This course explores major approaches to the study of public culture. We will focus on sociological themes including the analysis of the public sphere, urban culture, cultural institutions and policy, urban history, and cultural tourism. Public culture is studied as a contested site at both the national and local levels, as well as an agent for and reflection of social change in the United States and across the globe. We will also focus on the aesthetics and politics of public culture in the context of social change, development, and cultural policy. This course will help students develop the ability to understand the relationships between cultural expression, political economy, identity, and the public sphere across diverse settings. This course includes a required three- to four-week community service-learning project.
