HIST 381

Fall 2024 All Classes

All Classes

Credit: 3 hours.

Examines the history of urban centers, paying special attention to the relationship between the city and its surrounding territory, the impact of migration and immigration, the delineation of space and the transformation of the built environment, and the role of a city's inhabitants in creating social networks, political structures, and cultural institutions.

May be repeated in separate terms to a maximum of 6 hours if topics vary.

HIST 381 class schedule data for fall 2024
CRN Type Section Time Day Location Instructor Section Details
66992
Lecture-Discussion
B
1:00PM -2:20PM
MW
David Kinley Hall
Burgos, A
Part of Term:
1
Date Range:
08/26/24-12/11/24
Section Info:
What, exactly, is a "city?" Who defines the city? What is its role? Why are cities so often linked to visions of modernity and mobility, or prejudice and poverty? Since the rise of the modern city, the urban landscape has been a space of contradiction: simultaneously full of hope and possibility, as well as loneliness and despair. Meanwhile, cities are constantly changing and evolving, in ways both expected and surprising. This course hopes to unpack not only the history of urban space, but also examines how urban space has been imagined and how those imaginings have translated into reality. We will examine cities and city life from the mid-1800s through the present, in sites across the globe--from Chicago to Moscow to Dar es Salaam to the fictional "Capitol" of the Hunger Games series--in an attempt to find some answers to the questions above. As a tool to examine the idea of the city and urban experience, we will look through the lens of utopia. Utopia in this case means no only dreaming or fantasizing about an alternative vision of life, but actually taking concrete steps to put that vision into practice. By looking at both utopian dreams and implementation, we will be able to study not only what the city is, but also how it has been imagined and reimagined, even up to the current day.
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