CMNS 308
The City at Night
Summer 2010
Dr. Daniel Makagon
Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday
9:00-9:30PM 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. We will take a quiz at the beginning of our Tuesday class
sessions. Reading quizzes will cover assigned materials for that Tuesday and
the previous Thursday.
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 August 5th by 9:30PM.
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 excursions 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 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 (or in
hardcopy with a SASE if you want written feedback) on August 19th at 6:30PM.
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.
Promptness is expected as a general rule. If you are consistently
late to class, your grade will be negatively affected.
You are
allowed one excused absence in this
class (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.
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
Tentative Course Schedule
Please note
that this is a very tentative course schedule. I will always send an email with
schedule changes, but you should always check the on-line course schedule for
updated reading assignments and field studies.
DATE READING ASSIGNMENTS
July 20 Course
Introduction
Field
Studies with Guardian Angels
July 22 Reading:
Murray Melbin, "Night as Frontier"
Print
Sleep Diary
Field
Study: Understanding Fieldwork at Night
July 27 Reading:
Sukhdev Sandhu, Night Haunts excerpts
(2 files)
Field
Studies with CTA
July 29 Reading
Seth Kugel, "Children of the Night"
Bring
Completed Sleep Diary
Field
Study: Sleep Studies and Disorders with Dr. Kelly Baron
August 3
Mid-term work day
August 5 Mid-term
Reading:
Field Study: Dumpster Diving
August 10 Reading:
Daniel Makagon, "The Vibe"
Urban Public Performance Field Studies with Dr. Dustin Goltz
August 12 Reading:
Mitchell Duneier, "When You Gotta Go" (Sidewalk excerpt)
Field Studies with Night Ministry bring food (signup sheet in class)
August 17
Reading:
Field Study: TBA
August 19 Final Papers Due via email (or in hardcopy with a SASE if you want written feedback) by 6:30PM