History 382 - City In Modern U.S.

This course will examine the development of the modern American city from 1876 to the present day. In particular, this course will situate the role of a diverse constellation of actors in shaping the urban built environment and resultant struggles over power and equity. In doing so, this course will examine how the emergence of the "modern" city reshaped and remade ideologies of race, sex, gender, nationality, and citizenship. Students will explore common themes in U.S. urban history, including racial segregation and apartheid, suburbanization, the growth of mass incarceration, the "urban crisis," and the contemporary neoliberal cityscape. Additionally, this course will remain attentive to cities as places of transnational migration and movement, as spaces shaped by state and federal policy, and as sites of intensely local struggles for belonging and redistributive justice.