CURE: Urban Agriculture

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This is a designated CAS CURE (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience Class). In this course, students will assist in the data collection for Yuki Kato’s research on urban agriculture in DC with a particular focus on the termination of gardens and farms. The course will provide training for the students to conduct qualitative interviews and code qualitative data using an online software. Throughout the semester, we will read relevant academic research and current statistics to contextualize the data being collected. The findings from the project will be organized into a StoryMap to be shared with the public. The course will partner with an activist-scholar, Malka Roth, who has conducted a “sociological autopsy” of the ending a sustainable urban farm. Ms. Roth will provide on-the-ground training and supervision for conducting data collection and well as making the findings from the study publicly accessible. The course is appropriate for seniors, juniors, and sophomores, with case-by-case exception for first year students. Prior social science research experiences are preferred but not necessary. Because the interviews are expected to be conducted in person whenever possible, students should be prepared to make time outside of the weekly lecture time, and to travel outside of the campus for data collection.