Bryn Mawr Stories

Philadelphia Mural

Tri-Co Philly: The Nature of Public Art and the Ethics of Commemoration

Fall 2020

In this course, we will take up a number of philosophical questions about the nature of public art, political aesthetics, and the ethics of commemoration using case studies drawn from Philadelphia.

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Philadelphia LOVE Sign

Tri-Co Philly: Philadelphia Music City

Spring 2025

Drawing on the “music†side of the previously taught “Popular Music & Media†course, this course will investigate the history and contemporary conditions of music making in Philadelphia and its region.

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Philadelphia Sidewalk

Tri-Co Philly: A Sociological Journey to Immigrant Communities in Philadelphia

Fall 2022

This course will use the lenses of sociology to critically and comparatively examine various immigrant communities that historically, economically, politically, and socially have shaped the city of Philadelphia.

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Philadelphia Elfreth's Alley

Tri-Co Philly: Philadelphia: Inventing a City

Spring 2019

From its patricians to its philistines, the course explores Philadelphia through a roster of writers, journalists, civic scribes, Quaker legerdemain, and pamphleteers who charted a number of cultural transformations. 

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Philadelphia Pine Street Trees

Tri-Co Philly: Environmental Justice: Ethnography, Politics, Action/Philadelphia

Fall 2023

An introduction to the history and theory of environmental justice, an interdisciplinary field that examines how inequalities based on race, class, ethnicity, and gender shape how different groups of people are impacted by environmental problems and how they advocate for social and environmental change.

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Philadelphia Street

Tri-Co Philly: Grassroots Economies: Creating Livelihoods in an Age of Urban Inequality

Spring 2020

The aim of the course would be to examine the political and economic constraints generated by poverty and racial and class segregation in contemporary urban environments and how grassroots economic initiatives rooted in mutual aid often fill the gaps and provide alternative ways to meet needs and generate supportive community.

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Philadelphia Tri-Co Philly Reading Terminal

Tri-Co Philly: Food Cultures in Philadelphia

Fall 2024

This course will explore the deep history of dining in Philadelphia, from Lenape foodways to the skills of Hercules Posey – George Washington’s enslaved chef – to the recent participation of Philadelphia cooks and restaurateurs in social justice movements.

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 Philadelphia skyline from helipad-3181

Tri-Co Philly: Power and Politics in Philadelphia

Spring 2022

We will explore who wins and who loses in the political arena through a series of case studies of key policy issues that are highly salient to the people of Philadelphia, including criminal justice reform, immigrants’ rights, gentrification and affordable housing, urban development, and workforce diversity.

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Philadelphia University City

Tri-Co Philly: The Politics of the Creative Class in American Cities 

Spring 2019

Explore the social, economic, and political impacts associated with the sizeable influx of college graduates into many urban areas during the past decade.

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Philadelphia City Hall William Penn

Tri-Co Philly: Literature in and of Philadelphia, 1682-1865

Spring 2024

In this course, and in the city itself, we will examine literature written in and about Philadelphia before the Civil War, exploring how and why Philadelphians engaged questions of love, freedom and non-freedom.

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Philadelphia Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Tri-Co Philly: The Philadelphia Mosaic: Immigrant Communities in the City

Spring 2020

This course explores the experiences and city-making strategies of immigrant communities in the Greater Philadelphia Area from roughly the late 19th century to the present day.

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Philadelphia Bridge

Tri-Co Philly: Grassroots Economies: Creating Livelihoods in an Age of Urban Inequality

Fall 2024

The aim of the course would be to examine the political and economic constraints generated by poverty and racial and class segregation in contemporary urban environments and how grassroots economic initiatives rooted in mutual aid often fill the gaps and provide alternative ways to meet needs and generate supportive community.

Learn more