Children in Urban Society

Catalog description

According to the United Nations, children and youth constitute a high percent of the world's population. This course looks at the development of children in urban societies. It focuses on the socialization of children in post-industrial, industrial, and developing cities around the world. It examines key issues in the lives of children: gender, family and kinship practices, education, health, sex, religion, legal status, migration, exploitation, and violence. Students will also explore how young people come to understand their own identities through their engagement with mainstream media and the ways in which urban youth have created their own media to make sense of and communicate their experiences in urban societies. It also explores how children’s lives have been documented in the media and how documentary – as well as fictional film, television and pop music – create stories about children. This class will require each student to participate in three hours of community service each week in a public or private community-based agency that has its goal service to the needs of children or adolescents.