LOS ANGELES: A POLYMATHIC INQUIRY
Guided by the writings of Carey McWilliams
Fall 2014 – 2 units/Spring 2015 – 2 units
As social, cultural, engineering, environmental, and demographic constructs, cities are among the most complex entities on theplanet. As a world city, Los Angeles participates in this complexity. To study a city in its components and its totality, its people and its systems, its physical fabric and moral meaning, is by definition an integrated, interdisciplinary, or polymathic pursuit. Carey McWilliams – attorney, historian, journalist, civil rights activist, even prophet – wrote about Southern California from a polymathic perspective. In this course William Deverell, professor of history, Karin Huebner, Ph.D., and distinguished Los Angeles experts will guide students through a two-part, yearlong polymathic inquiry into Los Angeles as fact and imaginative creation.
Sessions meet on selected Wednesdays 2p – 4p in the Sidney Harman Academy for Polymathic Study, DML 241.
Students wishing to enroll should send a resume and brief statement describing their interest in the course to Dr. Karin Huebner at khuebner@usc.edu.