveys public policy and community and economic development practices related to migration, at the local, regional, and trans-national scale. Class readings, discussions, and regular visits to a variety of Philadelphia’s immigrant neighborhoods explore themes including labor markets, political mobilization, social and cultural policy, and the built environment.

The first half of the course surveys migration and community development among a broad range of ethnic groups in different parts of the city and suburbs; the second half focuses on specific policy and development initiatives. Assignments include an opportunity to work with immigrant-serving organizations.

URBS 273/ENGL-145/AFRC-145 Writing in Concert
SEM-401 (Cary)
T 1:30-4:30
The class comprises two parts: teaching a common text and writing about the experience using memoir, reportage, and criticism. Students will learn the common text in close reading, discussion and preliminary essay exercises. The idea is to develop an intimate relationship with a text, learn about yourself as a writer from your responses to it, and then, by creating a mini-course syllabus and lesson plans, learn how to help readers at different stages in life and literacy find their own ways to enter the text. Learning the work takes three to four weeks; teaching requires four to six, with some overlap. Students teach in several urban learning sites, each with its own challenges and charisma: high school English classes, a church-based book group, adult education centers, a recovery house, and homeless shelters. In April students attend a reading by Sonia Sanchez at Art Sanctuary, a North Philadelphia arts organization at the Church of the Advocate.

URBS-300 Fieldwork Seminar
SEM-301/302/303 (Simon/Weaver)
M 6-8
Students work 15-20 hours per week field placement and meet weekly with class and instructors. The class is intended to help students reflect from a variety of perspectives on the work that they are doing in their placement organizations. The class format is primarily discussion. Students are required to complete assigned readings, prepare written and oral presentations, and submit a final project.

URBS-322/FNAR-222.401 Big Pictures: Mural Art
STU-401 (Golden/Gensler)
W 1-4; F 9-12
ABCS Course
The history and practice of the contemporary mural movement couples step by step analysis of the process of designing with painting a mural. In addition, students will learn to see mural art as a tool for social change. This course combines theory with practice. Students will design and paint a large outdoor mural in West Philadelphia in collaboration with Philadelphia high school students and community groups. The instructor, Jane Golden, is the founder and Director of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.

URBS-326/EDUC-326 Tutoring in Urban Public Schools: A Child Development Perspective
SEM-401 (Fantuzzo)
T 6:30-9:30
ABCS Course
The course provides an opportunity for undergraduate students to participate in academically based community service learning. Student will be studying early childhood development and learning while providing direct, one-to-one tutoring services to young students in Philadelphia public elementary schools. The course will cover foundational dimensions of the cognitive and social development of preschool and elementary school students from a multicultural perspective. The course will place a special emphasis on the multiple contexts that influence children's development and learning and how aspects of classroom environment (i.e., curriculum and classroom management strategies) can impact children's achievement. Also, student will consider a range of larger issues impacting urban education embedded in American society. The course structure has three major components: (1) lecture related directly to readings on early childhood development and key observation and listening skills necessary for effective tutoring, (2) weekly contact with a preschool or elementary school student as a volunteer tutor and active consideration of how to enhance the student learning, and (3) discussion and reflection of personal and societal issues related to being a volunteer tutor in a large urban public school.

URBS-327.403/EDCU-410.403Schools and Community Development: A Collaboration with West Philadelphia High School Urban Leadership Academy
SEM-401 (Puckett/Simon)
TBA
ABCS Course
The current course is "Research as Public Work:A Real-World Project To Help Create A New West Philadelphia High School," a seminar that engages Penn undergraduates with West Philadelphia High School teachers and students to assist in planning an urban studies academy at both the existing and proposed new high school. This planning includes developing curricular activities, mapping institutional resources to support curriculum development, and designing school-based public work projects.
The class will meet on Thursdays from 12:30-3:30. The first class session will be in McNeil 130; subsequent classes will meet at the West Philadelphia High School. Transportation will be provided.

URBS-401 Urban Studies Honors
(Simon/Schneider)
Seniors only, permit required

URBS-403/SOCI-430 The Social Life of Urban Spaces
SEM-401 (Grazian)
W 2-5
ABCS Course
The purpose of this ABCS course is to examine everyday behavior and public life in the urban environment, with a particular emphasis on understanding face-to-face social interactions among members of the University of Pennsylvania community and local neighborhood residents. Through assigned readings, intensive classroom discussions, and numerous fieldwork projects, students will explore a range of relevant topics: the uses of small urban spaces, including sidewalks, parks, plazas, and commercial hangouts; local security strategies and the role of the police; and the daily rounds of nightshift workers, the homeless, and the working poor. In addition, students will conduct several hours per week of service work at the Foundation at the Rotunda, a local nonprofit community arts and performance space that aims to facilitate the growth of meaningful partnerships between the University and the surrounding West Philadelphia community.

