Sociology | City sociology » Prof. Nathan McClintock - Sociology and Politics of Urban Life

Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617: Sociology & Politics of Urban Life CRN: 45607 Winter 2017 Th 9-11:40am URBN 311 Prof. Nathan McClintock Urban Studies & Planning Portland State University How do we define “urban politics”? What constitutes politics and where does it take place? What is political about the naming of politics, and about theorizing urban life more broadly? How do different ways of studying urban life – different epistemologies – transform urban life and urban space itself? We will tackle these questions and others in this weekly graduate seminar. An introductory survey of key approaches to understanding the everyday politics and social relations of the city, this course incorporates theoretical and empirical literature from a variety of disciplinary traditions contributing to urban studies. In addition to providing students with an overview of “canonical” debates, the course draws on recent and new urban scholarship examining the myriad ways

that urban society, politics, and space are coconstitutive. Our discussion will not be limited to either formal politics (ie, what takes place in city council chambers and the voting booth) or the grassroots political mobilization of urban social movements; it also extends to the politics of everyday life, to how urban space produces difference and difference produces urban space, to the flows of people, capital, and resources comprising urban space, and the ways in which these are diverted or immobilizedby policy, by force, and by consent. Critically engaging with the various theoretical constructs used to describe the Neoliberal City, the Sustainable City, the Gendered City, the Settler Colonial City, the Postcolonial City, among others, we will also engage with the politics of scholarship, asking what it means to “decolonize” or “queer” urban theory itself. Part of the required Urban Studies core, this seminar complements History and Theory of Urban Studies (USP 614) and

Urban Economic and Spatial Structure (USP 613), but master’s and doctoral students in geography, sociology, political science, and anthropology focusing on urban issues are sure to find the material covered in this course relevant to their programs, as well. Photo: Graffiti at a secured construction site in the gentrifying 18ème arrondissement, Paris, December 2014. Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617 | Sociology & Politics of Urban Life | Winter 2017 Course Texts Plan to read about 80 to 100 pages of dense academic prose each week. Most readings will be available as PDFs on D2L, but the following books are also required: Davidson & Martin, eds. (2013) Urban Politics: Critical Approaches London: SAGE [D&M] Harding & Blokland (2014) Urban Theory: A Critical Introduction to Power. Cities, and Urbanism in the 21st Century. London: SAGE [H&B] Some readings also come from these recommended (but not required) books: Bridge & Watson, eds. (2013) The New

Blackwell Companion to the City London: WileyBlackwell Davies & Imbroscio, eds. (2009) Theories of Urban Politics (2nd Edition) London: SAGE In general, the H&B chapters provide a good review of the historical development of key theories and debates in urban studies (some of which you covered in the previous two courses). Other weeks, we will read similar “review” chapters from other sources to help orient the week’s readings. In addition to these overviews, we will dig into three or four additional readings (usually journal articles). While a handful of these are “canonical” to some extent, most are more recent contributions to the literature (often from the past year or two) that exemplify, build upon, or challenge the ideas raised in the review chapters. In addition to the assigned readings, I encourage you to also explore some of the canonical literature discussed in the review chapters. The following Routledge readers include some of this literature, and also

provide useful introductory overviews: The Urban & Regional Planning Reader, Birch, ed. The Global Cities Reader, Brenner & Keil, eds. The City Cultures Reader, Borden & Hall, eds. The Urban Geography Reader, Fyfe & Kenny, eds. The Cybercities Reader, Graham, ed. The Urban Sociology Reader, Jan & Mele, eds The City Reader, LeGates & Stout, eds. Cities of the Global South Reader, Miraftab & Kudma, eds. The Urban Politics Reader, Strom & Mollenkopf, eds. Also see: Dunier, Mitchell, Philip Kasinitz, and Alexandra K. Murphy, eds (2014) The Urban Ethnography Reader. New York: Oxford University Press. I will also provide a list each week of suggested supplemental readings related to that week’s topic. Together, these readings should help orient you as you begin digging into the wide variety journals focusing on urban society and politics. Some key journals include: City: analysis Syllabus (v.4Jan) | 2 Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617 |

