Modernity, Community, Inclusion, and Exclusion
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After completing this class meeting, you will be able to:
Class Preparation Required Reading Trentelman, C.K. (2009). Place attachment and community attachment: A primer grounded in the lived experience of a community sociologist. Society & Natural Resources 22(3), 191-210. DOI: 10.1080/08941920802191712. This reading provides an excellent discussion of the theoretical differences between attachment to a specific place versus attachment to a community. It discusses how these different approach, both of which are prominent in the community literature, come from different theoretical and epistemological perspectives. Be prepared to discuss the ideas in some depth in class.Examine the syllabus in detail before class. If you have any questions, be prepared to ask for clarification in class. Select and read at least one article from each of the lists in the linked Word document (Week 1: Modernity, Community, Inclusion and Exclusion reading list). Read for overall comprehension of the major concepts or ideas or arguments presented in the article. That is what is important in this class -- and will be important in most of your academic work as you conduct literature reviews. Here's how to do this. Read the abstract first. Do NOT even bother to read the article if the abstract is of no interest to you. If you do decide to read the article, focus on the introduction and the discussion and conclusions sections. The methodological details are not the major conceren in this course, although generally you should reject, not read, any article that gives you no detail about methods in the abstract. In short, do not focus on the methodological details. After the abstract, read the introduction -- the first few paragraphs or perhaps a few pages in the article that "frames" the article. These early paragraphs explain why the research is important, put forth the theoretical framework for the study has a theoretical basis (if the author uses theory), and defines the authors' resarch questions and objectives. Third, read the discussion and conclusion sections in the article. Pay close attention. Ask youself - did they answer the questions they posed? Do they arrive at conclusions? If all the authors do is repeat results in the discussion section, which unfortunatley is quite common, they have NOT reached conclusions. You want to see something more than the results of this one study - you want to know the general conclusions they reached. The author should return to the questions posed and theoretical perspectives for the research in the discussion and conclusion. For this class, these are the critical parts of the article. I am not saying "skip everything between the introduction and the conclusions." I am saying, read these parts first and then read the methodological and results sections quickly. They will not be the focus of our class discussions. Be prepared to apply the ideas in the required readings during our first class session. I use these lists to try to save you effort -- to help you find materials for activities and assignments during the semester. I try to provide materials that deal with topics of interest to you. Let me know if I am failing -- please. The first list, What Is Community, focuses on how we define community -- what the term means. The second list, Communities in the Post-Industrial Era, examines some of the important processes shaping contemporary communities. This document is also available in the folder 01 Modernity in Canvas. Week 1: Modernity, Community, Inclusion and Exclusion class preparation reading list Other Reference Materials You do NOT need to look at these before class. I list them here so that you will have access to them in the future if you want to refer to them. |