Eric Alterman MCHC Seminar 2 The Peopling of New York Spring, 2015 In this seminar, we will investigate the political, economic, cultural, psychological and sociological life of “the greatest city in the world." Our focus will be on the factors that have driven and drawn people to New York since the 17th century; the different ways that various combinations of the pursuit of wealth, fame and power when combined with race, gender, work, and ethnicity have shaped the life of the city and the formation of its social order. We will also look at factors that have driven and drawn people to New York in successive waves of immigration and the ways that being in the city has shaped their behavior thereafter. And we will also examine the roles of the people who have run things and determined the contours of those working their way (or losing their way) up and through the system. We will pay particular attention to social and economic avenues of success and to the various means through which individual and group ambition has manifested itself whether in success or failure. We will do so from a variety of perspectives, including walking tours and (possibly) class trips to key places, but the readings will be drawn exclusively from history and literature. The reasons for the history choices are (largely) self-explanatory. The novels are here because I think there are many kinds of truths—often deeper kinds—that are available to us only through literature. We will also see a few movies. Movies are not as deep as literature, but again, they sometimes teach us lessons available nowhere else. You will all be responsible for finding scholarly sources on the history of Broadway in preparation for our guest lecturer. You will also be responsible for finding your own walking tour of the city to go on (with the professor’s suggestions) and both of these will be included on the final. You will be responsible for reading the following books. The schedule of the readings will be announced at each class and you will be responsible for keeping up with it even in your absence. (Your fellow students will be happy to inform you of what you missed, I'm sure.) Frederick Binder and David Reimers, All the Nations Under Heaven: An Ethnic and Racial History of New York City (1995) (two weeks) Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers (1925) (two weeks) Thomas Kessner, Capital City: New York City and the Men Behind America's Rise to Economic Dominance, 1860-1900 (2004) 2 weeks Christine Stansell, American Moderns: Bohemian New York and the Creation of a New Century (2009) 2 weeks Joshua B. Freedman, Working-Class New York, (2000) 2 weeks 1 Joseph Dorman, Arguing the World: The New York Intellectuals in their Own Words (2001) 1 week Kevin Cook, Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America (2013) 1 week Joseph Tirella, Tomorrow-Land: The 1964-65 World's Fair and the Transformation of America (2013) 1 week Jonathan Mahler, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City 2 weeks Grading: The grading scale is: A+ = 97% and above; A = 96-94%, A- = 93-90%; B+ = 89-87%, B = 86-84%, B- = 83-80%; C+ = 79-77%, C = 76-74%, C- = 73-70%; D+ = 69-67%, D67-64%, D- = 63-60%; F = below 60. Exams can be made up only in the case of a documented (i.e. a doctor's note or other official certification of your absence) emergency. Late papers will be accepted, with academic penalty of 1/3 of a letter grade per class session late. Late penalties continue to accrue if the paper is turned in after the last day of class. Students are expected to attend all class meetings as scheduled. Failure to attend class will have a negative impact on your class participation grade. COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING: 1) Class Participation (10 percent) 2) Book Review/Essay (10 percent) 3) Primary Group Assignment and Presentation together with Essay (40 percent four parts) 4) Take Home Final. (40 percent) The Assignments and Grading Procedure in Detail: 1) Class participation: This course is offered as a "reading seminar" wherein we have the opportunity to read and discuss our texts carefully, and critically. Each week we will read and discuss historical and works that deal with a different moment, and frequently a different subculture in the history of New York City. You need to come to each class prepared to discuss the assigned readings, to ask questions, and to listen and respond to others' questions and comments. In addition, you will make several in-class presentations and will take turns leading 2 class discussion. Be sure to bring the assigned readings to each class. We will work with those items in each session. 2) Book review: You will choose a novel that takes place in New York City. You will not necessarily write about the novel per se. Instead, you will write about the issues about New York City raised by the story in the novel during the time and in the neighborhoods it takes place. You will infer from the author’s depiction of the story what he or she is trying to say about New York through the novel’s characters and story. This paper should be no fewer than 1250 words but can be as long as you like. 3) Primary Group Assignment and Presentation together with Essay (four parts) The purpose of this assignment is to allow students to engage with some aspect of New York City, work collaboratively, and incorporate the use of technology in a meaningful and pedagogically useful way. Learning Objectives: Develop critical thinking skills Think differently about New York City Assess and critique a wide range of scholarly and popular resources Curate the information gathered in a cohesive and scholarly manner Throughout the semester you will research information about a specific organization, neighborhood, institution, or location in New York City. You will survey a broad range of resources and background information on the topic and learn to assess the resources. You will make informed observations about the topic, drawing on your own background research and site visits. At each stage of the process, you will report back to the class about your work—through blog posts, presentations, and a final research paper—and will offer feedback to your peers on their work. Assignment One: Background Research Each group will choose a [neighborhood, institution, location, organization, etc.]