-LIVING CULTURES –
This lively program emphasizes global thinking among its members and provides a residential cross-cultural experience with an enriching array of multifaceted program activities. Members shape its direction and celebrate the range and variety of cultures that make up Penn and Philadelphia communities. An equally important component of this program is a focus on leadership, interactive learning, and sharing experiences with each other and with other House residents. Students from all ethnicities, religions, and nationalities live together in a multicultural and multinational setting and enjoy all of the advantages that diversity brings, making this strong, well-rounded College House even stronger.
-MENTORS PROGRAM-
Members of the Mentors Program form a unique team dedicated to serving the young in West Philadelphia public schools. Under the direction of the senior faculty at Penn’s Graduate School of Education, participants mentor children in preschool and elementary school, devoting at least one hour a week, as well as attending monthly dinners with faculty to discuss their experiences. The goals of the program are to serve the community, gain exceptional pre-career experience, and to build a circle of friends.
-FRESHMAN SEMINAR IN RIEPE COLLEGE HOUSE:
Desire and Demand: Culture and Consumption in the Global Marketplace –
For students interested in International Relations or Cultural Anthropology, or those of you who are still looking for an interesting Freshman seminar, the following course is a NEW addition. It will be offered by Dr. Diggs-Thompson, the Dean of Riepe College House, and will take place in the Quad! A description of the class is below:
Desire and Demand: Culture and Consumption in the Global Marketplace
ANTH 086:301
Mondays 2-5pm in Class of '38 Seminar Room, Riepe College House
Anthropology Freshman Seminar
Dr. Marilynne Diggs-Thompson
Does consumption shape culture or does culture shape consumption? Does the archaic term “errand running” now fall under the heading of “power shopping”? As even the most mundane purchase becomes socially symbolic and culturally meaningful we can now persuasively argue that the concept of “need” has been transformed. Selling electronics, music, food, clothes and accessories who are the players behind the crafting of some of these elaborately seductive shopping spaces? When successful selling must account for differences in age, gender, ethnicity, language and even religion, how is demand created and how are diverse populations “sold”? From New Delhi to New York, we ask the question has the process of globalization also homogenized consumption? Is shopping really pop culture and exactly how has this pastime become inextricably bound to issues of self-image, social status and identity? Analyzing a variety of physical and virtual shopping venues in different countries, this seminar examines the process of shopping in the global marketplace. We ask how have issues of culture, consumption, marketing, and global capitalism become intertwined around the world?
Some Suggested Texts:
Jennifer Scanlon (ed). 2000. The Gender and Consumer Culture Reader. New York: NYU Press
Christine l. Williams.2006. Inside Toyland: Working, Shopping, and Social Inequality. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Frank Trentmann (ed). 2005. The Making of the Consumer: Knowledge, Power and Identity in the Modern World. Oxford: Berg Publishers
Sharon Zukin. 2003. Point of Purchase: How Shopping Changed American Culture. New York: Routledge.
Anita Harris. 2004. All about the Girl: Culture, Power and Identity. New York: Routledge
Murray Milner, Jr. 2004. Freaks, Geeks, and Cool Kids: How Teenagers Shape Consumer Society and How Consumer Society Shapes Teenagers. New York: Routledge.
