Homosexuality, Citizenship, and Civil Ideas. This course takes on these questions and searches for answers, as an occasion for interdisciplinary study of American literatures, political philosophy, and social history. Literacy and Democracy. A variable-content seminar devoted to an exploration of a topic in media studies, such as a film or television genre, a national cinema, the work of a particular director or a critical and theoretical issue of current debate. Provides an overview of employment and poverty trends in the United States during the Twentieth Century and provides theoretical frameworks to understand the causes and consequences of these trends, particularly as they affect cities.
Theoretical frameworks examined include political economy, feminism, and critical race theory.
How globalization of the economy has propelled a radical restructuring of the U.S. regional space economy that has affect metropolitan labor markets is a prominent area of emphasis. How labor markets are racialized and gendered, analysis of poverty trends and policy debates are topics of investigation. Cultures and Communities. Examines the ways in which philosophers, sociologists, and other theorists have tried to distinguish between high and low culture, and particularly between high and popular art. Special attention is given to articulating and assessing the many arguments made against the aesthetic legitimacy and social value of popular art.