Studies in American Culture (310-0-70)

Topic

The Chicago Way: Urban Spaces and American Values

Instructors

William J Savage
847/491-8916
1908 Sheridan Road, OUSA
Office Hours: By appointment

Meeting Info

Locy Hall 318: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

Urbanologist Yi Fu Tuan writes, "What begins as undifferentiated space becomes place when we get to know it better and endow it with values." In The Untouchables, Sean Connery tells Kevin Costner, "You want to get Capone? Here's how you get Capone. He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He puts one of yours in the hospital, you put one of his in the morgue. That's the Chicago way." In this class, we will examine "the Chicago way" from many different angles in order to interrogate the values with which various artists have endowed Chicago. We will read in a broad range of media: journalism, poetry, song, fiction, film, and sequential art to see how a sense of Chicago as a place works over time. We will pay close attention to depictions of the construction of American identity, and to the role of the artist and intellectual in the city.

Registration Requirements

Attendance at first class is required

Class Materials (Required)

Texts will be available at Norris

Class Notes

Attending the first class is mandatory