20th c. US Urban History

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

This graduate historiography course will provide a broad overview of the field of 20th c U.S. urban history, with particular emphasis on transnational and interdisciplinary approaches (cities and the environment; cities and immigration; cities and gender/sexuality). Juxtaposing classic texts with more recent contributions to the literature, we will extract themes and approaches from U.S. urban history that could be applied to urban history more broadly; discuss trends, innovations, and limitations within the field; and develop historically-informed analyses of how urban societies and economies have shaped U.S. history more broadly over the course of the 20th century. We will also have the opportunity to compare how scholars from other disciplines, such as anthropology and political science, have approached "the urban" as a field of study in the United States.