AMST 1149 - FWS: The Third World Within: Poverty and Paradox in the U.S.

Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

First-Year Writing Seminar.

E. Andrews.

The United States is supposed to exemplify the First World and the global North. But poverty, colonialism, and marginalization are everywhere, evident in income inequality, environmental injustices, gun violence, high rates of incarceration, and more. Together, we will examine these problems, asking whether they stand apart from modern development or are a hidden but integral part of it. For example, how does the pipeline running through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation compare to energy extraction in other parts of the world? What does the continued crisis in Puerto Rico say about 21st-century colonialism? Over the course of the semester, students will produce a sociological research proposal, articulating realistic, data-driven research questions about the paradoxes that surround us.