Sociology & Politics of Urban Life | Winter 2017 of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action; City & Community; City & Society; Cities; Community Development; Environment and Urbanization; Housing Policy Debate; International Journal of Urban & Regional Research; Journal of Planning Education & Research; Journal of Urban Affairs; Journal of Urban History; Planning Theory; Urban Affairs Review; Urban Geography; Urban Studies, among others. You should also dig into the excellent urban-related content relevant to this course found in journals without a specific urban focus (e.g Antipode; DuBois Review; Environmental Justice; Environment and Planning A; Environment & Planning C: Politics and Space; Environment and Planning D: Society and Space; Ethnic and Racial Studies; Gender, Place & Culture; Social & Cultural Geography; Territory, Politics, Governance and dozens more) and the flagship disciplinary journals (e.g, American Sociological Review; Annals

of the American Association of Geography; Cultural Anthropology; Gender & Society; Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, etc.) Sociology Compass, Geography Compass, and Progress in Human Geography all provide excellent literature reviews on specific topics (some urban). But don’t forget that nearly all journal articles begin with a lit review, so this is often the best place to start when trying to wrap your head around a particular debate. And now an important note on reading. For this class – and throughout your academic careers! – it’s really important to read strategically. Remember that not all text is created equal Some passages are worth skimming, while others you will want to read more than once. So unless you’re trying to learn about the particular empirical content area of the paper (e.g, post-war housing policy in Saskatoon or informal water provisioning in Paramaribo), don’t waste your time taking notes on the empirics. Instead, your goal

should be to identify the authors’ key claims, the arc of their argument, and how they develop and support it. Most authors flag these things throughout, because they want their argument to be clear and concise and to remind the reader where they’ve been and where they’re going with the paper. And most articles follow a relatively formulaic organization, so you’ll quickly learn where to find the lit review, the gaps in the lit / justification for the study, the theoretical framework (what I call the “theory drop”), the methods, the empirics, and finally the analysis of empirics using the theoretical framework. Remember that while the empirics themselves may not be useful for your own work, understanding how an author uses a particular theoretical framework to interpret their empirics – and/or conversely uses these empirics to make a broader theoretical claim – may be incredibly useful to you. This is what you’re looking fortake notes on these things! And be sure to

highlight, star, underline, annotate key passages, whatever, but do so sparingly, so you can go back and quickly pick out the most important bits. In addition to identifying the central arguments/claims/hypotheses and how they support them, you should also focus on how the author is situating their work. What are the scholarly debates they’re engaging in? What gaps in the literature are they trying to fill? Whose work are they building on? Disagreeing with? It’s also important to think about the research design and methodology. What are the key theoretical constructs or frameworks they’re employing? What kind of data are they using to support their claims and how did they collect it? What are the strengths and weaknesses of their argument and/or methodology? Syllabus (v.4Jan) | 3 Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617 | Sociology & Politics of Urban Life | Winter 2017 Expectations, Assignments & Grading At the graduate level, my job as a professor isn’t to lecture, but

rather, to structure the course, to ask questions, and to keep us on track. Our goals each week are to critically engage with the readings, to situate them conceptually in relation to the other readings, and to think about their theoretical and methodological implications for your own research. In order for this to work, it’s essential that you come to class having read all assigned readings and prepared to discuss them thoughtfully and critically. It will be obvious if you come unprepared Grades are based on the following: Participation (10%) This is a discussion-driven seminar. You are responsible for reading the assigned materials before class and coming ready to discuss. Everyone must join in the discussion Remember to “share air”, i.e, If you’re shy, push yourself to talk and if you’re a talker, be conscientious not to dominate the discussion. To help move the discussion forward, you should come to class each week with one or two discussion questions. You will need to

post these to the week’s Discussion Questions forum on D2L by 8pm each Wednesday so others have a chance to read over them before we meet the next morning. NB: Everyone should post a minimum of 8 times over the course of the term. Presentation (15%) Everyone will be required to give a 10 to 15-minute presentation on the readings at least once. You should be prepared to walk us through the key concepts/arguments/theories from the week’s readings. You should also be prepared to get our discussion started (and keep it going, if necessary!) with a few questions/topics/themes of import. Look over the discussion questions posted to D2L by your peers as you organize your questions and discussion topics. Please prepare an outline/diagram/visual aid to steward us through this process. This can be a onepage handout, or you can use the blackboard Reading Responses (40%) You are responsible for writing a short response paper or précis (~250 to 500 words) for any 7 of our class meetings. Your

