Course

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The planning of activities at Roskilde University is based on the recommended study programs which do not overlap. However, if you choose optional courses and/or study plans that goes beyond the recommended study programs, an overlap of lectures or exam dates may occur depending on which courses you choose.

This course introduces students to a current topic in Cultural Encounters. Particular attention is given to research areas that are current and characterised by negotiation between different positions. The course will focus on how to identify and understand recent knowledge and understanding of the topic as well as the theoretical and methodological questions raised in the work on the selected topic.

Given the course’s focus on concurrent themes and research in Cultural Encounters, the course may both focus on diverse methodologies, different theoretical concepts and different types of empirical data and research sites. This semester the focus will be on “the ghetto”. “The ghetto” as a concept and phenomenon has historically held a position in urban sociology, from the Chicago school (e.g. Louis Wirth) to the work of the French sociologist Loic Wacquant. In the course, we will also discuss some of these classical studies of the ghetto.

But what is the ghetto – not least from a concurrent research perspective? The question is important, not least in Denmark where changing governments over the last decades have introduced various action plans against ghettorization. These action plans have as consequences that several urban neighborhoods across Denmark are currently reconstructed, a theme that we will also study the implications of in this course. Both teachers of this course are currently working on research projects about “the ghetto” in the Danish context. The course will also draw on this ongoing research. In this course we will thus discuss and explore:

• the concept of the ghetto, based on existing theoretical literature

• the history of the ghetto, both in Denmark and across Europe.

• the concurrent redesign of urban areas on the Danish “ghetto-list”.

• The ghetto in relation to the Danish welfare state.

• territorial stigmatization and spatial representation.

• Architecture and design.

Teaching will include lectures, fieldtrips and fieldwork, and small research/writing assignments.

The purpose of the course is both to introduce you to a research theme of relevance to your Cultural Encounters profile, but also introduce you to relevant methods for working with this particular field. Course literature and description of the course as such will be available on Moodle.

Check moodle for all details.

Study intensity

The course gives 5 ects which corresponds to a workload of 135 hours, distributed as follows:

• Course work: 20 hours

• Around 11 hours of preparation for each session, including preparation for discussions, small assignments and presentations as well as literature reading

Activities in this course predominantly takes the format of class teaching on campus. However, the course may also include work- shops, student presentations, excursions, peer feedback and individ- ual/group exercises.

Oral evaluation.

A detailed program/syllabus for the course will be found in moodle.

• has in-depth knowledge and understanding of a current topic in the field of Cultural Encounters

• can elect and present relevant methodologies and theories to understand and analyse the chosen topic

• can apply and evaluate analytical perspectives that are relevant within a given field

The course is passed through active satisfactory participation in the course related activities. The evaluation of the students' participation considers the following criteria:

• Has the student established a sound theoretical and method- ological knowledge about the themes that have been pre- sented in the course?

• Can the student explain, define, and discuss different aspects of the course themes according to different types of con- texts, both nationally and internationally?

• Can the student analyse the themes presented in the course based on current methods and theories?

• Can the student identify and analyse social, political, cultural and political processes where the theoretical and methodo- logical insights into the course’s themes are relevant?

• Can the student analyse concrete cases using the theories, methods and approaches discussed in the course?

• Can the student critically reflect over how different theoreti- cal perspectives in the course can be applied to concrete problem solving in everyday life?