Political Science 316 - Politics of Place

[IL] In the U.S., issues of stratification along the lines of income/wealth, spatial designation, and housing persist. These dimensions of place and space are basic components of the lived experience of many citizens. This course will explore the oftentimes disjointed perceptions and realities of poverty, neighborhoods, and housing policy in America.  We will examine some key theoretical and critical issues regarding both the existence and persistence of poverty in the U.S. We will also assess the role and significance of the physical, economic, social, political and demographic attributes of neighborhoods as key aspects of place and space in society. Finally, we will explore contemporary housing policy and the ways in which such public interventions impact and shape the relationships between poverty and place. In addition to texts such as Patillo’s Black Pickett Fences, Jargowsky’s Poverty and Place, Jackson’s Crabgrass Frontier, Sen’s Development as Freedom, and Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, we will also assess the geography of opportunity as portrayed in such films as Winter’s Bone, Slumdog Millionaire, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Precious, and Trouble the Water.

Requisite: prior coursework in Political Science.  Limited to 15 students. Fall semester.  Professor Burns.