response should not simply summarize the key arguments from the reading; rather, it should identify and synthesize the key themes, leitmotifs, or arguments running through the ensemble of readings. You can raise new questions, or can respond to some of the questions raised by others on D2L. Furthermore, you should incorporate some reflection of your own, ie, discuss what the readings bring up for you personally (e.g, do the readings challenge your thinking? Do they reinforce it? What impact might they have on your work as a planner or academic?). Please upload a copy to D2L Dropbox by classtime each week. Please use 1” margins, 12pt font, and single-spacing! NB: You must turn in a response Syllabus (v.4Jan) | 4 Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617 | Sociology & Politics of Urban Life | Winter 2017 for any week you are absent, barring extenuating circumstances. I grade these with either a ✓+, ✓, or ✓-, which equate to a grade of 96, 88, and 80, respectively. Final Paper

(35%) In addition to your weekly reading responses, you are required to write a short final paper (3,000 to 4,000 words). This should be a well-structured essay that applies some (but clearly not all!) of what we’ve covered in class to your research area of interest. Your paper must therefore address some intersection of social structures or relations, politics, and urban space. In addition to whatever readings may be relevant from class, I want you to select and read at least 5 additional articles relevant to your paper topic. This paper should serve as a building block in the development of your thesis or dissertation project. To help get started, you will first prepare a paper abstract (200 to 300 words) and bibliography (minimum of five new references + whatever course readings you intend to engage with) for submission one month prior to the final due date. This counts for 5% of your final paper grade I highly recommend that you make an appointment with me at some point over the

course of the term to discuss your final paper topic. Please note the following due dates: Abstract + bibliography due by Th 2/23 @ 9am Final paper due by Th 3/23 @ 9am Please use 1” margins and single-spaced 12-pt Times New Roman font for all writing assignments. Submit your abstract and final paper as a Word document (not PDF or odt) so I can insert comments, and upload to the appropriate D2L Dropbox by the due date. Grading and Academic Integrity My general rubric for graduate-level assignments is as follows: A+ or A: Demonstrates original thought and synthesis of ideas, sophisticated, cogent analysis, and is clearly written or presented. Excellent work or B+: Presents above average analysis with appropriate evidence to support the ideas and is clearly written or presented. Good work B: Shows a basic level of understanding, with analysis limited to the most obvious arguments. Writing is competent Adequate work or below: Misunderstands or misrepresents the material, or is so

poorly written presented as to obscure the analysis. Inadequate work You are graduate students and adults so I don’t need to elaborate on plagiarism and related issues of academic integrity as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct. I take this seriously, as I expect you to. Syllabus (v.4Jan) | 5 Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617 | Sociology & Politics of Urban Life | Winter 2017 General classroom etiquette Please be on time so we can start right at 9am. Please inform me ahead of time, if possible, If you are unable to come to class for any reason. Barring extenuating circumstances, you must submit a reading response for any day you miss. Turn off cell-phones. Use of laptops is welcome for note taking, but please respect the rest of us by refraining from checking Facebook, email, or any other distraction. To fight temptation, turn off your Wi-Fi if you have to! Finally, given the various perspectives, experiences, and ways of knowing in the room, please be patient

and respectful with one another if you disagree. This class may push you into unfamiliar intellectual territory I want your brain to hurt, but that’s it! My contact info Email: n.mcclintock@pdxedu Office: 350E Urban Center Office hours In general, my office hours will be Tuesdays 10am – noon or by appointment. It’s best to contact me ahead of time to sign up for a slot, as these tend to fill quickly. Academic accommodations If you are a student with a documented disability and are registered with the Disability Resource Center (DRC), please contact me immediately to facilitate arranging academic accommodations. Students who believe they are eligible for accommodations but who have not yet obtained approval through the DRC should contact the DRC immediately at 503-7254150. Syllabus (v.4Jan) | 6 Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617 | Sociology & Politics of Urban Life | Winter 2017 Other campus resources PSUs Student Code of Conduct makes it clear that violence and

