CMNS 308
The
City at Night
Autumn
2011
Dr. Daniel Makagon
Office Hours (at 2nd
floor Library computers): 9:00-10:00PM and by appointment
Phone: (312) 362-7979
e-mail: dmakagon@depaul.edu
home page: http://condor.depaul.edu/~dmakagon
Course Description and Objectives
"In my head there's a city at
night/Static gauge with the rush and the lights," sings Dan Boeckner of Wolf
Parade in "Soldier's Grin." The lyrics capture the city's psychogeographical
energy, the combination of excitement, fear, and hope that plays out in the
streets at night. It also reflects the transformation of the city's look and
feel once the sun sets.
The city is often discussed in public discourse in terms of divisions (e.g., wealthy neighborhoods/ghettos and commercial spaces/residential places) but one of the most powerful dualisms is day and night. Not only do the rhythms of the city change with the shift from day to night but also the representational power of light versus dark infuses our sense of who moves through the city at nighttime. Although most courses about urban life feature some discussion of the night, the scheduling of these classes prohibits a consistent first-hand collective experience and analysis of the city at night. This class seeks to provide students with an opportunity to study urban communication and culture in the context of the night. We will pay special attention to relationships between the ways in which people experience the city at night and the representations of those experiences through mass media, public discourse, and everyday talk.
There are two central objectives for this course: (1) to
understand and use a variety of fieldwork methods to help us learn about the
unique cultural practices that take shape in the city at night and (2) to
further develop a critical understanding of urban communication and culture
through course readings and experiential learning.
Required Texts
All course readings are available
on-line. Download and print the files from:
http://condor.depaul.edu/~dmakagon/student
Recommended: Haruki Murakami, After Dark and Sukhdev Sandhu, Night Haunts
Course Assignments
Class Participation 10% ____(pts.)
X .10 = ______
Mid-term Paper (4-6 pages) 30% ____(pts.)
X .30 = ______
Reading Quizzes 30% ____(pts.)
X .30 = ______
Final Paper (4-6 pages) 30% ____(pts.)
X .30 = ______
Final Grade= ____________
You are required to complete the
reading assignments before you
attend class. This will lead to more fruitful discussion and help frame course
field studies.
Reading Quizzes
Quizzes will allow me to gauge how well you understand the arguments made in the readings. Unlike your papers and class discussion, where I am interested in your opinions about the issues and the strength of the writer's argument(s), the quizzes are designed for you to demonstrate your understanding of the course readings. Reading quizzes will cover assigned materials for that week only. You must take the on-line quiz in D2L by 9PM each Thursday night. We will not have quizzes the week the mid-term paper is due, the week we do not meet as a class, and the week your final exam is due. Please note that the quiz will be made available at 9PM on Wednesday night and will close at 9PM on Thursday night. If you choose to take the quiz at 8:59PM on Thursday night and have technical problems or run out of time, I won't be able to do anything for you. Also, please use the on-line discussion forum to ask questions about issues, concepts, terms, ideas, etc. that you do not understand in the reading. I will answer questions up until 9PM on Wednesday night each week. In general, each quiz will feature 8-10 questions and you will have 10 minutes to take the quiz.
Mid-term Paper
This
assignment asks you to write an analysis of some key issues raised in course
readings during the first half of the class (likely 2-3 issues given the paper
length). The objective of this paper is to assess the ways in which communication allows us to more fully
understand the city at night. In general, you should develop a thesis that
identifies important issues pertaining to the city at night as raised in course
readings. The body of your paper should (A) describe the issues, (B) flesh out
the reasons why those issues are important, and (C) discuss how viewing those
issues through a communication lens helps us understand the issues better. Some
30-minute podcasts containing lectures about urban communication will be
uploaded to help frame the communicative features of urban life. This Mid-term paper is due in hardcopy on October
20th by 10:00PM.
Final
This
assignment asks you to write an analysis of the city at night based on the work
you've been doing throughout the term. The objective of this paper is to assess
course readings and class field studies with regard to issues of urban
communication and culture. What conclusions have you drawn about the unique
symbolic, material, and psychogeographical features and experiences of the city
at night? In general, you should develop a thesis that considers these
questions: (A) "What are the lessons I've learned this term?" (B) "What do
these lessons tell me about urban communication and culture?" and (C) "How is
the city different at night?"
You want to do more than
catalogue what we did or if you liked/disliked a particular field study or
multiple field studies when writing about our fieldwork; rather, your final
paper should develop and flesh out a thesis. That is, you should critically
examine the sites of study, the people who guided us, and the broader meanings
of the cultural practices that were central to these spaces and these people.
Focus on the meaning of the places and the practices relative to the night and
critically examine the problems and/or possibilities of such activities in the
city.
