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Making the Underclass
ANTH395 SP

Crosslistings: AFAM395

This seminar critically examines the construction of the ghetto underclass in the social sciences and mass media as a means of exploring broader theoretical issues concerning the interrelation of power, discourse and identity. These questions include: How do power relations shape, channel and configure knowledge claims, images and meanings and identities inhabited, contested and transformed through cultural/political practices? How do we conceptualize the relationship between constructions of the underclass and changes in global and national political economies, often referred to as postindustrialism? A major emphasis in this seminar will be placed upon rethinking the concepts of ideology, hegemony and, indeed, poverty within the framework of a post-structuralist perspective on power.

MAJOR READINGS

Mike Davis, CITY OF QUARTZ; Michale Katz, THE UNDERSERVING POOR; Nancy Fraser, UNRULY PRACTICES (excerpts); Michel Foucault, THE HISTORY OF SEXUALITY (vol. 1); Manuel Castells, THE INFORMATIONAL CITY (excerpts); Jean and John Comaroff, OF REVELATION AND REVOLUTION (excerpts); and selections from Stuart Hall, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, bell hooks, Ian Hacking, and William Julius Wilson.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

To be announced.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Students will not be admitted to the course after the first class meeting. Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS ANTH    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE

Last Updated on MAR-24-2000

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