harassment based on sex and gender are strictly prohibited and offenses are subject to the full realm of sanctions. If you or someone you know has been harassed or assaulted, you can find resources on PSU’s Enrollment Management & Student Affairs: Sexual Prevention & Response website at http://www.pdxedu/sexual-assault The PSU Food Pantry offers supplemental food items to currently enrolled PSU students. The pantry is located in SMSU 325. For more information, you can email foodhelp@pdxedu For more information on food, housing, financial, utility, and childcare assistance for students, visit http://www.pdxedu/studentaffairs/CISFS The Office of Diversity & Multicultural Student Services (Smith Memorial Union 425) provides structured, academic support service, advising, referrals, and advocacy for first-generation college students, low-income and others facing special challenges. Visit http://www.pdxedu/dmss/ for info The Learning Center (Millar Library 245) mission is to

foster the learning process by empowering PSU students to accomplish their academic and personal goals. In addition to helping with current coursework, academic support services can assist in developing effective learning strategies. See http://wwwpdxedu/tutoring/ for more info The Writing Center (Cramer 188) will help you with all varieties of projects, including class assignments, resumes, application essays, presentations, and creative writing. It aims to help writers at any stage of the writing process, from brainstorming to the final draft. You can schedule an appointment online: http://www.writingcenterpdxedu/ Their website also contains resource pages that suggest ideas and strategies for completing writing projects. Syllabus (v.4Jan) | 7 Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617 | Sociology & Politics of Urban Life | Winter 2017 Course Outline & Readings Week 1: Introduction How did earlier strands of urban theory explain power and difference in cities? How do we define

urban politics? Where does it occur? What is political about defining urban politics, and about theorizing urban life more broadly? H&B, Ch. 2: Urban Theories under Conditions of Post-Modernity D&M, Ch 1: Davidson & Martin, Thinking Critically about Urban Politics. Week 2: Machines, Mayors, Regimes How have scholars theorized “formal” urban politics at over the past several decades? How do growth machines, and urban regimes align and differ as explanatory frameworks? What are their limitations, particularly in an era of “splintered governance”? Where does power lie? H&B, Ch. 4: Can Cities Act? Urban Political Economy and the Question of Agency Logan & Molotch (1987) The City as Growth Machine. In Strom & Mollenkopf (eds) The Urban Politics Reader. New York Routledge, 109-117 Morel (2016) Race and state in the urban regime. Urban Affairs Review doi:1078087416678483. D&M Ch. 3: Ward, Splintered Governance: Urban Politics in the Twenty-First

Century D&M Ch. 6: McNeill, Mayors and the Representation of Urban Politics Week 3: The Neoliberal City What is neoliberalism and what does neoliberal urbanism look like? What processes, practices, and discourses are central to neoliberalization? What are the limits of neoliberalism as an epistemological framework? Theodore, Peck & Brenner (2013) Neoliberal Urbanism: Cities and the Rule of Markets. In Bridge & Watson (eds.) The New Blackwell Companion to the City London: WileyBlackwell, 15-25 D&M Ch. 4: Wyly & Newman, Ruthless: The Foreclosure of American Urban Politics Weaver (2016) By design or by default: Varieties of neoliberal urban development. Urban Affairs Review doi:1078087416683448. Long (2016) Constructing the narrative of the sustainability fix: Sustainability, social justice and representation in Austin, TX. Urban Studies 53(1):149-172 Le Galès (2016) Neoliberalism and urban change: Stretching a good idea too far? Territory, Politics,