This paper also requires you to do
more than provide a description of your experiences. You need to reflect on the
experience of studying the city (how it felt; what you gained from it; what
problems you faced; what you learned about the city, the people who work at
night, and the problems people face at this time) and write an essay that
establishes a claim about the relationship between urban communication and the
city at night. As with your mid-term, Reading Response papers can help you in terms
of describing issues, but this paper must be more than pasted entries from your
reading response papers. The Final paper is due via email on November 17th by 10:00PM (or in hardcopy with a SASE
if you want written feedback, but this would be due by 5PM to my Loop office).
All
papers must be typed, paginated, double-spaced throughout the entire essay, and
use a consistent style (e.g., Chicago, MLA, or APA). Use one-inch margins and
12-point font. Do not send me electronic
copies of your work unless requested. See the syllabus addendum (available
in the folder that contains pdfs for this class) for a description of my
grading policies and expectations as well as further details on written
assignments.
Contact or visit the Writing
Center for assistance with your writing: Lincoln Park at 802 W. Belden, 150
McGaw Hall, 773-325-4272. The Loop at 25 E. Jackson, 1620 Lewis Center,
312-362-6726. wcenter@depaul.edu.
Course Policies
Attendance and Active Participation are expected and required. Participation grades are
factored by considering how often you participate in class discussion (both in
the class and in the field) and how that discussion advances our overall
learning (i.e., I will consider how your questions help us understand difficult
reading passages, how your contributions further discussion rather than hinder
discussion, how your comments foster lively debate, how your participation
grows from an engagement with the reading and urban experience rather than
functioning to advance an autobiographical tale only). In short, I assess
participation based on quantity and quality and I assess participation based on
your contributions in class, in the field, and via our on-line discussion
forum.
Promptness
is expected as a general rule. If you are consistently late to class, your
grade will be negatively affected. If you are more than 10 minutes late to
class and/or if you leave before a class is complete, you will be considered
absent.
You are
allowed one excused absence in
this class only (i.e., you have documentation about a medical illness, family
emergency, legal issue/civic responsibility, or are missing because of an
official DePaul function). If you miss more than one class session with excused
absences or if you miss class with an unexcused absence, you will receive
an "F" in the class (even if the absences are excused). Missing
more than one class session (20% of the term) undermines the integrity of
the classroom experience. If you miss this much class because of illness or
a family emergency, you should meet with the Dean of Students to discuss withdrawal
options. Leaving before the class ends or arriving more than 10 minutes late
is an absence.
All
assignments are due on assigned days. There will be NO MAKE UPS. Documented illnesses or documented emergencies are the
only exception to this policy. Changes in work schedules, personal celebrations
(e.g., birthdays), or vacations are NOT considered to be legitimate reasons for
missing assignment deadlines or class meetings. If you miss a quiz and have
documentation for your absence then you will take the quiz on the next date you
attend class. Similarly, if you have an excused absence for a class session
when you would turn in a paper then you can give me the paper on the next date
you attend class.
Students
with disabilities should provide me with documentation from the Office of
Students with Disabilities or PLUS program.
Cellular Phones: If you have a cellular phone or pager, turn it off or set
it to vibrate, and keep it in your backpack or purse. All cell phones must be
put away during the class session. I will confiscate cellular phones for the
remainder of the class session if you are sending or reading text messages or
using your phone to check email/surf the Internet.
E-mail:
I often send e-mail announcements to the class. You need to (1) make sure your
preferred email address in Campus Connect is the address you check regularly so
messages do not bounce back and (2) make sure my email address will pass
through your spam filter.
Plagiarism
I have
often found that plagiarism becomes tempting if students are feeling pressured.
Remember, when in doubt quote. If you are quoting someone else in your
presentation, you need to clearly identify the information as a quote and the
source. Similarly, when paraphrasing, you should clearly identify your source.
If you are quoting somebody directly in your paper then you need to list the
information within quotation marks and cite a page number. If you are
paraphrasing then you need to cite the person and a page number. Never copy and
paste entire documents into your paper and do not quote others to the point
where your ideas become indistinguishable from your source's ideas. There is no
reason to plagiarize given the resources available to you (e.g., opportunities
to meet with me; coaches in the writing center; my handout on writing for the
class; and DePaul's policy on academic integrity, which can be found at http://studentaffairs.depaul.edu/). If you do plagiarize, you will automatically receive a
grade of "F" in this class. Moreover, the Academic Affairs office will be
contacted.
Grade Scale: 93-100 A, 90-92 A-, 88-89 B+, 83-87
B, 80-82 B-, 78-79 C+, 73-77 C, 70-72 C-, 60-69 D, 0-59 F