This course charts the untold history of American shantytowns, examining both their material reality, as places poor people made and inhabited on the American landscape; and their cultural meaning, as symbols that helped shape the identities of both the working class and the middle class. Readings will encourage a broad understanding of shantytowns across genres—painting, photography, fiction, journalism, blogs. Over the course of the term, we will learn to interpret shantytown landscapes for evidence of past and current social relationships, including but not limited to issues of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and generation. We will consider the topic from multiple vantage points, through the works of scholars of American history, sociology, art, and architecture. We will also read original source materials, including newspapers and illustrated magazines, and examine paintings, photographs and other elements of visual culture. Students will also participate in a class project involving the new Neatline tool recently developed by UVa’s Scholars’ Lab.