Director: Pinar Batur-VanderLippe (Sociology);
Steering Committee: Mario Cesareo (Hispanic Studies),
Heesok Chang (English), Mita Choudhury (History), Lisa
Collins (Art), Brian Godfrey (Geography), Leonard Nevarez
(Sociology), Sidney Plotkin (Political Science), Thomas
Porcello (Anthropology), Robert Prasch (Economics),
Christopher Roellke (Education), Participating Faculty:
Nicholas Adams (Art), Joyce Bickerstaff (Africana
Studies and Education), Andrew Bush (Hispanic Studies),
James Challey (Science, Technology and Society; and
Physics), Harvey Flad (Geography), Luke Harris (Political
Science), Jeh Johnson (Art), Peter Leonard (Field Work),
Eileen Leonard (Sociology), Marque Miringoff (Sociology),
Robin Trainor (Education), Anthony Wohl (History).
The Urban Studies Program is designed as a
multidisciplinary concentration in the study of cities and
urbanization. Students examine the development of cities and
their surrounding regions; the role of cities in the history
of civilization; the social problems of urban life; the
design of the built environment; and past and present
efforts at planning for the future of urban societies. There
are four major purposes of the program: (1) to introduce
students to a temporal range and spatial variety of urban
experience and phenomena; (2) to equip students with
methodological tools to enable them to investigate and
analyze urban issues; (3) to engage students experientially
in a facet of the urban experience; and (4) to develop
within the student a deeper grasp of these issues through
advanced study within at least one disciplinary
approach.
Requirements for Concentration:
1) 14 units, including Introduction to Urban Studies
(100), one unit of Urban Theory and the Senior Seminar.
2) One unit of Research Methods appropriate to the
student's concentration in Urban Studies, chosen from Art
102-103, Art 275/276, Economics 209, Geography 220,
Geography 222, Sociology 254, Anthropology 245, Political
Science 207, or Psychology 270.
3) Disciplinary Cluster. Four units at the 200-level,
with 2 units taken from two separate disciplinary areas
related to Urban Studies, i.e., Architecture, Art,
Economics, Geography, History, Political Science, Sociology,
etc., including other Multi-disciplinaries. In addition, two
units at the 300-level, from two separate disciplines,
reflecting the intellectual path set by the 200-level
courses.
4) Urban Studies Cluster. Two units at the 200-level,
originating in Urban Studies or cross-listed with Urban
Studies.
5) One unit of fieldwork, or one half unit of Urban
Studies 249 (1/2), plus one half unit
in a chosen field work in cooperation with the course
instructor.
6) Senior Thesis. One unit, two semester length
requirement, to be considered for honors in Urban Studies.
Majors will have the option of taking one additional 300
level course, instead of the Senior thesis, in the
disciplinary concentration or in Urban Studies.
Recommendations for the Major:
1. Foreign Language. Competency through the third year
college level, as demonstrated by completion of the relevant
courses or examination.
2. Structured JYA Experience. This is especially
recommended for those who are interested in architecture
and/or global, historical and comparative issues, and area
studies.
3. Outside of Major Course work. This includes
Introduction to Macroeconomics and Introduction to
Microeconomics, study of aesthetics, ethics and social and
political philosophy, and study of theories of confrontation
and liberation, concentrating on class movements, critical
race theory, anti-racism, feminist theory, queer theory and
environmental theory.
Requirements for Correlate Sequence: Six units
including Urban Studies 100, which should be taken no later
than the Junior year, one unit of Urban Studies 200, two
200-level courses, reflecting the concentration of the
student in the Urban Studies correlate, two 300-level
courses in accordance with the intellectual path set by the
200-level work. No more than two transfer units may be
credited towards the sequence. No more than one unit may
overlap with the major.
After declaration of the major or correlate sequence, no
NRO work will be permissible or applicable to the major.
Core Courses
100b. Introduction to Urban Studies (1)
This course is an introduction to the debates on
historical alteration of urban space and its cross cultural
expressions. By concentrating on urban contradictions,
topics include formation and perpetuation of hierarchy in
space, and its political, economic social and cultural
manifestations and contesting movements. The specific
requirements of the course entail study of the debates,
including their methodology, with an emphasis on the
connection between theory and research. The course is
coordinated by one faculty member in cooperation with the
Urban Studies Program faculty. Ms. Batur-VanderLippe.
This course reviews the development of theories regarding
human behavior in cities and the production of space. The
course spans the twentieth century, from the industrial city
to cyber-space, with a global comparative focus. Literature
and topics examined to include urban ecology, community
studies, the public sphere, economy, the global city system
and urban cultures. Mr. Nevarez.
