2013-2014 Academic Catalog

May 04, 2024

2013-2014 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

GEOG 241 - Suburbia: Culture/Politics/Place

The purpose of this course is to examine in some detail the most common residential setting in the United States: the suburb. As many scholars argue, to subsume suburbs under some presumed more interesting, important, and central “city” is problematic if suburbs represent the most prevalent form of American residence. Recognizing and building upon understandings of American cities, we examine the history, contemporary life and politics of American metropolitan areas, focusing on suburbs but not losing sight of the broader metropolitan –and urban— context. Students in this course will review histories of US suburbs in order to understand not simply their origins but debates about the forces driving suburbanization in America. We will examine twentieth-century account of suburban life, taking into account differences by gender, race, and ethnicity. Finally, we will examine the politics of suburbs: from governance to contemporary culture and questions of environmental sustainability.