This course examines the role that state regulation of sex work, drug consumption and sales, and other “vices” plays in policing the boundaries of identity and belonging in the US. We will begin by examining how federal, state, and local policies regulating moralistically condemned practices have changed over time, producing ideas and experiences of race, class, gender, sexuality, and nationality. We will critically consider the relationship between the ideological underpinnings of who “belongs” where in public spaces, and how vice policing has been enforced across urban, suburban, and rural spaces, often confining the freedom of movement, association, bodily autonomy, and political participation of populations conflated with “vice.” Students will then employ these frameworks to examine how vice is currently being policed in Memphis and the Mid-South region, and to what effects, through in-depth policy research projects.
Prerequisite: Student has completed/is in the process of completing 30 credits