AMST 300
Lessons of 'The Game': The Wire and American Culture Spring 2013
Division II
Cross-listed SOC 306 / AFR 300
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

The critically acclaimed television program, The Wire, ran for five seasons on Home Box Office (HBO) between 2002 and 2008. Set in “inner city” Baltimore, the program addressed a wide array of topics, including, but not limited to, the urban drug trade, law enforcement, local city politics, labor unions, education, and the newspaper industry. Though a work of “fiction,” sociologist William Julius Wilson has called the show an important and instructive portrayal of the “deep inequality in inner-city America.” By contrast, some scholars and critics have decried the series and indeed, courses like this one, as examples of mainstream America’s fascination with and acceptance of African American drug use, criminal tendencies, and corruption. In this course, we will not deconstruct The Wire per se, but use select episodes from the series to explore key issues in Africana Studies, ranging from political geography to a history of Baltimore and the “War on Drugs.” Students should have some familiarity with the show. Africana Studies will show select episodes during Winter Study. Readings will include texts about African American urban life, such as Elijah Anderson’s Code of the Street and Sudhir Venkatesh’s Gang Leader for a Day. Due to its attention to crime, drug addiction, violence, and urban decay, this course is a part of the Gaudino Danger Initiative.
The Class: Format: lecture
Limit: 50
Expected: 50
Class#: 3278
Grading: OPG
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on 2-3 short papers (5-7 pages), and a final written project (10 pages)
Extra Info: not available to be taken Pass/Fail
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: none
Distributions: Division II
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
SOC 306 Division II AMST 300 Division II AFR 300 Division II

Class Grid

Course Catalog Archive Search

TERM/YEAR
TEACHING MODE
SUBJECT
DIVISION



DISTRIBUTION



ENROLLMENT LIMIT
COURSE TYPE
Start Time
End Time
Day(s)