Department Website: http://chicagostudies.uchicago.edu
The Chicago Studies Program incorporates opportunities for students to engage academically and experientially with the city of Chicago. The program seeks to provide students with occasions to study Chicago in much the same way that they study other major cities of the world by participating in civilization studies study abroad programs. When students are abroad they enjoy a unique chance to combine, under the direction of Chicago faculty and local community members, classroom work, reading, writing, and experiential learning in world-class cities. With Chicago Studies, the College seeks to make possible the same kinds of intensive academic and experiential encounters with Chicago.
Chicago Studies publishes in book form the Chicago Studies Annual, a journal containing the best essays written by College students on the city of Chicago—its history, politics, and cultural life. A selection committee of College faculty considers submissions, which may be from any discipline. Essays then undergo a rigorous editing process.
Chicago Studies includes any College course in which some aspect of the city's life and culture plays an important role. The program includes close collaboration between the College and the University Community Service Center (UCSC). Chicago Studies also works closely with Career Advancement to identify Metcalf Internships that will give College students opportunities for substantive internships with organizations engaged in the life of the city.
Under the aegis of Chicago Studies, UCSC creates co-curricular experiences in conjunction with faculty in the College. Faculty may draw on the services and the expertise of UCSC to create experiences in the city that are relevant to a particular course using Chicago Course Connections. At the same time, independent of particular courses, UCSC facilitates student and faculty access to resources and events in the city and about the city.
UCSC also works with students to connect to organizations and institutions in the Chicago area. Students can connect with community organizations through individual volunteer referral, off-campus work-study positions, and volunteer and paid summer opportunities with community organizations and institutions. UCSC's Summer Links program matches up to thirty University of Chicago students in ten-week, paid, substantive internships with nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and businesses in the city.
Many College courses offer opportunities to study aspects of Chicago's ecology, culture, politics, history, social structure, and economic life. The courses listed below are a sample of what is available.
Courses
ANTH 21201. Intensive Study of a Culture: Chicago Blues. 100 Units.
This course is an anthropological and historical exploration of one of the most original and influential American musical genres in its social and cultural context. We examine transformations in the cultural meaning of the blues and its place within broader American cultural currents, the social and economic situation of blues musicians, and the political economy of blues within the wider music industry.
Instructor(s): M. Dietler Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 21201
ARTH 17400. University of Chicago Campus. 100 Units.
An introduction to architecture and planning, this course examines the changes in thinking about the University campus from its origins in the 1890s to the present. Many of the University’s choices epitomize those shaping American architecture generally and some of our architects are of national significance. The course develops skill in analyzing architecture and urban form in order to interpret: how the University images itself in masonry, metal, and lawn; how it works with architects; the role of buildings in social and intellectual programs and values; the effects of campus plans and the siting of individual buildings; and the impact of technological change. Includes many sessions around campus and study of archival documents.
Instructor(s): K. Taylor Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): tudents must attend first class to confirm enrollment. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.
ARTV 23930. Documentary Production I. 100 Units.
This class is intended to develop skills in documentary production so that students may apply for Documentary Production II. Documentary Production I focuses on the making of independent documentary video. Examples of various styles of documentary will be screened and discussed. Issues embedded in the documentary genre, such as the ethics and politics of representation and the shifting lines between fact and fiction will be explored. Pre-production methodologies, production, and post-production techniques will be taught. Students will be expected to develop an idea for a documentary video, crews will be formed, and each crew will produce a five-minute documentary. Students will also be expected to purchase an external hard drive.
Instructor(s): J. Hoffman Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Prior or concurrent enrollment in CMST 10100 recommended
BPRO 21500. What Is Civic Knowledge? 100 Units.
What is civic knowledge? Although civic rights and duties are supposedly universal to all citizens in a “democratic” nation, their implementation often depends on the strength of community connections and the circulation of knowledge across racial, class, and social boundaries. Focusing on the city of Chicago, we ask how citizens (in their roles as citizens) forge communities, make urban plans, and participate in civic affairs. How does the city construct the public spheres of its residents? Are the social practices of Chicagoans truly “democratic?” Could they be? What does “Chicago” stand for, as a political and cultural symbol? For both Chicagoans and their representatives, the circulation of knowledge depends not only on conventional media but also on how the city is constructed and managed through digital media.