Prerequisite: Urban Studies 100.
201b. Aesthetics and Urban Social Movements: Reading
the (1)
Body in Protest
The course explores the political practices of social
movements as forms of theatricality that display, dramatize,
elaborate, and symbolically resolve the social tensions that
have brought them into being. Mr. Cesareo.
Prerequisite: Urban Studies 100.
203a or b. Topics in Social Psychology (1)
(Same as Urban Studies 203) Topic for 2000/01: Self
and Society in the Information Age
213b. Urban Planning and Practice (1)
An introduction to planning and practice. Course examines
successful and unsuccessful cases of urban and regional
planning events, compares and evaluates current growth
management techniques, and explores a wide variety of
planning methods and standards. Topics include citizen
participation, goal setting, state and local land use
management approaches, environmental protection measures,
affordable housing strategies, transportation, and urban
design. Mr. Akeley.
245b. The Ethnographer's Craft (1)
(Same as Anthropology 245)
249a. Field Work As an Urban Experience
(1/2)
This course requires students to enroll in a half unit of
field work in an area of their choice. It provides an
interpretive and comparative framework by offering students
readings on activism, social organization and community
movements and facilitates collective discussions in a
classroom setting. The Program.
Co-requisite: 1/2 unit of field
work for a total of 1 unit.
[265b. Urban Education Reform] (1)
[Same as Education 265b) This course examines
American urban education reform from historical and
contemporary perspectives. Particular attention is given to
the politics and economic aspects of educational change.
Specific issues in the course include, but are not limited
to: centralized vs. decentralized decision-making
structures; standards and accountability mechanism;
recruitment and retention of teachers; micropolitics within
urban schools; and incentive-based reform strategies.
Students are also afforded the opportunity to participate
directly in current reform efforts through selected service
learning projects in local Poughkeepsie schools. Mr.
Roellke.
Special Permission
Not offered in 2000/01.
[273a. Representations of the City]
(1)
This course provides a multidisciplinary analysis of how
the city is represented in a variety of cultural media such
as art, literature, music, or film. The particular focus may
change from year to year, depending on the instructors.
Instructor to be announced.
Not offered in 2000/01.
[274a. Urban Sociology: Building the City]
(1)
(Same as Sociology 274a)
Not offered in 2000/01.
282a. Cities and Urbanization in Latin America
(Same as Geography, Latin American Studies and Sociology
282)
282b. Learning the 3 R's: Race, Representation, and
Resistance (1)
(Same as Education 282)
283b. The Urban Informal Economy in Latin America
(1)
(Same as Latin American/Sociology 283)
285a. Gender and Social Space (1)
(Same as Women Studies 285) This course explores the ways
in which gender informs the spatial organization of daily
life. This course explores the interrelation of gender and
key spatial forms and practices such as the home, the city,
the hotel, migration, shopping, community activism, and
walking at night. The course draws on feminist theoretical
work from diverse fields such as geography, architecture,
anthropology and urban studies not only to begin to map the
gendered divisions of the social world but also to
understand gender itself as a spatial practice. Ms.
Brawley.
Special Permission.
287a. Women and the Culture of Nature: Feminist
Environmentalism (1)
(Same as Women Studies 287) This course is an
introduction to feminist environmentalism as a political
movement and an emerging critical field. We explore the ways
women have shaped the meaning of nature as naturalists,
gardeners, tourists, artists, scholars, and activists. We
also explore a range of feminist theoretical approaches to
the environment and to environmental crisis, such as
critical ecofeminism feminist movements to end environment
racism, and Marxist-feminist critiques of capitalist
development. Ms. Brawley, Ms. Hackett.
Special Permission.
288a. Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning
(1)
(Same as Science, Technology and Society 288a)
Environmental quality can be threatened by development and
urbanization. However, a healthy environment is impossible
without healthy cities. This course examines the
interrelationship between cities and regions, and points of
interconnection between urban policy and planning, and
environmental policy and planning. A wide range of factors
contributing to urban and environmental quality are
considered, and twentieth century American urban and
environmental policies are reviewed. Recent and emerging
policy tools and planning methods for managing land use and
development in cities and regions are emphasized. In so
doing, a foundational understanding of sustainable land use,
and sustainable development are developed. Mr. Bunnell.
Prerequisite: Urban Studies 100.
290a or b. Field Work (1/2 or
1)
Individual projects through field work office, under
supervision of one of the participating instructors. May be
elected during the college year or during the summer.
