By exploring different popular culture phenomena such as the emergence of hip-hop in the south Bronx, Batman’s Gotham, and Nollywood, Cities in Popular Culture works to examine the contributions of popular culture in shaping our understandings of cities (as well as providing different perspectives of the city and the urban experience than is generally captured in scholarly/academic accounts of the city). Popular culture becomes a vehicle by which we explore different aspects of urban life, urban representation, as well as social mobilizations.

Students in this course:
1. Develop an understanding of the ways in which popular culture in and about the city influences what we “know” about how cities operate.
2. Obtain tools to “read popular culture as texts” through which we can see and understand the complexity of urban experiences.
3. Learn key concepts used in urban studies through the examination of popular culture.
4. Acquire and practice the ability to link theory to everyday/vernacular experience.
5. Develop a critical voice in the communication of information.