ENV DES C132 001 [Chong Shuch]

Performing (in) Place: Experimental Ethnography, Spatial History, and Creative Mutual Aid

Summer Session A: May 24 – July 2, 2021
MWF 1 – 5 pm
4 units: A Future Histories Lab Humanities Studio Course

Also listed as HUM C132 001 and THEATER 166 001.

We know that COVID-19 has disproportionately affected our elders. This course offers an opportunity to ease some of the hardships associated with the pandemic through social engagement. Working in collaboration with diverse elders whose lives are connected to the history of South Berkeley, we will engage in a multi-generational creative research project. Through ethnographic research, experimental mapping, and performance making, distinct histories of South Berkeley are revealed through the lived experiences of those elders. In particular, we will generate a series of performative, “ephemeral monuments” that honor the legacies of these elders. These monuments will commemorate meaningful sites in the lives of our collaborating elders, and are devised in the spirit of gift-giving and creative mutual aid. These site-based performative gifts will draw from each students’ individual creative practices and culminate in a public “unveiling” virtual or in-person pending COVID-19 regulations. For You is a dedicated practice of performance making initiated by Erika Chong Shuch, Rowena Richie, and Ryan Tacata in 2016; we bring strangers together for shared, intimate encounters and consider performance-making as gift giving. For more information on For You visit: www.foryou.productions

Keywords: Ethnographic Research, Performance, Social Practice, Elders, COVID-19. 

Full course description and application: https://futurehistories.berkeley.edu/courses/performing-in-place-experimental-ethnography-spatial-history-and-creative-mutual-aid/

Fulfills the studio requirement for the Certificate in Urban Humanities.

Additional information on this course can be found at Berkeley Academic Guide.

ENV DES 132AC 001[Horiuchi]

Race, Redevelopment and Gentrification: Oakland’s Hoover Durant Library

Summer Session C: June 21 – Aug. 13, 2021
MWF 1 – 5 pm
4 units: A Future Histories Lab Humanities Studio Course

Also listed as CYPLAN 190 001/ HUM 132AC 001

For several decades, West Oakland residents have been working to establish the Hoover-Durant Library in their neighborhood as a center for community and culture.  In this course, you will work collaboratively with community members to conduct research and create products such as plans and oral histories that advance their cause. You will engage intellectually and personally with issues of race and privilege and examine systemically entrenched inequities through the story of one neighborhood. Through time spent in the neighborhood and with its activists, you will learn about local needs and strengths and collaborate with residents in ways that benefit their project. The course work will be framed by the work of scholars of color who study the intersection of race, architecture and urbanism. You will learn to use and organize archives, research potential sites for the library, and may create events such as a popup library or zine workshop.

Full course description is here. 

Fulfills the American Cultures requirement; fulfills the studio requirement for the Certificate in Urban Humanities. Also listed as HUM132AC and CY PLAN 190.

Additional information on this course can be found at Berkeley Academic Guide.