Instructor(s): R. Schultz, M. Browning. Terms Offered: Not Offered 2014-2015
Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing
CMST 21801. Chicago Film History. 100 Units.
Students in this course screen and discuss films to consider whether there is a Chicago style of filmmaking. We trace how the city informs documentary, educational, industrial, narrative feature, and avant-garde films. If there is a Chicago style of filmmaking, one must look at the landscape of the city; and the design, politics, cultures, and labor of its people, as well as how they live their lives. The protagonists and villains in these films are the politicians and community organizers, our locations are the neighborhoods, and the set designers are Mies van der Rohe and the Chicago Housing Authority.
Instructor(s): J. Hoffman Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 26750,ARTV 36750,CMST 31801,HMRT 25104,HMRT 35104
ECON 26600. Economics of Urban Policies. 100 Units.
This course covers tools needed to analyze urban economics and address urban policy problems. Topics include a basic model of residential location and rents; income, amenities, and neighborhoods; homelessness and urban poverty; decisions on housing purchase versus rental (e.g., housing taxation, housing finance, landlord monitoring); models of commuting mode choice and congestion and transportation pricing and policy; urban growth; and Third World cities.
Instructor(s): G. Tolley, K. Ierulli Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100
Equivalent Course(s): GEOG 26600,GEOG 36600,LLSO 26202,PBPL 24500
ECON 28100. The Economics of Sports. 100 Units.
This is a course in microeconomics that applies traditional product and factor market theory and quantitative analysis to contemporary economic issues in professional and college athletics. Topics include the sports business; market structures and outcomes; the market for franchises; barriers to entry, rival leagues, and expansion; cooperative, competitive, and collusive behavior among participants; labor markets, productivity, and compensation of players; racial discrimination; public policies and antitrust legislation; and financing of stadiums.
Instructor(s): A. Sanderson Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100
ENGL 22800. Chicago. 100 Units.
In this course we will sample some of Chicago's wonders, exploring aspects of its history, literature, architecture, neighborhoods, and peoples. We begin with study of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the early history of Chicago as a mecca for domestic and international immigrants. In subsequent weeks we will examine the structure of neighborhood communities, local debates about cultural diversity and group assimilation, and the ideology and artifacts of art movements centered in Chicago. This is an interdisciplinary course focusing not only on literary and historical texts, but also analyzing Chicago's architecture, visual artifacts and public art forms, local cultural styles, museum collections and curatorial practices. We will first explore Chicago sites textually, then virtually via the web, and finally in "real time”: Students will be required to visit various Chicago neighborhoods and cultural institutions.
Instructor(s): J. Knight Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Cross listed courses are designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.
Equivalent Course(s): AMER 40800,ENGL 42800,MAPH 42800
ENGL 25952. Reading the Suburbs. 100 Units.
From midcentury writers like John Cheever, John Updike, and Richard Yates to the more contemporary work of Richard Ford, Tom Perrotta and the film, American Beauty, the suburbs have largely been thought of as a place of homogenous unhappiness. In this class, we will look at how this narrative has been constructed and contested over the last sixty years with help from authors Anne Petry, Chang Rae Lee, Vladimir Nabokov, and Alice Childress. Alongside fiction, we will look at history, advertising, and film contextualizing the rise of the suburbs, helping us understand the key role this space played in the accumulation of wealth, racial mobility, second wave feminism, and the rise of the modern Republican party.
Instructor(s): A. Brown Terms Offered: Autumn
ENGL 25953. Transmedia Game. 100 Units.
This experimental course explores the emerging game genre of “transmedia” or “alternate reality” gaming. Transmedia games use the real world as their platform while incorporating text, video, audio, social media, websites, and other forms. We will approach new media theory through the history, aesthetics, and design of transmedia games. Course requirements include weekly blog entry responses to theoretical readings; an analytical midterm paper; and collaborative participation in a single narrative-based transmedia game project. No preexisting technical expertise is required but a background in any of the following areas will help: creative writing, literary or media theory, web design, visual art, computer programming, performance, and game design.