URBS-405/HIST-405/AFAM-405/RELS-439 Religion, Social Justice and Urban Development
SEM-601 (Lamas)
M 6-9
Urban development has been influenced by religious conceptions of social and economic justice. Progressive traditions within Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Humanism have yielded: (1) powerful critiques of oppression and hierarchy as well as (2) alternative economic frameworks for ownership, governance, production, labor, and community. Historical and contemporary case studies from the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East will be considered, as we examine the ways in which religious responses to poverty, inequality, and ecological destruction have generated new forms of urban development.

URBS-406/ENGL-401 Teaching American Studies
SEM-401 (Conn)
TR 3-4:30
Permission needed from Instructor
A double-credit course that combines the study of American cultural with High School teaching. Each student in the course will complete a standard list of readings and writing assignments, including several brief written reports and a fifteen-page final essay. In addition, each student will be assigned to an English or social studies teacher at University City High School and will assist that teacher at least three hours each week in class. The second half of English 401/ URBS 406 also comprises a list of readings mainly in urban education, and a number of writing assignments, including another fifteen-page final paper.

URBS-415 Urban Real Estate Markets
SEM-301 (Kozloff)
R 1:30-4:30
Cities evolve over time, comprised of various inputs of different sizes at different stages of urban evolution. However, as cities continue to densify and navigate real estate market cycles, opportunities to redefine the urban context, while promoting the individual brand, become ever more sensitive. Projects are getting increasingly complex, often involving multiple partnerships among private developers, public agencies, non-profits, and community groups. Today's development professionals need to be well-versed across a variety of disciplines and property types to effectively execute in an urban environment. As such, this course will provide the underpinnings for critical decision-making in markets that change frequently and often unevenly – whether for financing, investing, development, public policy formulation, or asset management/disposition.

URBS-416 Metropolitan Food Systems
LEC-401 (Vitiello)
F 12-3
Permission needed from Instructor
This course introduces students to the planning and development of metropolitan food systems. Major topics include regional planning and policy; sustainable agriculture; food access and distribution; and markets. The class includes a mix of lectures, discussion, and field trips; students will work on real-world projects in Philadelphia. Ultimately, the course aims to develop students' broad knowledge of food systems planning in the global North and South, with an emphasis on community and economic development strategies for sustainable food systems and fool security.
For undergraduates, this course is by permission of instructor only. Students interested in taking the course should ideally have some background working in planning and community development and/or food systems. Undergraduates must submit a one-paragraph statement explaining their preparation and interest in the topic by January 12 to urbs@sas.upenn.edu. Students will be notified of enrollment by the first class meeting on January 16.

URBS-428/CPLN-528 Research Seminar in 21 st Century Urbanism
SEM-401 (Milestone)
W 3-6
Permission needed from Instructor
A seminar run in conjunction with the Institute for Urban Research at Penn, students will learn about the range of cutting edge topics in urbanism that Penn faculty are working on and work closely with a faculty member on current research. Students will learn about new topics and methods in interdisciplinary urban research, and get first hand experience collecting urban data under the close supervision of an experienced researcher. Students and faculty jointly will present their findings for discussion. This course is a good introduction for how to frame and conduct an urban research project.

URBS-448 Neighborhood Displacement and Community Power
SEM-601 (Palmer)
W 6-9
This course uses the history of black displacement to examine community power and advocacy. It examines the methods of advocacy (e.g. case, class, and legislative) and political action through which community activists can influence social policy development and community and institutional change. The course also analyzes selected strategies and tactics of change and seeks to develop alternative roles in the group advocacy, lobbying, public education and public relations, electoral politics, coalition building, and legal and ethical dilemmas in political action. Case studies of neighborhood displacement serve as central means of examining course topics.

URBS-450 Urban Redevelopment
SEM-301 (Gorostiza)
T 5:30-8:010
This course is divided into three segments: a brief historical background on the origins and changing goals of urban redevelopment; a detailed review of contemporary housing problems and the implementation of program responses by public, private and neighborhood groups; an overview of economic development efforts with a focus on a series of contemporary projects as case studies. The format is that of a seminar, mixing lecture, discussion and guest speakers who are responsible for housing and economic development in the Philadelphia area. The focus is not only on policy choices but on the mechanics of financing, implementation, and attaining employment goals. The course requirements include a take-home, mid-term essay of 5-7 pages, a final case study; and tour of development projects in Philadelphia.

URBS-463/ENVS-463) Brownfield Remediation
SEM-660 (Keene)
M 5:30-8:10
This course is intended to give students an overview of the genesis of the so-called "Brownfield" problem and of the various efforts that our society is taking to try to solve, or at least, ameliorate, it. The course will place the "Brownfield" problem in the broader context of the growth and decline of the industrial base of cities like Philadelphia. Students will study the general constitutional and statutory framework within which we approach the problems of orphan, polluted sites and the disposal of contemporary solid wastes. They will also analyze the principal actions that have been taken by federal and state government to address remediation and redevelopment of abandoned industrial sites. The course will also explore environmental equity issues.

