Scholarly Communities (SCHOL-GG)

What does it mean to advocate for social justice in the city?Ultimately, what does a just city look like?In this course we will explore these questions as they reveal themselves both in scholarship and in practice. Focusing on some of the methods of inquiry that constitute the academic researcher’s toolkit -- participant observation, ethnography, archival research, survey design, interviewing, mapping -- you will develop a set of concrete skills to take with you as you prepare to work with urban social justice organizations in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. At the same time, we will reflect as a group on broader, animating concepts such as the “right to the city,” urbanization, democracy, gentrification, urban planning, resilience, and preservation. The course will culminate in a scholarly, actionable, and flexible research plan that will help ground you for your summer research. Readings for this course may include David Harvey’s “The Right to the City”, Ananya Roy’s “The 21st Century Metropolis: New Geographies of Theory”, Pierre Bourdieu’s “Understanding”, Amy Starecheski’s Ours to Lose, and Eve Tuck’s “Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities.”