HIS 336-01 - The European Metropolis (Spring)

4 credits (Spring)

This seminar examines the blossoming of new urban spaces in Europe from roughly 1850-1930, spaces characterized by unprecedented population density and diversity, radical shifts in infrastructure and communication, and vertiginous social and cultural developments. Using London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin as case studies, we examine political developments, social theory, the visual arts,film, literature, architecture, consumer culture,and music. Concentrating in particular upon the ways that artists and intellectuals grappled with the idea and the experience of the metropolis, we consider such themes as community and alienation,the fluidity of the self, spectacle and entertainment, disease and criminality, and gender and class.

Prerequisite: Any 100-level history course and any 200-level European history course including British or Russian history.
Instructor: Maynard