SOC-S360- Topics in Social Problems: Community-Building Across Generations
Department of Sociology
Professor Donna Eder
Ballantine 775 Phone: 5-4895
email: eder
Fall, 2011 This sociology course is designed around a structured community service project, providing an opportunity for a “hands on” learning experience. We will use storytelling as a vehicle for understanding community, intergenerational relationships, ethics and cross-cultural values and learn about an innovative program, START (Storytelling as Reflecting Time). In the second half of the course students will be actively engaged in START, working with children at either the Crestmont Boys and Girls Club or at The Rise (transitional housing for families who have experienced domestic violence). While most students will be telling stories to young children, there is the option of instead interviewing elders in the community about their life lessons. Both service projects will culminate in dramatic performances of the elders’ stories by the children at Crestmont and the RISE.
We will be using the city of Bloomington as a site for learning, service, and research throughout this course. All students will do a service learning project which will take an average of 2-3 hours per week. Because of the extensive service component, there will be fewer readings and the main written assignments will be a series of journal reflections, culminating in a final report. Honor students will be expected to do additional journal reflections and a longer final paper.
(See S360 home page on mypage.iu.edu/~eder.)
