W16 Calvo-Quiros - AMCULT 103 / LATINOAM 103 - Car Culture
American Culture (AMCULT) 103
Latino American Studies (LatinoAm) 103
Car Culture
William Calvo-Quiros
What can we learn from the evolution of cars in the United States?
What can cars tell us about the American experience, their anxieties, and changes in demographics?
Why people love and hate cars?
How gender, class, citizenship and religion are deeply connected to the cars we have?
How cars are designed and constructed?
What do Lowriders, Monster Cars, and Hot Rods have in common?
What is the most popular color in cars today?
Is car culture dying in America?
What is the car of the future?
This class will analyze and study the history and evolution of cars and car cultures in the United States and in Michigan particularly. It will use and intersect issues of gender, class, race, and historicity as points of departure to understand the unique relationship the people in America, (and the nation) have with cars.
Topics discussed in class will include:
The process of car design and car production
Car customization subcultures
Gender and women in cars
The evolution, emergence and decline of motor cities such as Detroit, and the emergence of suburbia
The politics of mass transportation and electric cars
RVs, trucks, racing cars, and collection cars
The evolution of driverless cars (e.g., Google car)
Latina/os and cars
The politics of Freeways design
Class materials and activities will include visits to car factories, car museums, and car shows, as well as reading and analyzing academic essays, novels, narratives, documentary films, and a autobiographical/ethnographic writing assignment.
Segments from these books will discussed in class:
Daniel Miller, Car Cultures
Rudi Volti, Car and Culture: The Life Story of a Technology
Jonathan Glancey, The Car: History of the Automobile
Richard Hammond, Car Science
Douglas G. Brinkley, Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress
Micheline Maynard, The End of Detroit: How the Big Three Lost Their Grip on the American Car Market
Paul Ingrassia, Engines of Change: A History of the American Dream in Fifteen Cars
Ron Kleemann
Gas Line, from "City-Scapes Portfolio"
screenprint on paper
22 1/16 x 29 15/16 in. (56 x 76 cm)
Gift of Eugene Schuster
Joel Meyerowitz
JFK Airport, New York City
gelatin silver print on paper
11 in x 14 in (27.94 cm x 35.56 cm);217 1/2 in x 22 1/8 in (552.45 cm x 56.2 cm)
Gift of Selma & Gerald Lotenberg
Eugène Atget
Cour, Rue de Valence
gold-toned gelatin silver print on paper
10 in x 13 in (25.4 cm x 33.02 cm)
Museum Purchase
Joel Meyerowitz
Fifth Avenue, NYC
gelatin silver print on paper
11 in x 13 15/16 in (27.9 cm x 35.4 cm);16 in x 20 in (40.6 cm x 50.8 cm)
Gift of Selma & Gerald Lotenberg
Marion Post Wolcott
Picnicking on the Beach, Sarasota, Florida
gelatin silver print on paper
11 in x 14 in (27.9 cm x 35.6 cm);18 1/16 in x 22 1/16 in (45.88 cm x 56.04 cm);10 15/16 in x 14 in (27.7 cm x 35.5 cm);8 11/16 in x 12 in (22 cm x 30.4 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by the W. Hawkins Ferry Fund
Larry Stark
Main Street, St. Joseph
screenprint on paper
23 1/8 in. x 32 1/16 in. ( 58.8 cm x 81.4 cm )
Museum Purchase
Saul Steinberg
The Highway at Night
pen and wash, watercolor, and colored crayons on off-white paper
14 1/4 in x 22 3/4 in (36.2 cm x 57.78 cm);26 1/16 in x 32 1/16 in (66.2 cm x 81.44 cm);14 1/4 in x 22 3/4 in (36.2 cm x 57.78 cm)
Museum Purchase
Karl Struss
Mercedes Autobus, Fifth Avenue and 38th Street, New York
sepia-toned platinum print on paper
15 15/16 in x 19 5/16 in (40.5 cm x 49 cm);18 3/16 in x 22 1/8 in (46.2 cm x 56.2 cm)
Gift of the artist
George A. Tice
Petit's Mobil Station, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
gelatin silver print on paper
9 1/2 in x 7 1/2 in (24.13 cm x 19.05 cm);18 1/8 in x 22 1/8 in (46.04 cm x 56.2 cm);14 in x 17 in (35.56 cm x 43.18 cm)
Museum Purchase
Robert Frank
American Flag in Brick Wall
gelatin silver print on paper
8 in x 11 1/16 in (20.32 cm x 28.1 cm);10 15/16 in x 13 15/16 in (27.78 cm x 35.4 cm);14 3/8 in x 19 3/8 in (36.51 cm x 49.21 cm);7 15/16 in x 11 1/8 in (20.16 cm x 28.26 cm)
Gift of The Morris and Beverly Baker Foundation, in memory of Morris D. Baker, a graduate of The University of Michigan School of Architecture, 1952
Greg Reeder
Untitled
gelatin silver print on paper
11 in x 14 in (28 cm x 35.5 cm);14 5/16 in x 19 5/16 in (36.35 cm x 49.05 cm);11 in x 14 in (28 cm x 35.5 cm);7 1/16 in x 13 1/16 in (18 cm x 33.2 cm)
Museum Purchase
Claes Oldenburg
Profile Airflow—Test Mold, Front End
polyurethane relief over one-color silkscreen on Plexiglas
18 3/4 in. x 15 7/8 in. x 3 15/16 in. ( 47.6 cm x 40.4 cm x 10 cm )
Museum Purchase