PAM 4160 - Ethnography of Poverty and Inequality

(crosslisted)
(also SOC 4160)

Spring. 3 credits.

Prerequisite: PAM 3350, PAM 2220, SOC 2208, SOC 2070 or equivalent social science course. Recommended Prerequsite: SOC 1101 or DSOC 1101, PAM 2030.

M. Waller.

This course explores poverty and inequality in American society through the lens of ethnographic and other field-based research. We will read classic and contemporary texts which have shaped our understanding of how social inequality and exclusion constrain people’s daily lives and how groups develop innovative responses to these constraints.

Outcome 1: To encourage critical thinking about the experiences of poverty and inequality in the United States.

Outcome 2: To gain a solid understanding of important classic and contemporary ethnographic texts and how they relate to each other.

Outcome 3: To develop an understanding of the methodological and theoretical approaches used by each author.

Outcome 4: To develop skills to write and present a research paper which incorporates ethnographic evidence.