I have affected thinking about the family and the well being of its members. This course represents an ambitious, experimental effort to mark out some principal approaches to the study of mafia. Students are not limited to the standard social-science research approaches noted below but may broaden their approach to include perspectives drawn from gender and cultural studies, literature and film. The first part of the course will focus on some of the major interpretive approaches to the study of Italian Mafia. The latter part of the course will concentrate on term papers and work towards exploring a more trans-cultural approach to the study of mafia.
Attendance is required.
Students are expected to keep up with the reading, participate actively in class discussion, and demonstrate an ability to draw up and present an interesting research project. Evaluation will be based on class participation, the presentation of an oral report on the research project, and a final paper. This course will cover a variety of topics and time periods in U.S. labor history including colonial labor systems, slave labor, industrial and market transitions, labor organizations and radicalism, leisure and consumption, urbanization, race, ethnicity and gender, technology and the labor process. The reading load for this class will be at least one book a week. Writing assignments will depend on whether the student is a graduate or undergraduate.