2017-2018 Academic Catalog 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
2017-2018 Academic Catalog [Archived Catalog]

COMM 203H - Third Places in Communication


Credits: Four (4)
Prerequisite: Membership in Bascom Honors Program
In contrast to one’s home (first places) and work (second places), third places, which are public places on neutral ground where people can gather and interact, allow people to develop a strong community and enjoy the company and conversation around them (Oldenburg, 1991). Oldenburg (1991) suggests that baseball fields, beer gardens, main streets, pubs, cafes, coffeehouses, and other third places are the heart of a community’s social vitality and the foundation of a functioning democracy. In this course, students will practice the art of qualitative methods such as participant observation and ethnography as they tour, spend time in, and study the rich collection of third places that make up the St. Louis culture. Students will each select a location in the St. Louis area to study and assignments will include written essays and documents developed from primary data collection using qualitative methods. Field trips to 2-3 student-selected third places will be part of this course. The primary idea driving this course is the question of how language, shared meaning, and community are enacted in third places compared to other spaces in a society.