SOC 295-03 - Special Topic: The Asian Megacity

4 credits (Fall)

This course will review theories, methods, and modes of analysis useful to understanding the unprecedented social change and economic growth now gripping Asian megacities of ten million or more inhabitants. Drawing on sociology, history, and economics, we will consider competing meanings attached to such megacities as Dhaka, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Mumbai, and Tokyo. Our task will be to weigh popular and scholarly representations against lived experience on the ground, within and across classes, as depicted in various media. Periodically, readings will be paired with journalism, fiction, and films illustrative of key themes, including effective governance, informal economies, labor standards, and land and water rights, to name a few. Whether, and how, existing political structures in Asian megacities enable fairness, equality, and social justice will serve as a guiding question throughout.

Prerequisite: SOC 111.
Instructor: Inglis