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This May a special topics course will be offered through the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta. Professor Akinyele Umoja will facilitate a course entitled "A Look at Urban America through the Lens of HBO's The Wire"
The following is a description of the course:
While often thought of as a ?cop show? HBO?s The Wire explores major issues in the cities of the United States. This course will explore some of these issues through the lens of The Wire. Show creator David Simon argued that capitalism is not a social policy. He argues people are marginalized in the post-industrialized U.S. Illegal drug enforcement policy, the effects of de-industrialization, the sociology of the underground economy and the crisis in urban education, and the generation gap in African based communities in the United States will be explored in this course. The Wire illuminates U.S. urban institutions including municipal government, the educational system, law enforcement, ?street? organizations and forces and the media. This term we will focus on Seasons One, Three and Four, which focus on the ?war on drugs,? political reform and the education of urban youth. We will explore national and global implications of Simon?s and Burn?s interpretation of Baltimore and make comparisons with contemporary Atlanta.
Umoja can be contacted at aadaku@gsu.edu.
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Posts:
819
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12/18/07
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(6 of 6)
Re: Course explores urban life thru WIRE
Jun 16, 2008 10:13 PM
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I definitely think The Corner should be on the reading list for this course. As much as I liked the mini-series, the book was even better.
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Posts:
15,826
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12/1/04
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(5 of 6)
Re: Course explores urban life thru WIRE
Jun 16, 2008 10:03 PM
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hi mrntgr,
Should watch The Corner as an appetizer too. The Corner did this wonderful thing with flashbacks into the characters lives before and after the drug scourge. I think that had so much impact on me as a viewer to see the beauty of what was lost compared to the tragedy of today. The contrast gave such poignant perspective.
The Sobatkas were right on the cusp of that change, decades after the families of the black characters on the show but the same dynamics at play, disenfranchized, criminalized in response, jail, death, heartbreak to follow....exactly the same as the families on The Corner.
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Posts:
819
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12/18/07
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(4 of 6)
Re: Course explores urban life thru WIRE
Jun 16, 2008 9:50 AM
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Agreed, leaving out Season 2 is a mistake, and it makes me call into question the merits of the course. Only thing I can see is that there's no port or large blue collar white element in Atlanta.
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Posts:
15,826
Registered:
12/1/04
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(3 of 6)
Re: Course explores urban life thru WIRE
Jun 15, 2008 2:48 AM
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Great idea for a course but a mistake to leave out Season Two just because it's pale. It's not the contrast in the experience of Baltimore for black and white residents but the similarities that are so important. What's unique to the black experience as opposed to what's the experience of everyman gives the entire series perspective. It wasn't accidental or mere sensationalism that slaves on a ship in the harbor begin the story of Season Two. Slavery is the single least discussed issue illuminated in the series. A total non-event. Weirdly so, if you ask me.
The Russians being at the top of the drug kingdom was similarly unexplored as a topic, at least on the boards. Looking back I see that as so ironic, politically.
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884
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10/7/06
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Re: Course explores urban life thru WIRE
May 21, 2008 1:08 PM
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Being the lifelong student I am, I would have loved to work on this course, or even attended...WOW GOOD JOB
--
"You Win Some and You Lose Some...But You Live, Son..You Live"
"Whose the Master? I AM"
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Posts:
36
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3/10/05
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(1 of 6)
Course explores urban life thru WIRE
May 9, 2008 8:06 PM
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This May a special topics course will be offered through the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta. Professor Akinyele Umoja will facilitate a course entitled "A Look at Urban America through the Lens of HBO's The Wire"
The following is a description of the course:
While often thought of as a ?cop show? HBO?s The Wire explores major issues in the cities of the United States. This course will explore some of these issues through the lens of The Wire. Show creator David Simon argued that capitalism is not a social policy. He argues people are marginalized in the post-industrialized U.S. Illegal drug enforcement policy, the effects of de-industrialization, the sociology of the underground economy and the crisis in urban education, and the generation gap in African based communities in the United States will be explored in this course. The Wire illuminates U.S. urban institutions including municipal government, the educational system, law enforcement, ?street? organizations and forces and the media. This term we will focus on Seasons One, Three and Four, which focus on the ?war on drugs,? political reform and the education of urban youth. We will explore national and global implications of Simon?s and Burn?s interpretation of Baltimore and make comparisons with contemporary Atlanta.
Umoja can be contacted at aadaku@gsu.edu.
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