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E ssay 3 : W riting t he C ity WRIT 1633 Human Rights / Humans Write John Tiedemann ⊗ the assignment In this essay, you’ll conduct an ethnographic study of an urban space and the activity that goes on there. Your essay will have two sections: • a descriptive section, in which you paint a vivid picture of what you saw and heard in the field, focusing upon those details that bring out the themes you’ll go on to interpret in the next section. • an interpretive section, in which you’ll draw upon concepts from Lewis Mumford’s “What Is a City?” and Sharon Zukin’s “What City? Whose City?” to make an argument about the space/activity you’ve described. I encourage you to choose an off-campus urban space, one that’s not populated mostly by DU students. If you choose to analyze a space on campus or one frequented by DU students, you’ll need to conduct at least four interviews with participants. If you’re studying a truly off-campus space, we’ll figure out together what to do about interviews. ⊗ audience Imagine you’ll deliver your essay at a symposium put on by the DU Urban Studies program and attended by both faculty and Denver natives. ⊗ due dates Thursday, Feb.11: Post your proposal to Google Drive. Name it “WRIT 1633 – your name – Essay 3 proposal.” Thursday, Feb. 25: Post a draft of your descriptive section to Google Drive. Name it “WRIT 1633 – your name – Essay 3.” Tuesday, March 1: Draft of interpretive section due. (Same doc, same name.) Friday, March 15: Final draft due by noon.