Governance 4(2):154-172. Syllabus (v.4Jan) | 8 Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617 | Sociology & Politics of Urban Life | Winter 2017 Week 4: City, Ghetto, Suburb How have urban scholars characterized and explained the relationship between social inequality and urban space? How have different theories of social stratification explained or failed to explain the socio-spatial unevenness of metropolitan regions? H&B Ch. 5: Spatial Expressions of Intra-Urban Inequalities D&M Ch. 11: Davidson, Is Class Relevant to Urban Politics? Wacquant (2007) Territorial stigmatization in the age of advanced marginality. Thesis Eleven 91:66-77. Li (2013) Ethnoburb: The New Ethnic Community in Urban America. Ch 4: Building Ethnoburbia. Week 5: The Gendered City, The Queered City How are urban spaces gendered, and how do they reify gender and sexual difference? How did the “cultural turn”, and more specifically attention to gender and sexuality, helped to “queer” our

understandings of the built environment and of urban politics and social relations? How does attention to embodiment and affect contribute to urban theory? H&B Ch. 6: Spatial Expressions of Differentiation Garber (2009) Gender and Sexuality. In Davies & Imbroscio (eds) Theories of Urban Politics (2nd Edition). London: SAGE, 204-220 Markusen (2013) [1981]. City Spatial Structure, Women’s Household Work, and National Urban Policy. In Lin & Mele (eds) The Urban Sociology Reader, 2nd ed New York: Routledge, 249-259. Kern (2010) Selling the “scary city”: gendering freedom, fear and condominium development in the neoliberal city. Social & Cultural Geography 11(3):209–230 D&M Ch. 8: Oswin, Queering the City Week 6: The Racialized City How does race shape urban space and how does urban space shape race? How do the epistemological frameworks presented here -- environmental racism as white privilege, the blues, plantation geographies, etc. -- result in the

ontological transformation of urban space? How do they unsettle dominant understandings of racialized “others” and their actions? Lipsitz (2007) The racialization of space and the spatialization of race: Theorizing the hidden architecture of landscape. Landscape 26(1):10-23 Gregory (1993) Race, rubbish, and resistance: Empowering difference in community politics. Cultural Anthropology 8(1):24-48 Pulido (2000) Rethinking environmental racism: White privilege and urban development in southern California. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 90(1):12-40 Syllabus (v.4Jan) | 9 Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617 | Sociology & Politics of Urban Life | Winter 2017 Woods (2005) Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? Katrina, trap economics, and the rebirth of the blues. American Quarterly 57(4):1005-1018 Ramírez (2015) The elusive inclusive: Black food geographies and racialized food spaces. Antipode 47(3):748-769 Week 7: The Settler Colonial City, The

Postcolonial City How did settler colonial logics and practices shaped the cities of the “New World” and how is the “settler colonial present” manifest in urban(izing) spaces today? How do Western/Global North theories fail to explain “the urban” in the Global South, and how do they perpetuate oppressive colonial relations? What might Indigenous or postcolonial urbanisms look like? Edmonds (2010) Unpacking settler colonialisms urban strategies: Indigenous peoples in Victoria, British Columbia, and the transition to a settler-colonial city. Urban History Review / Revue dhistoire urbaine 38(2):4-20. Safransky (2014) Greening the urban frontier: Race, property, and resettlement in Detroit. Geoforum 56:237-248 Porter (2013) Coexistence in Cities: The Challenge of Indigenous Urban Planning in the Twenty-First Century. In Walker, Jojola & Natcher (eds) Reclaiming Indigenous Planning Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 283-310. Roy (2014) Worlding the South:

Toward a Postcolonial Urban Theory. In Parnell & Oldfield (eds) The Routledge Handbook on Cities of the Global South. New York: Routledge, 9-20. Pieterse (2011) Grasping the unknowable: coming to grips with African urbanisms. Social Dynamics 37(1):5-23. Week 8: Mobility, Immobility, Control Urban scholars have long focused on mobility, that is, the movements and flows of people, goods, capital, data, policies and the infrastructure mediating – both facilitating and constraining – such flows. How is mobility constrained? How is the public enrolled in the policing and control of urban space and the mobilities that shape it? Mose Brown (2014) Mobility for the Nonmobile: Cell Phones, Technology, and Childcare. In Dunier, Kasinitz & Murphy (eds) The Urban Ethnography Reader New York: Oxford University Press, 505-516. Simone (2011) The urbanity of movement: Dynamic frontiers in contemporary Africa. Journal of Planning Education and Research 31(4):379–391. Serbulo &