URBS-467/CPLN-467 Global Cities in the 21 st Century
SEM-301 (Birch)
M 2-5
A survey of worldwide urbanization, focusing on development disparities among cities in the Global North and Global South and within each area, with special attention to the provision of housing, basic infrastructure (water, sanitation, transportation) and social and health services.

URBS-473/SOCI-473 Community Organizing: History and Theory
SEM-601 (Becker )
T 6-9
Power is an ability to create change. Without access to power that might otherwise come from political, financial or personal networks, community organizing can often serve as the only viable source of power for the oppressed. Whereas organizing has unfortunately become a partisan buzzword during the 2008 presidential campaign, it has played a central role in US history since the Populist movement of the late 19th century, most notably as the foundation of the Civil Rights movement. This course will integrate the history and theories of community organizing in order to develop a praxis for each student to create change in their own communities. Focused analysis of several key texts, inquiry and problem-posing methods rooted in the student's own context will serve as the primary means of study.

URBS-489/HIST/AFST/AFRC-489 Africans Abroad
SEM-401 (Babou)
T 1:30-4:30
This seminar will examine the experiences of recent Muslim emigrants and refugees from Africa, focusing on those now living in the city of Philadelphia and the surrounding region. In addition to reading some historical and comparative literature on migration, ethnic diasporas, and transnationalism, students will have the opportunity to conduct research on specific African communities in Philadelphia and possibly other cities in our region. African emigres' relations with both their home and host societies will be explored and compared with the experience of other immigrant groups, both Muslim and non-Muslim, over the past century. Topics include reasons for leaving Africa, patterns of economic and educational adaptation abroad, changes in gender and generational roles, issues of cultural and religious identity, and the impact of national immigration policies. Students will have the opportunity to help create an archive of Muslim immigrant literature and music and to contribute to a documentary video, with support form a grant from the SSRC's 'Academia in the Public Sphere' Program.

URBS-546/EDUC-545 Global Citizenship
SEM-401 (Hall)
T 2-4
The course examines the possibilities and limitations of conceiving of and realizing citizenship on a global scale. Readings, guest lecturers, and discussions will focus on dilemmas associated with addressing issues that transcend national boundaries. In particular, the course compares global/local dynamics that emerge across different types of improvement efforts focusing on distinctive institutions and social domains, including: educational development; human rights; humanitarian aid; free trade; micro-finance initiatives; and the global environmental movement. The course has two objectives: to explore research and theoretical work related to global citizenship, social engagement, and international development; and to discuss ethical and practical issues that emerge in the local contexts where development initiatives are implemented.

URBS-547/EDUC-547 Antrhopology & Education
SEM-401 (Riggan)
W 4:30-6:30
course dates: 1/13/09 - 5/11/09
An introduction to the intent, approach, and contribution of anthropology to the study of socialization and schooling in cross-cultural perspective. Education is examined in traditional, colonial, and complex industrial societies.

URBS-553/SOCI-553 Field Methods in Qualitative Research
SEM-401 (Lareau-Freeman)
M 2-5
This course is designed to introduce graduate students to basic approaches to ethnography and other qualitative methods, including participant observation, open-ended interviewing, field documentation, content analysis, comparative case sampling, narrative analysis, and systematic qualitative data analysis. Students will learn to apply these methods through a regularly assigned set of field exercises, and will be expected to complete a semester-long project based on intensive fieldwork at a research site of their choosing. In addition, we will examine both classic and contemporary exemplars of ethnography and other qualitative research in the sociological discipline. This course satisfies the qualitative methods requirements in the Sociology Department graduate program.

URBS-566/EDUC-566 Cross Cultural Awareness
LEC-401 (Howard/Kearney)
Permission needed from department
This course provides students experiential and cognitive awareness through affective exercises and readings. It explores issues of living in a diverse society through a variety of educational strategies including workshops, small group process, guest lectures, etc. It represents the seminar portion of P.A.C.E. (Programs for Awareness in Cultural Education): An "Educating the Peer Educator" Program.

URBS-610/HIST-610 Immigration and Public Policy
SEM-401 (Katz)
This seminar examines the origins and consequences of immigration policy in American history. Among the topics to be discussed are the role of labor markets; the impact of globalization; the politics of exclusion; the intersection of immigration, race, and inequality; and theories of assimilation and multiculturalism. The seminar also has a workshop component centered on the exploration of primary sources related to the seminar’s topics. Individual seminar sessions will be divided between these two components.

URBS-672/EDUC-672 Introduction to Ethnographic and Qualitative Methods
LEC-401 (Wortham)
course dates: 1/13/09 - 5/11/09
A first course in ethnographic participant observational research, its substantive orientation, literature, and methods. Emphasis is on the interpretive study of social organization and culture in educational settings, formal and informal. Methods of data collection and analysis, critical review of examples of ethnographic research reports, and research design and proposal preparation are among the topics and activities included in this course