Special permission. Unscheduled.
300a. and 301b. Senior Thesis (1)
A thesis written in two semesters for one unit. The
Program.
350b. New York City as a Social Laboratory (1)
(Same as Sociology 350b) In a classic essay on urban
studies, sociologist Robert Park once called the city "a
laboratory or clinic in which human nature and social
processes may be conveniently and profitably studied." The
scale, dynamism, and complexity of New York City make it a
social laboratory without equal. This seminar provides a
multidisciplinary inquiry into New York City as a case study
in selected urban issues. Classroom meetings are combined
with the field-based investigations that are a hallmark of
Urban Studies. Site visits in New York City allow meetings
with scholars, officials, developers, community leaders and
others actively involved in urban affairs. Topics for the
seminar may change from year to year, in which case the
course may be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: permission of the instructor.
Topic for 2000/01b: Urban Poverty and Inequality:
This seminar draws on current scholarly debates about the
factors which exacerbate or alleviate poverty among ethnic
and racial minorities in urban settings. We discuss relevant
issues with experts, community leaders and members of social
service organizations, after which students carry out
independent field research in a New York City neighborhood.
Ms. Kaufman.
370b. Topics in Social and Urban Geography (1)
(same as Geography 370)
380a. Poughkeepsie Institute (1)
This course is taught in conjunction with the
Poughkeepsie Institute, which is a collaboration of five
local colleges: Bard, Dutchess Community, Marist, New Paltz
and Vassar. The topics vary but are always on urban issues
of local concern (often with national implications). The
seminars are team-taught. There are always five professors
present, one from each college. The course requires direct
community experience and research. It aims to issue a
collaborative report to foster community discussion among
citizens, the media, and policy making bodies. The topics
for the Institute may change from year to year in which case
the course may be repeated for credit.
Topic for 2000/01b: The Poughkeepsie Waterfront:
This course aims to discover, analyze, and report on the
history, current project and future of the Poughkeepsie
Water Front. This team-taught, multidisciplinary course
examines the sociopolitical realities, local environmental
issues and economic development policies. There is a strong
emphasis on direct community research. Students are involved
in traditional classroom work as well as cooperative
research projects.
Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
Limited to 5 students.
381b. The Psychological Experience of Migration
(1)
(Same as Psychology 381)
382b. Delmas Seminar: Walter Benjamin: Modernity and
Everyday Life (1)
This year's Delmas seminar takes the work of Walter
Benjamin as a point of departure for an inquiry into the
relationship between modernity and everyday life. Benjamin
made it his project to "unlock the concept of modernity," a
project that involved, in part, coming to understand the
relation between economic and the social, between capitalism
and culture. Benjamin thought this relation could best be
understood by looking at the ruins left behind by a previous
moment of capitalist development- for him, Paris in the 19th
century. For Benjamin, the commodity to not die a simple
death; it lives on as garbage. This 'after life' opens the
commodity to interpretation as 'the dream of the collective'
and thus grounds the process of 'awakening' from the
'narcotic historicism' or capitalist modernity. The
distracted gaze of the flauneur in the city, the
phantasmagoria of the arcades, the mechanized unanimity of
the crowd, the "commodity-soul," allegory, collective dream,
literary montage, photography and film - these become the
terms and methods by which Benjamin seeks to understand the
"expressive character" of industrial society.
This seminar includes a two-week trip to Berlin and Paris
(during Spring Break.
Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Note
application deadline is Monday, November 13th.
386b. Senior Seminar (1)
This course concentrates on advanced debates in Urban
Studies and is designed to encourage students to produce
research/grant proposals for projects in Urban Studies.
Topics vary according to instructor. This seminar is
required of all majors. Ms. Batur-VanderLippe, Mr.
Godfrey.
Prerequisite: Urban Studies Majors only.
387b. Geographies of Modernity in Nineteenth Century
America (1)
(Same as American Culture 387b) This course explores the
transformations in social space and cultural identity that
attended the emergence of modernity in the nineteenth
century America. We chart the rise of the city, the public
park, the asylum, the train, the factory the middleclass
home, the culture industry, and the continental nation, as
we explore the ways in which selected writers negotiated the
ambivalent power of these new spaces of modern life and the
new models of subjectivity and inferiority that took shape
within them. Ms. Brawley, Ms. Graham.
Special Permission.
Independent Work
298a or b. Independent Work (1/2
or 1)
Individual project of reading or research, under
supervision of one of the participating instructors.
399a or b. Senior Independent Work
(1/2 or 1)
Independent project of reading or research under
supervision of one of the participating instructors.
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