INTL 350: The City in Europe
Dr. Evguenia Davidova
M/W 3-4:50, CH 283
Office hours: M 2-3, W11-12:30
EH 337
Phone: 503-725-8992
Email:
Course description:
Modern cities’ accelerated transformations serve as a window to explore the interrelated political, socio-economic, and cultural changes in society. This course examines the challenges of modern urban life since the 18th century in Europe and the various intellectual, political, and social responses to industrialization, modernity, and globalization. It addresses three broad topics: the city as a locus of power and forms of resistance; the multifaceted urban culture; international and global transformations and their impacts on city life. The city also provides a lens into major debates on imperialism, nationalism, communism, fascism, East-West relationships, and North-South divide. Drawing on various sources, the course will shed light on cosmopolitanism and diverse notions of “Europeanness.” Case studies vary and offer contrasting perspectives from Thessaloniki to Prague to London to Vienna to Rotterdam, from personal memories to institutionalization of public sphere, and from war destructions to peaceful EU expansion and new forms of citizenship.
Course Format:
The course material is eclectic and will use critical research, non-fiction, and films.
Classes will be conducted in mixed format combining both lecture and discussions.
Course readings:
Kovaly, Heda Margolius. Under a Cruel Star. A Life in Prague 1941-1968, New York:
Holmes & Meier, 1997, ISBN: 0841913773.
Lees, Andrew and Lynn Hollen Lees. Cities and the Making of Modern Europe. 1750-
1914, Cambridge: CUP, 2007; ISBN: 9780521548229.
Mazower, Mark. Salonica. City of Ghosts, Christians, Muslims, and Jews. 1430-1950,
NY: Vintage Books, 2004; ISBN: 0375727388.
Walkowitz, Judith. City of Dreadful Delight. Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-
Victorian London, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992. ISBN: 0226871460.
Course Objectives
- Students should be able to make connections between historic and contemporary European developments in culture, politics, and society.
2. Students should demonstrate understanding of various consequences of Europe’s interactions with the rest of the world.
Course outcomes:
- The students will familiarize themselves with basic events, key historical processes, and theoretical debates, which have profound impact on European cities, and explain their significance.
- Students will develop an understanding of the complexity of the notion of citizenship from various perspectives: urban, regional, national, international, and supra-national.
- Students will work critically with various visual and written sources and should be able to analyze and synthesize ideas in verbal and written form.
My expectations:
1. This is a collaborative learning course. Readings are assigned for each class. They should be read before the class. Student participation will be considered in the grading.
2. Attendance is important and will be considered in the grading, too. Non-attendance will affect your grade. You could miss 2 classes total. More than 3 absences will slide down your grade by one letter.
3. No late assignments will be accepted. All written assignments must be typed, double-spaced with one-inch margins and 12-point font using MLA or CMS style citation form when appropriate.
Assignments and evaluation:
- Take home exam (25%)
- Student presentations: news and topic presentation (10%)
- Four short papers (20%)
- Final paper (25%)
- Attendance and class participation (20%)
Topics Outline (Subject to Change):
Week 1
M 3/1 Introduction to the course
I. Urban Social Histories
W 3/5 The City in Transition
Lees and Lees, 13-39
Mumford*, 92
Week 2
M 3/10 Industrial Urbanization and Urban Protests
Lees and Lees, 41-67, 70-97
Metropolis, Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927 (clip)
W 3/12 Modern Urban Challenges: Transportation, Diseases, and the Rise of Philanthropy
Lees and Lees, 137-158, 170-179.
Week 3
M 3/17 No Class
W 3/19 Urban Planning and Sociability
Lees and Lees, 184-200, 206-241
Le Corbusier*, 317-319.
Short paper #1 due
II. Cultural Representations of the City
Week 4
M 3/24 Discourses on Sexual Dangers and Gender
Walkowitz, 1-7, 41-68
W 3/26 The Power of Journalism
Walkowitz, 81-97, 121-134, 135-137
Week 5
M 3/31 Science, Law, and Gender
Walkowitz, 171-189, 191-212
Short paper #2 due
III. Case Studies
W 2/2 The Cosmopolitan Salonica: early history
Mazower, 17-36, 47-56, 66-79
FILM: TBA
Week 6
M 2/7 Modernization/Europeanization
Mazower, 175-191, 197-208, 217-230
W 2/9 Hellenization
Mazower, 298-310, 323-332, 339-342
Week 7
M 2/14 The Interwar Culture and Some Post-WWII Changes
Mazower, 359-374, 417-428, 432-437
Short paper #3 due
W 2/16 The Communist Prague
Kovaly, 1-15, 39-74
Week 8
M 2/21 Prague Spring 1968
Kovaly, 93-150, 178-192
FIM: TBA
IV. Contemporary Urban Issues
W 2/23 Hybrid Cultures in Vienna
Horak*, 181-190
La haine/Hate. Dir. Matheu Kassovitz, 1995.
Short paper #4 due
Week 9
M 2/28 Global Cities: London
FILM: Dirty, pretty things.Dir.Stephen Frears, 2002, 97 min
Exam due
W 3/2 New Technologies and Globalization
Sassen*, 212-213
Castells*, 475-476, 481-484
FILM: Red Road, Dir. Andres Arnold, 2006 (clip)
Week 10
M 3/7 The EU, Cultural Capitals and City Branding
Richards, Greg and Julie Wilson, “The Impact of Cultural Events on City Image: Rotterdam, Cultural capital of Europe, 2001,” Urban Studies, vol. 41, No 10, September 2004: 1931-1951.
W 3/9 Wrapping up
Finals week: final paper due in my Office (EH 337) on Friday 3/18 by 3 pm.