What is America as a landscape and a place, and how do we know it when we see it? This course seeks to address such questions, to introduce ways of seeing and interpreting American histories and cultures, as revealed in everyday built surroundings—homes, highways, farms, factories, stores, recreation areas, small towns, city districts, and regions. It does so through the lens of cultural geography, an interdisciplinary practice that developed, in part, here at Berkeley. Our goal in this course is thus twofold: First, to develop literacy in the role of space and place in American culture, and second to develop a working knowledge of cultural geography as a practice.

What is America as a landscape and a place, and how do we know it when we see it? In the present moment, marked by struggles over economic, environmental, and social division played out in space and place, such questions are imperative. This course seeks to address such questions, to introduce ways of seeing and interpreting American histories and cultures, as revealed in everyday built surroundings—homes, highways, farms, factories, stores, recreation areas, small towns, city districts, and regions. It does so through the lens of cultural geography, an interdisciplinary practice that developed, in part, here at Berkeley during the 20th century. Our goal in this course is thus twofold: First, to develop a kind of literacy in the role of space and place in American culture, and second to develop a working knowledge of cultural geography as a practice and then to use those skills to better see the world around us.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.