AMST 8920: Political Economy and Space will be taught spring 2012 by Prof. David Karjanen on Tuesdays from 1:25 to 3:20pm. This course looks at how the relationship between the economic imperatives and spatial qualities of American capitalist development, as well as cultural dynamics both reflect and influence urban and suburban phenomena.
In the post-war era, the American landscape, both its physical environment as well as social and cultural worlds, have been influenced by the development and transformation of cities and suburbs. This course looks at how the relationship between the economic imperatives and spatial qualities of American capitalist development, as well as cultural dynamics both reflect and influence urban and suburban phenomena. The first part of the class emphasizes political economy and theory--Marx and David Harvey and in particular, as well as cultural theories of power from Antonio Gramsci and Doreen Massey, and Michel Foucault's study of heterotopias. The remainder of readings includes ethnographies and historical studies of urban and suburban space, covering issues from urban neoliberalism to planning and the transformation of the American working class.
