Representing the Urban Landscape
   

BGS 392-10 -- Seminar in Humanities
Roosevelt University

Tu/Th 6:00-8:30pm
Chicago Campus

Assignments

Links

Schedule

Texts

Home

Weekly Schedule of Readings, Activities, and Assignments
CW = City Wilds anthology selections
Writing assignments are highlighted in yellow
Revision due dates are noted in red
Field trips are highlighted in
green 

Week One:  Introduction -- Nature in/and the City
 
T (1/29)
Th (1/31)

Week Two:  Philosophical and Literary Contexts

T (2/5)
Th (2/7)

Week Three:  Nature + Culture in Chicago

T (2/12)
  • Sally Kitt Chappell, Chicago's Urban Nature
    • Read "A Park Ethic"; "Preface"; "Introduction"
    • Scan another section of your choice
  • Peter Frederici, "Where the Wild Ones Are" (Chicago Wilderness Winter 2008)
  • Curt Meine, "Conservation, Chicago Style" (Chicago Wilderness winter 2008)
Th (2/14)
  • Willliam Cronon, Prologue (from Nature's Metropolis, 1991) -- handout
  • Chicago stories -- Sandra Cisneros, "The Monkey Garden" (CW 18); Susan Power, "Chicago Waters" (CW 19); Ronald Fair, "Thank God It Snowed" (CW 21)

Week Four:  The History of Chicago's Lakefront

T (2/19)
  • Lois Wille, Forever Open, Free, and Clear (Prologue thru ch. 5)
Th (2/21)
  • Wille, cont. (ch. 6 thru 8)
  • Essay 1 due

Week Five:  The History (and Future) of Chicago's Lakefront

T (2/26)

  • Wille, cont. (ch. 9 thru 11)

Th (2/28)

  • Blair Kamin, "Reinventing the Lakefront" (from Why Architecture Matters, 2001) -- [Bb, Course Documents]

Week Six:  Chicago History and Planning

T (3/4)
Th (3/6)
  • Field Trip to the Chicago History Museum (6-8pm) -- "Chicago: Crossroads of America" and "Schaumburg: From Cornfield to Woodfield"
    • Class meets at Museum entrance at 6pm (OK to come early if you wish)

Week Seven:  The Industrial and Suburban Landscapes

T (3/11)
  • Jill Riddell, "Post-Industrial Wildlands" (Chicago Wilderness Fall 2001)
  • City of Chicago, "Calumet Area Land Use Plan" (2002) -- [Bb, Course Dcmts]
Th (3/13)
  • Bob Thall, "Introduction:  My Place, Your Place" (from The New American Village, 1999) -- [handout]
  • Debra Shore, "The Greening of Sarah's Grove" (Chicago Wilderness Fall 2004)
  • Research Proposal due

 

Week Eight:  S P R I N G   B R E A K

 

Week Nine:  Urban Nature Writing I

T (3/25)
  • Rivers -- Lisa Couturier, "Reversing the Tides" (CW 1); Bob Marshall, "Paddling off the Edge of the Big Easy" (CW 14); Jan Zita Grover, "Minnehaha Creek" (CW 22)
Th (3/27)
  • Gardens -- bell hooks, "Touching the Earth" (CW 4); Rebecca Johnson, "New Moon over Roxbury:  Reflections on Urban Life and the Land" (CW 7); John Hanson Mitchell, "A Paradise of Frogs" (CW 10); Trish Maharam, "Plantswoman" (CW 35)
  • Optional Revision of Essay 1 due

 Week Ten:  Urban Nature Writing II

T (4/1)
  • Rooftops and Swamps -- Edward P. Jones, "The Girl Who Raised Pigeons" (CW 11); Rick Bass, "Swamp Boy" (CW 15)
  • Set up conference schedule for Week 14
Th (4/3)
  • Contact and Commodification -- Charles Siebert, "Where Have All the Animals Gone?" (CW 3); Robert Michael Pyle, "The Extinction of Experience" (CW 29); Richard Brautigan, "The Cleveland Wrecking Yard" (299)

Week Eleven:  An Urban Naturalist's Search for Wilderness in Chicago

T (4/8)
  • Introductory lecture on Chicago urban naturalist, Leonard Dubkin
  • Selections from Dubkin's writings
    • "Some Experiences with Insects" (CW 20)
    • Excerpts from The White Lady (1952) -- [handout]
Th (4/10)
  • Leonard Dubkin, "Part Five" from Wolf Point: An Adventure in History (1953) -- [handout]
  • Essay 2 due

Week Twelve:  Chicago Naturalists

T (4/15)
Th (4/17)
  • Regular class does not meetPost your comments and questions about the assigned readings to the Discussion Board on our Bb site.
    • May Watts, "Looking Down on Improved Property" and "Botanizing from a Lower Berth" (from Reading the Landscape of America, 1975) -- [handout]
    • Jerry Sullivan, "Spring Comes to Chicago" and "The Passenger Pigeon" (from Hunting for Frogs on Elston, 2004)

Week Thirteen:  Photography, Geography, Nature, and the Built Environment

T (4/22)
Th (4/24)
  • Discussion and student critiques of Evans
  • Rough Draft of Research Paper/Project due

Week Fourteen:  Research Week / Individual Conferences  

T (4/29)
  • Individual conferences in my office (Gage 205)
  • Regular class does not meet
Th (5/1)

Week Fifteen:  Synthesis -- Urban Parks, Nature, and the Human Experience

T (5/6)
  • Chappell, Chicago's Urban Nature
    • Part I:  "Central Chicago:  The Emerald Crown"
    • Part III:  "Chicago River Walks:  From Industrial Canal to Promenade"
    • Conclusion
  • Optional Revision of Essay 2 due
  • No class on Thursday

Week Sixteen:  Final Week of Course

T (5/13)
  • Final Draft of Research Papers/Project due
  • Course evaluations
  • Repair to nearby establishment for pizza and beverage

-- I reserve the right to revise this schedule as needed --

Assignments

Links

Schedule

Texts

Home

Page Design and Content by Michael A. Bryson / 2008 / Roosevelt University
M. Bryson's Faculty Home Page

Last Updated:  03 April 2008