Los Angeles as a Global City

About this course:

You can find the world in Los Angeles and you can find Los Angeles in the world. Southern California’s Film, Television and Music may be exported far and wide, but it is itself an importer of people, customs, and ideas from the world over. It is impossible to understand this city without appreciating it as a global city. This course studies the phenomenon of globalization through the prominent case study of Los Angeles. It begins with a survey of how LA has become integrated into the world economy:  its economic history, the role that in plays in the global division of labor, and the ways in which its image is commodified and exported. The second half of the course focuses on LA as a receiver of globalization. We examine the thesis that LA’s ‘patchwork’ urban form reflects its global nature and we use food as a prism for understanding LA’s diversity. This is an immersive class that asks students to visit and study Los Angeles as though they are on a foreign exchange here. Lectures and readings will be complemented by site visits, tours, and films. By the end of the term, many students will have taken transit for the first time, and all students will have been exposed to Los Angeles-based communities. Transferrable for UC Credit.