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URBAN SOCIOLOGY A309, SPRING 2002 UAA JOURNALS
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| Journal #1 - space and place | |
| Refer to chapters 1 & 2 from Unhealthy Places. Explore your relationship with space and place. Briefly describe at least two places where you feel an attachment, e.g. where you grew up – house or neighbourhood or nation, or a place you have experienced in nature or a traveling experience, etc… Describe this experience of attachment – what kind of attachment, what does it mean to you? How has this place affected your identity? From this explore how important place is to you. | |
| Journal #2 - growth | |
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Part 1: From exercise done for homework and discussed in class pertaining to personal networks and community, what does community mean to you? Explain. How much do you in real life experience your idea of community? Why/why not? How could you live it more? Part 2: From discussions in class and readings pertaining to the concept of growth, how does growth affect your conception of community? Identify positive and negative effects for you. How do you feel about this idea of growth being the mantra of current capitalist economic development? Do you agree/disagree, why/why not, want to change this or not, why/why not? |
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| Journal #3 - health | |
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Part 1: Define what health means to you – what are its dimensions? How do you maintain good health? How does your living space affect your health? How does the community in which you live affect your health? Part 2: What hazards – physical and sociocultural - are present or not in your community (refer to Unhealthy Places chapter readings)? What risk protection exists for you and others in your community? What risk taking behaviours have you engaged in and/or do you engage in and why? |
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| Journal #4 - Homelessness | |
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Part 1: What have been your interactions/reactions to the homeless people in the past – why? How do you feel about people who panhandle, and those who try to wash your windows, or people who engage in similar types of activities – why? Do you assume they are homeless? After today’s class, have your feelings changed – why/why not? What are your fears concerning homelessness, on a personal level but also on a societal level? Part 2: Either 1) interview a homeless person (or someone who has been homeless but not simply for a brief time period) and find out their life story and write this up adding your reflections on this experience; or 2) conduct an observation of a place where homeless people congregate, e.g. Bean’s Café, for at least one hour, observing them but also how non-homeless people interact/react with them – write up what you observed, and our reflections on this experience. |
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| Journal #5 - Elderly | |
| How do you feel about elderly people? Consider this in terms of your experiences with elderly people, family and others. How do you envision yourself as an elderly citizen? Where do you imagine living, in terms of geography, location, neighborhood, type of residence, family situation – consider your ideal and your realistic future. What fears do you have about becoming elderly? What hazards - physical and sociocultural – do you envision being concerned about and faced with? What risk protection do you envision having? | |
| Journal #6 - Leisure | |
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Part 1. What does leisure mean to you? What do you do for leisure and how much time do you spend on leisure? Is leisure important to you? Part 2: Contrast this concept with the concept of work in the capitalist society – if need be you may need to define what you mean by work. What are differences and similarities between the two concepts? Should the differences/similarities you identify exist? People’s ability to engage in leisure activities is a social class issue as discussed in class. How do you feel about this? Part 3: In your ideal world, what kinds of leisure activities would you and others engage in, and how much time during your week would you and others be engaged in such activities? How does this compare to what you discussed in part 1? |
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