Gibson (2013) Black and blue: Police-community relations in Portland’s Albina district, 1964–1985. Oregon Historical Quarterly 114(1):6–37 Meehan (2013) Disciplining de facto development: water theft and hydrosocial order in Tijuana. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 31(2):319-336 Syllabus (v.4Jan) | 10 Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617 | Sociology & Politics of Urban Life | Winter 2017 Murphy (2009) “Compassionate” strategies of managing homelessness: Post-revanchist geographies in San Francisco. Antipode 41 (2):305–325 Week 9: The Contested City What are urban social movements and how do they arise? How have motivations, strategies, and tactics changed in the neoliberal era and why? How do these unfold within or across particular spatial scales? How does contestation occur outside of organized movements and what are the limits to or advantages of such contestation? Rabrenovic (2009) Urban Social Movements. In Davies & Imbroscio (eds)

Theories of Urban Politics. 2nd ed London: SAGE, 239-254 Anguelovski (2015) Tactical developments for achieving just and sustainable neighborhoods: the role of community-based coalitions and bottom-to-bottom networks in street, technical, and funder activism. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 33 (4):703–725. Nicholls (2016) Politicizing undocumented immigrants one corner at a time: How day laborers became a politically contentious group. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research doi:10.1111/1468-242712334 Fredericks (2014) “The old man is dead”: Hip hop and the arts of citizenship of Senegalese youth. Antipode 46(1):130-148 Stehlin and Tarr (2016) Think regionally, act locally? Gardening, cycling, and the horizon of urban spatial politics. Urban Geography doi:101080/0272363820161232464 Bayat (2012) Politics in the city-inside-out. City & Society 24 (2):110–128 Week 10: Contested Urban Natures What does urban politics look like in the

more-than-human city? How does urban “nature” and its definitions serve as a key site of contestation? How do each of these authors contest urban nature as a construct? How do the theoretical frameworks, lenses, or constructs they employ take steps to overcome false binaries (e.g, urban-rural, nature-society)? D&M Ch 12: Huber, The Urban Imaginary of Nature: Cities in American Environmental Politics. Biehler (2009) Permeable homes: A historical political ecology of insects and pesticides in US public housing. Geoforum 40(6):1014–1023 McClintock (2015) A critical physical geography of urban soil contamination. Geoforum 65:69–85. Knuth (2016) Seeing green in San Francisco: City as resource frontier. Antipode 48(3):626–644. Ranganathan (2015) Storm drains as assemblages: The political ecology of flood risk in post-colonial Bangalore. Antipode 47 (5):1300–1320 Syllabus (v.4Jan) | 11 Source: http://www.doksinet USP 617 | Sociology & Politics of Urban Life |

Winter 2017 Schedule Wk Date Topic 1 1/12 Introduction 2 1/19 3 Total pages Readings H&B Ch. 2; D&M Ch 1 46 Machines, Mayors, Regimes H&B Ch. 4; Logan & Molotch; Morel; D&M Ch. 3 (Ward); D&M Ch 6 (McNeill) 96 1/26 The Neoliberal City Theodore, Peck & Brenner; D&M Ch. 4 (Wyly & Newman); Weaver; Long; Le Galès 102 4 2/2 City, Ghetto, Suburb H&B Ch. 5; D&M Ch 11 (Davidson); Wacquant; Li 97 5 2/9 The Gendered City, The Queered City H&B Ch. 6; Garber; Markusen; Kern; D&M Ch. 8: (Oswin) 110 6 2/16 The Racialized City Lipsitz; Gregory; Pulido; Woods; Ramírez 99 7 2/23 The Settler Colonial City, The Postcolonial City Edmonds; Safransky; Porter; Roy; Pieterse Abstract + bibliography due 97 8 3/2 Mobility, Immobility, Control Mose Brown; Simone; Serbulo & Gibson; Meehan; Murphy 91 9 3/9 The Contested City Rabrenovich; Anguelovski; Nicholls; Stehlin & Tarr; Fredericks; Bayat 118 10

3/16 Contested Urban Natures Huber; Biehler; McClintock; Knuth; Ranganathan 79 Exam Week No meeting Final paper due on Th 3/23. Upload to D2L by 9am *H&B = Harding & Blokland; D&M = Davidson & Martin Syllabus (v.4Jan) | 12