To prepare for these projects, everyone should read ALL eight of the readings below.  All of the readings will be useful to you for your analysis and write-ups, regardless of which topic you select to pursue, and they will aid in understanding your classmates' presentations as well. We will discuss the articles during class in Week 13, NOV. 19.

• Choose ONE of the four case study areas below.  (You may combine more than one topic if appropriate.) Do a little field research on a specific, focused topic (a "case") within this area, in light of the cultural politics of difference we have pursued in this course.  Your research may include site visits to familiar or unfamiliar places/scenes, media events or reports, interviews, participant-observations, personal re-memories, etc.

You may wish to convert what you already know into "data" for use in this project!  In other words, base your case study on "fieldwork" you've  already been doing (perhaps for your entire life!).  You may thus invest as much imagination as leg-work!

• This project should be based on your fieldwork and informed by course readings, videos, etc.  It need not require library research, but you may include this if you wish.

• Do not choose an overly-generalized topic--should be a focused, concrete case, using field "data" to base your findings on.

• You may use qualitative or quantitative research methods, or combine both.

 
• Write up your findings in a 5-7 page paper. You may use any rhetorical style.

 
• In your narrative, be sure to explain why you chose the topic.

 
• YOUR PAPER MUST INCLUDE IN THE TEXT A MINIMUM OF FIVE CITATIONS OF FIVE DIFFERENT REFERENCES TO ANY READINGS FROM THIS COURSE. (Extra sources fine.) Incorporate course references relevant to your analysis, probably more to shape perspective and supply analytical tools or frameworks than for factual information. Remember to set these in context of the author's argument--do not pull quotes or points out of context!  Include a bibliography of references cited.

• Brief presentation of project and paper due in class during Week 16 (12/10)!

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CASE STUDY AREAS

Visit cultural centers, community organizations, neighborhoods, social service agencies.  Explore one in depth or compare/contrast.

Readings:

• David Rieff-"Last Hurrahs" from Los Angeles: Capital of the Third World (1991)  (xerox)
• Celeste Olalquiaga-"Tupinicopolis; The Latinization of the U.S." (1992) [BB]

Based on observations at your own job, or as a customer of a business, etc.  Or, you can identify a case of diversity "in process" in some other context (i.e. "at work," in its other meaning).

Readings:

• Avery Gordon-"The Work of Corporate Culture: Diversity Management" (1995) [BB]
• Mike Davis-"Who Killed LA? A Political Autopsy" (1993) [BB]

3. DIVERSITY IN POPULAR CULTURE

Movies, TV, video games, music, kids'play, grafitti, fashion/ads, sports, festivals, food/restaurants

Readings:

• Jean Franco-"NYC is a Third World City" (1985) [BB]
•  Tricia Rose-"A Style Nobody Can Deal With: Politics, Style, &  the Postindustrial City in Hip Hop" (1994) (xerox)

Crime, law, police, prisons; immigration (INS); zoning, red-lining, housing ordinances, homeowner associations; social policing (social services)

Readings:
 
• Mike Davis-" Beyond Blade Runner: Urban Control and the Ecology of Fear" (1995) [BB]
•  or check out its web site: http://www.mediamatic.nl/Magazine/8_2/Davis-Urban.html
• Koptiuch-"'Cultural Defense' and Criminological Displacements" (1996) [BB]