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CS92PROD
Segregated Spaces: School, Work, and Home since 'Brown'
AFAM 116
Fall 2007
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: AMST 115, HIST 126

Although Brown v. Board of Education ended legal school segregation, urban schools remain effectively segregated by race and class, and the racial divide between high school graduates and drop-outs continues to widen. Simultaneously, residential segregation has intensified, manufacturing jobs have migrated out of urban areas, and employment opportunities for poor people of color have been narrowed by the emergence of a low-wage service economy. The racialization of education, housing, and employment are intricately linked--historically, geographically, and culturally. This seminar explores the intersecting histories of educational, economic, and residential segregation since the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Spreme Court decision (1954). Topics include school and housing desegregation, the controversy surrounding bussing, battles over curriculum and community control, political and cultural representations of urban poverty and "the underclass," deindustrialization, the prison-industrial complex, and alternative models for schooling, housing, and employment, such as Freedom Schools, cooperative housing, neighborhood jobs and training programs, and community organizing campaigns centered around school and housing reform. In the last few weeks of the course, students will break into issue groups and participate in a collective process to identify the underlying problems facing urban communities. Working groups on education, housing, and employment will develop proposals for programs, policies, or collective action. Students will have the option of drafting legislative or policy proposals, or authoring a grant proposal to create an educational, economic, or housing-related initiative in lieu of writing a final research paper.

Essential Capabilities: Effective Citizenship, Intercultural Literacy
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS AFAM
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: None
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available

Last Updated on DEC-04-2024
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