. Within your group, assign each member one or more of following topics to cover: Technical foundation Necessary skills Economics (including incentives) Culture Politics Personality Geography While the amount of information available may vary, be sure that each topic is addressed. 3 Blog Post: Select three scholarly sources and three popular sources on your topic and write a review of the sources as a blog post. Be sure to give links to the sources where relevant or include the full bibliographic information. Categorize your post with the appropriate topic. At minimum, you will need to answer some of the following questions: Who is the author? The audience? What is the main point/argument? What types of evidence are offered for the claim? Is the author successful in their argument? What is useful about the reading? Are there problems or errors with the argument/claim/information? What information is missing that would be useful? Peer Feedback: You must ask questions and make comments on at least two other posts from your group members, as well as two posts from other classmates not in your group. If you are researching a similar topic, you might suggest another source. You can ask them to clarify a point. You might make a connection between their topic and yours. Report: You will submit a 5-page report on your initial background research. Your work must include eight scholarly sources, but may also incorporate other sources, as well. Assignment Two: Proposal Your group will submit a proposal based on your initial research that outlines a focus for the project going forward. While the initial research reports will be turned in, the proposals will be posted on the class website. Just as you did with the blog posts, you will be expected to read and offer feedback on the other proposals. Assignment Three: Neighborhood/Institution Visit Your group will visit your chosen [neighborhood, institution, location, organization, etc.] and make a serious of observations. Keep in mind the background research that you’ve already done. Be sure to take notes, take pictures (if allowed), ask questions (if allowed), etc. Presentation: Each group will give a short (~10min) presentation using Prezi on their visit. Be sure to embed your Prezi on the class website. Assignment Four: Final Paper and Website Website: The information gathered over the course of the semester, including resources, images or other multi-media from the site visit, reviews, and your final reports, will also be compiled on the class website. Each group will have their own section of the site dedicated to their project, but there will also be categories that allow people visiting the site to look at similar topics from different institutions. For example, the “Culture” category will include blog posts on the cultural aspects for all of the projects. This will allow visitors to the site to look by topic or by institution. Paper: Your group will submit a collaborative research paper. Group members will be responsible for their own sections, which should be noted clearly on the final version. (Each member’s contribution will be graded individually.) 4 4) Take Home Final. This test will be comprehensive and encompass all of the material we have studied in class and the readings we have done. You will have two weeks to complete it. See above regarding footnoting of facts and evidence. Honesty: Brooklyn College takes cheating and plagiarism very seriously; if caught you may fail the course and/or be suspended from the college. So don’t cheat. This means that you should not take the words or ideas of another person and submit them without acknowledging the original author. Examples of plagiarism include taking phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or statistical findings from a variety of sources and piecing them together, without citing them, into a homework assignment. Taking phrases, paragraphs or papers from the internet and representing them as your own falls under this category. You must always indicate when you have used an idea from someone else’s work; anything else constitutes stealing from others and violates both the ethics of this class and established academic standards. Also, this goes without saying but: No cell phones or other handheld electronic devices are permitted in class. If you use your computer, please restrict yourself to taking notes. Reaching me: I am at alterman.eric@gmail.com. This is the best way to reach me. (Please do not use my Brooklyn college address). When you email me, remember to treat the correspondence as a student/teacher conversation. Don't text me in the manner you do your friends. My phone number, for emergencies, is 917-538-9726. My office is 2416 Boylan and I am available for office hours for thirty minutes both before and after class, though it's a good idea to let me know in advance if you wish to see me. 5