Instructor(s): P. Jagoda Terms Offered: Autumn
ENST 27300. Freshwater Ecosystems of the Calumet Region. 100 Units.
The Calumet region contains a wide range of important freshwater ecosystems. The Great Lakes are possibly the world's most valuable freshwater ecosystem, while the Kankakee marshes previously supported a massive diversity and abundance of waterfowl and other native species. Since European colonization most of the marshes of the Calumet region have been drained for agriculture, urbanization, or to create new land for industry. All remaining freshwater ecosystems in the Calumet region, including Lake Michigan, have been affected by invasive species, chemical pollution, overfishing, and numerous other factors. This course examines the history of impacts on the extent and functioning of freshwater ecosystems in the Calumet region. Particular attention is paid to the pre-European state of Calumet freshwaters, the impacts of land-use change and invasive species, and the prospects for restoration. The entire course is framed within the context of the economic conditions that allowed freshwater habitats in the Calumet region to be so strongly modified and how current economic conditions affect the likely future of these ecosystems.
Instructor(s): R. Keller Terms Offered: Spring
GEOG 23500. Urban Geography. 100 Units.
This course examines the spatial organization and current restructuring of modern cities in light of the economic, social, cultural, and political forces that shape them. It explores the systematic interactions between social process and physical system. We cover basic concepts of urbanism and urbanization, systems of cities urban growth, migration, centralization and decentralization, land-use dynamics, physical geography, urban morphology, and planning. Field trip in Chicago region required.
Instructor(s): M. Conzen Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course offered in even years.
Equivalent Course(s): GEOG 33500
GEOG 26100. Roots of the Modern American City. 100 Units.
This course traces the economic, social, and physical development of the city in North America from pre-European times to the mid-twentieth century. We emphasize evolving regional urban systems, the changing spatial organization of people and land use in urban areas, and the developing distinctiveness of American urban landscapes. All-day Illinois field trip required.
Instructor(s): M. Conzen Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course offered in odd years.
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 26100,GEOG 36100,HIST 28900,HIST 38900
HIST 27705. Introduction to Black Chicago, 1893 to 2008. 100 Units.
This course surveys the history of African Americans in Chicago, from before the 20th century to the present. In referring to that history, we treat a variety of themes, including: migration and its impact, origins and effects of class stratification; relation of culture and cultural endeavor to collective consciousness, rise of institutionalized religions, facts and fictions of political empowerment, and the correspondence of Black lives and living to indices of city wellness (service, schools, safety, general civic feeling). This is a history class that situates itself within a robust interdisciplinary conversation. Students can expect to engage works of autobiography and poetry, sociology, documentary photography, and political science as well as more straightforward historical analysis. By the end of the class, students should have grounding in Black Chicago's history, as well as an appreciation of how this history outlines and anticipates Black life and racial politics in the modern United States.
Instructor(s): A. Green Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 27705,HIST 37705,LLSO 22210
HIST 29613. Colloquium: Hyde Park and Chicago's South Side as Historical Laboratory. 100 Units.
This colloquium uses Hyde Park and Chicago's South Side as a case study to introduce students to issues and methodologies in the history and historical geography of American urban life during the past century and a half. Discussions will focus on both primary and secondary source readings, and each participant will design and carry out an original research project.
Instructor(s): K. Conzen Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Priority registratiion for third-year history majors
PBPL 25405. Child Poverty and Chicago Schools. 100 Units.
This discussion- and debate-based course begins with a sociological and historical examination of child poverty, focusing on its origin, experience, and perpetuation in disadvantaged Chicago communities. Class meetings will involve debating school reform efforts, such as “turnaround” schools, charter schools, Promise Neighborhoods, and stepped-up teacher evaluations. Further, the barriers that have contributed to the failure of previous reform initiatives—barriers that include social isolation, violence, and the educational system itself—will be identified and analyzed in-depth.
Instructor(s): C. Broughton Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): 2nd year standing required; attendance on the first day of class is required
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 25405
PBPL 28501. Process and Policy in State and City Government. 100 Units.
This course consists of three interrelated sub-sections: (1) process and policy in city and state government; (2) the role played by influential, key officials in determining policy outcomes; and (3) policymaking during and after a political crisis. Issues covered include isolating the core principles driving policy at city and state levels; understanding how high level elected officials can shape the course of policy; and determining how a political crisis affects policy processes and outcomes. Most of the specific cases are drawn from Chicago and the State of Illinois.
