City Blues

LSOC-300

When songwriter/poets portray a city through the blues, they choose gritty lyrics to reflect its tough side. They sing about their own struggle to remember the dream that seduced them to come to live and strive in the city. This course looks at those urban blues that challenge one's everyday existence. Noise, high rent, and crowding are inconvenient. Unemployment, health risks, kids at risk, underemployment, housing shortages, homelessness, and crime are serious problems. These city ills trap many of its residents and yet, an impressively large number survive and thrive because of the city. In this course, you will look at city blues through the lens of sociology and enjoy the music inspired by the city. Assigned readings, group discussion projects, and analytical memos will help you gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of urban problems. The course will highlight today's successful urban community organizations and urban change agents, partnerships, sponsorships, and resources that musician change agents must know about to power through and turn around the city's blues.

Credits
3
Prerequisites
LENG-223
Required Of
None
Electable By
All
Semesters Offered
Spring Only
Location
Boston
Department
LART
Course Chair
Marcela Castillo-Rama
Taught By
Courses may not be offered at the listed locations or taught by the listed faculty for every semester. Consult my.berklee.edu to find course information for a specific semester.