City Blues
When songwriter poets portray a city through the blues, they choose gritty lyrics to reflect its tough side. They sing about their own struggles and forget the dream that seduced them to come live and strive in the city. Noise, high rent, and crowding are inconvenient. Unemployment, health risks, children at risk, underemployment, housing shortages, and homelessness are a city’s systemic problems. These city ills trap many residents, yet an impressively large number of people survive and thrive in the city’s environment.
In this course, students will examine City Blues through the lenses of sociology, community activism, and policy analysis. Through assigned readings, case study documentaries, group discussions, and analytical memos, students will learn about the roots of urban problems, the complexities of “solutions,” and mis-steps in governing. This course will also highlight successful urban community organizations, urban change agents, creative partnerships, and social entrepreneurship skills.