Instructor(s): C. Harris Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
SOSC 25501-25502-25503. Schools and Communities; Human Development and Learning; Teaching and Learning in Urban Schools.
This is a yearlong sequence on the foundations of education in urban contexts.
SOSC 25501. Schools and Communities. 100 Units.
This course focuses on communities, families, and the organization of schools. It emphasizes historical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives as students explore questions about why we have public schools, why they are organized as they are (especially in urban contexts), and how these institutions might be reformed. The topics covered represent essential intellectual perspectives for any professional who seeks to work in an urban school context. This course has been designed to afford students with multiple analytic lenses to complement and integrate students' academic, field experiences, tutoring work, and "soul strand" reflections across the year. The course project requires students to use what they have learned to conduct an in-depth school study.
Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): UTEP 35501
SOSC 25502. Human Development and Learning. 100 Units.
The focus of this course is the child, and the course provides a variety of lenses through which to look at children. Using the rich professional resources of the Center for Urban School Improvement and the University of Chicago Charter School, students are introduced to approaches to observing children for different purposes; the prominent, and sometimes contradictory, theories of learning and child development; what we know about motivation and engagement and implication for the classroom; and the sociocultural contexts that influence both student performance and the way we look at children. Each section of the course includes an observation assignment that builds towards the final assignment of producing a study of a schoolchild that the student has tutored.
Terms Offered: Winter, Spring
Equivalent Course(s): UTEP 35502
SOSC 25503. Teaching and Learning in Urban Schools. 100 Units.
Elementary Program: In this course, students explore the roots of the progressive and critical traditions in education, with a particular focus on John Dewey and Paulo Freire. Students will analyze historical and more contemporary philosophies of education in an attempt to integrate and make meaning of their relevance in the current context of Chicago Public Schools in 2014. The dilemma of how to enact educational theory, through reflection and action, or praxis, is central to the course. For the final assignment, students will develop and teach a piece of curriculum that reflects their understandings from the course. Secondary Program: This course is designed to help you to think deeply and philosophically about education by studying the growth of an imaginary person from birth to young adulthood. In 1762, Jean-Jacques Rousseau published his book Emile, subtitled On Education, which details his thought-experiment to create Emile, making him an ideal citizen. Among the many questions Rousseau raises are what is education, what is a teacher, can education set us free, are there particular times of readiness to learn certain lessons, and should we want the same educational aims for all children? For the final assignment, students conduct a teacher study and revise their own philosophy in light of the course readings and discussions.
Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): UTEP 35503
SOCI 20142. The Chicago School of Sociology. 100 Units.
This course introduces students to the classical work of the Chicago School and to the research stance that has characterized Chicago sociology from its beginnings. The course emphasizes reading original works rather than covering the history, although there is some study of the relevant historiography. Although the course focuses on the First Chicago School, it also considers the Second Chicago School period and other revivals. Texts to be studied could include The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, The Hobo, The Gold Coast and the Slum, The Gang, The Taxi-dance Hall, and Black Metropolis, as well as such general works as Introduction to the Science of Sociology and The City. From later periods we might consider works from such authors as Goffman, Becker, Strauss, Turner, Freidson, Janowitz, and Suttles.
Instructor(s): A. Abbott Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 30142
SOCI 20215. Urban Health. 100 Units.
This course examines health status, healthcare access, and healthcare service delivery in the urban environment. It draws on historic and contemporary research in urban sociology to frame these discussions and uses data from the City of Chicago to illustrate themes. Specific attention is given to race and ethnic differences in disease trajectories and neighborhood-level social and institutional resources. The course also explores both local and national policy implications.
Instructor(s): K. Cagney Terms Offered: Spring
TAPS 24500. Chicago Theater: Budgets and Buildings. 100 Units.
This course examines the current state of Chicago theater, focusing on the relationships between facilities, budgets, and missions. Field trips required to venues including Side Project, Timeline, Raven, Steppenwolf, Theater Building, and Greenhouse.
Instructor(s): H. Coleman Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. This course is offered in alternate years.