American Dreams: Markets, Housing, Family

CHID 490B

Spring 2023                                                                           

W/F: 2:30pm-4:20pm

MGH 284

Professor Chandan Reddy     

Office: A-313 Padelford Hall

Office phone: 206 543-7985

Office hours: Tues. 9:00am-12:00pm

E-mail: ccreddy@u.washington.edu (note: I respond to email only once daily; hence it can take up to two days to get a response back from me on email)

Course Description:

The concept of the American dream is as ubiquitous as it is contested. It has referred to universal education, social mobility, entrepreneurship, and wealth accumulation. Since the end of WW-ll it has been associated especially with home ownership, becoming a cornerstone of American culture ever since. This course will examine the post-war idea of the “American Dream” as an assemblage of white heterosexuality, patriarchal reproduction, racial capitalism and settler dispossession. And it will examine the link between financial assets and cultural identities, investigating how assets enter the dreamworld to mask the material world of policing and prisons they actually rely upon. 

Required Texts:

Canvas

Film links

Requirements:

Assignments and Grading

Participation 20%

Your participation grade includes your general contribution to and investment in class discussions, activities, and exercises. Homework assignments such as reading assigned texts will also factor into your participation grade. Additionally, you will need to prepare for and contribute to individual conferences, peer review sessions, and other workshops (such as the library research workshop) to earn full participation points. Obviously, you can’t participate if you are not in class. There is such a thing as negative participation, e.g., dominating the conversation, engaging in distracting behavior, etc. Please refrain.

Generative Reading and Source Tracking 20%

This is perhaps the single most important assignment in this class, as the generative reading you do this quarter (or lack thereof) will make or break your project development. For this submission, you will read at least 2 book excerpts and/or articles related to your topic. You will then submit the citations as well as your notes on these sources–you can use an annotated bibliography, or adopt another note-taking method to map or keep track of your reading (we’ll review options in class). 

Line of Inquiry Narrative 5%

After you have established the general parameters of your topic, you will be asked to articulate your line of inquiry. Basically, your line of inquiry narrative will set forth your central research questions, as well as how these questions emerged for you through reading, conversation, coursework, etc. In stating your questions, you will need to speak to the  “so what” of your exploration, or why you think your questions matter. The trick? Do all this in 200-300 words. More details in class.

Project Proposal 10%

Your project proposal explains your project to your advisors, classmates, and others who are interested in your work. You will incorporate your revised line of inquiry or research questions in your proposal, but you will additionally need to elaborate your archive, your approach to knowledge production, and the form you hope your project will take. Your proposal draft should approximate 2-3 pages, double-spaced, without adventures in formatting. More details in class.

Skeleton Draft 10%

By week 8, you will be ready to create a skeleton draft, having been hard at work on your research and project development all quarter. A skeleton draft is more than an outline, and less than a full rough draft. Think of it as an outline that has as many component parts of your project “fleshed out” as possible At an early stage in your composition process, you might flesh out a literature review and the first or two section of a paper,  a podcast trailer as well as a first episode, and the list goes on—it will depend on the project and your process, and you will determine your goal for the skeleton draft in conversation with others.

Final Project 35%

Your final project will be on a  topic of your choosing, inspired by (but not limited to) the shared course readings. All course assignments should build towards this final project, which may take the form of a traditional academic paper (10-15 pages).

Grades:

Your final grades will be calculated on the following basis:

Participation                                                               20%

Generative Reading and Source Tracking                20%                            

Line of Inquiry Narrative                                           5%

Project Proposal                                                        10%

Skeleton Draft                                                           10%

Final Project                                                              35%

Syllabus

(subject to change  or additions)

Week 1

Wednesday, March 29

Course Introduction

Friday, March 31

Due: Reading #1 and watching Robin Kelley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REo_gHIpvJc

Week 2

Wednesday, April 5

Due: Reading

Friday, April 7

Due: Reading

Week 3

Wednesday April 12

Due: Reading

Friday, April 14

Due: Reading

Week 4

Wednesday, April 19

Due: Reading

Friday, April 21

Due: Reading

Due: Line of Inquiry Narrative

Week 5

Wednesday, April 26

In Class: Conferences with Chandan 

Due: Reading

Friday, April 28

Due: Reading

Sunday, April 30

Due: Project Proposal

Week 6

Wednesday, May 3

In Class: Workshop Groups (on Project Proposals)

Due: Peer Feedback on Project Proposal

Friday, May 5

In Class: Library Research Workshop

Week 7

Wednesday, May 10

Friday, May 12

Due: Journal Entry # 3 Line of Inquiry

Week 8

Wednesday, May 17

Office Hr. 

Friday, May 19

Due: Source Tracking

Week 9

Wednesday, May 24

Conferences Available

Friday, May 26

Skeleton Draft/Skeleton Outline

Week 10

Wednesday, May 31

Conferences with Chandan Available

Friday, June 2

Final Essay Due