Seminar: Working
SILS First Year Seminar: Working by Studs Terkel
This seminar will read, analyse and discuss the classic collection of interviews by Studs Terkel, Working, first published in 1972. Because it collects such a variety of experience, Working has been called so many things – an oral history of American work life, a celebration of individualism against the odds, a path-breaking exploration of the extraordinary dreams of ordinary people. In this seminar we shall explore the book and try to find some commonalities among the subjects and situations chronicled by Terkel. We shall also examine the attitudes Terkel brings to his subjects as an interviewer and as a leftist social historian. Students will consider these situations and the skill set that Terkel brings to bear on them and conduct and present their own interviews as a final essay.
What students do: Each week students will read sections of the book (before the class) and answer a worksheet, which provides a framework for class discussion. Students need to complete weekly worksheets and submit a final essay in week 12 and present it in week 14 or 15.
Assessment: is based on attendance, participation in class discussions and performance in regular assignments, written in English, along these lines: attendance and participation 30%; worksheets 35%; essay or interview 35%.
Text: Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by Studs Terkel (The New Press 1972, 2004).
NOTE: This class will probably be best suited to students of intermediate and higher English ability with TOEFL-PBT around 550-575. However, if your English is below this level but you are interested in the text and topics and you are serious about improving your reading and your vocabulary, this seminar could be for you.
Studs Terkel: Working
Structure and content / coverage.
Preface I: Who built the Pyramids? Mike Le Fevre
Preface II: Who spread the news? – Billy Carpenter, Cliff Pickens, Terry Pickens
Preface III: The Mason, Carl Murray Bates
Below are the course files in PDF format. Select the + sign and click on the button to download the files.
Pierce Walker farmer, Roberto Acuna farm worker, Aunt Catherine Haynes farm woman, Joe Haynes a deep miner and his wife Susie, Bob Sanders strip miner, and Hub Dillard heavy equipment operator.
A receptionist Sharon Atkins, Frances Swenson hotel switchboard operator, Heather Lamb telephone operator, Jack Hunter professor of communications, airline stewardess, an airline reservationist, a model, an executive secretary, a hooker, a writer/producer, a copy chief, two actors, a press agent, an installment dealer, and a telephone solicitor.
A sanitation truck driver, a garbage man, a washroom attendant, a factory mechanic, a domestic, a janitor, a doorman, two policemen, an industrial investigator, a photographer, and a film critic.
Two spot-welders, a utility man, a stock chaser, a plant manager, a general foreman, a local union president, two cab drivers, a bus driver, an interstate truck driver, a car hiker, and a car salesman.
A barber, a hair stylist, a saleswoman, a dentist, a hotel clerk, a bar pianist, an elevator starter, an ex-salesman, a bank teller, an auditor, an organizer, an order filler in a shoe factory, a mail carrier, a gas meter reader, a supermarket box boy, a supermarket checker, a skycap, a felter in a luggage factory, a waitress, and two housewives.
A bookbinder, a pharmacist, a piano tuner, a realty broker, a yacht broker, two stockbrokers, a project coordinator, a government relations coordinator, a process clerk, and an organizer.
A jockey, a baseball player, a sports press agent, a tennis player, a hockey player, a football coach, a radio executive, a factory owner, a bank audit department head, an ex-boss, the ex-boss’ daughter, an ex-president of a conglomerate/consultant, “Ma and Pa Courage”, and three retirees.
A copy boy, a publisher, a proofreader, a department store manager, a jazz musician, an executive, the director of a bakery cooperative, a hospital aide, a baby nurse, a public school teacher, an alternative school teacher, an occupational therapist, a patient’s representative, a practical nurse in an old people’s home, a memorial counselor, and a grave digger.
A tree nursery attendant, a carpenter/poet, an editor, an industrial designer, a nun to naprapath, an ex-salesman/ farmer, a lawyer, a librarian, a stone cutter, a service station owner, the service station’s son and partner, a steelworker, the steelworker’s son (a priest), an adult education teacher, a freight elevator operator, a policeman, and a fireman.