Religion and Urban America: The Windy City Experience Fieldwork

(1 Credit Hour) · Undergraduate

What is the role of religious congregations in urban communities? Do communities with more congregations mobilize collectively at higher rates to address local issues or provide access to more social service programs? Are higher levels of social connectedness found in urban areas with a greater concentration of religious congregations? Essential to examining these and related questions is understanding the methodologies used to study religious congregations and their social consequences. Students will thus learn about and gain hands-on experience, for example, mapping via Geographic Information Systems (GIS), conducting survey research, and analyzing textual and visual data using computational methods. Students will apply such methodologies in the field during trips to Chicago and gain insight into community-based research through meetings with religious leaders to hear about their work. The course involves both research trips to Chicago (1 credit) and a (2 credit) co-requisite class “Religion and Urban America: The Windy City Experience.” Please click on this link (https://nd.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cuaV4VZ6VjZoJ7g) to fill out a survey about your availability for the former. You can expect to hear back within a few days after you complete the survey about your approval for the course. Those granted approval will need to register for both the 2-credit and 1-credit parts of the course. Enrollment is determined on a rolling basis.