Priscilla Ferguson

I don't mean to be harsh by saying this (especially since I actually have a lot of respect for Professor Ferguson's work) but this class simply isn't a sociology course. While the opening lectures promise to walk the line -- Ferguson at first spoke a lot about how we'll be using the "sociological imagination" to extract the universal from the particular -- the reality is that the vast majority of the course is spent learning fairly specific information about cultural phenomena of 19th Century Paris. Don't get me wrong; I fully recognize the academic utility of a case study, particularly one that would seem to encapsulate so many of the points -- everything from high fashion to sewer systems -- that Ferguson wanted to include in a course. However, since so little class time is spent explaining how this case study actually helps us understand the present day (besides a couple of inane exercises in which we were asked to identify all the physical commonalities between a 19th century department store and present day one) it feels like everything I learned exists in a vacuum. Perhaps this would be less troubling if there was not in fact a wealth of literature on actual contemporary urban sociology that we could have been reading instead. No one can fault this course for being uncreative: we read novels, short stories, and even poems as a means of understanding the social world. How…

Guys this class rocks. It was by far one of the most interesting subjects I've looked into thus far. I wasn't super sure about sociology before I took this course, and now? I want to minor in it! Either she read her culpa reviews and revised the course from what it was in 2010, or the old reviewers weren't on point. Either way, it's clear she loves the subject and she wants you to love it too. Yeah, she has readings from her own work, but since she's great at making her points, her readings were incredible help in preparing for the exams. As long as you write down the key words she puts up on the board and relate them to the readings/class discussions, then you will be perfectly fine. She had us analyze a variety of things, from songs to essays, from creative writing to movies like Kung fu Panda, Ratatouille, and Jiro Dreams of Sushi. If you find that she is talking about a certain subject 'a lot', it's because that subject is one of the best examples of whatever key word she wishes to support. She welcomes participation and listens to what you have to say. If you get an answer "wrong" (though she doesn't put you down for it EVER) then she will find some way to tie it in to what we're talking about and then move on. She is attentive, smart, and really nice. She talks quietly sometimes though (gets louder later in the semester) so unless you have bat ears don't sit in the back…

I can see why other students wouldn't like Ferguson for this class, but overall I was glad that I ended up in her section. I agree that the class is more of a lecture and less of a seminar. Participation consists of giving very short answers to somewhat broad questions that Ferguson poses. However, this isn't necessarily bad. What I liked about her methods was that they taught me how to read literature rigorously, once I figured out what she was looking for in response to her questions and on papers. I think her methods are well suited to a class of freshmen who don't really know what they're doing when they read and interpret, so suck it up and accept that she has read these books more thoroughly than you and has had many years to hone her interpretations of them. I agree that she does have a few favorites in class. Make a good first impression! I found her kind of intimidating, but I definitely learned a lot about the books we read and about how to read literature in general. Though I'm not that interested in sociology, I would consider taking other classes with her to have her as a professor again. Bear in mind that this is not how most of my Lit Hum class felt. I think I ended up being one of the 'favorites,' so my experience was probably a bit different from other students'. Speak up during the first few days of class to make a good impression and understand that she can…

Average weekly reading and two journal entries, one in class midterm, and a choice of a take home final or research paper. Pay attention in class and you won't need the midterm or final.

I found this class to be really, really interesting - certainly unlike any class I've taken at Columbia. Professor Ferguson is very well-respected in the field of food sociology which has attracted a few interesting lecturers to the class. This class has really given me a new perspective on the food culture of the city. Make sure to write down the key terms that she puts on the board everyday, they're SUPER helpful when studying for the midterm. She talks really quietly so try to sit close to the front. Overall I am definitely glad that I took the class. Prof. Ferguson is really available to speak to and despite the class being a good sized lecture, she seemed to have learned everyones name by the end of the semester.

She is certainly approachable and easy to talk to. However, she is a very prejudiced grader. You can only do as well as she thinks you can do which is rather unfortunate if you try any harder in her class. If you are not looking forward to stress or frustration, do not take her class. However, her lectures, not discussions, are very thorough, so if you take lengthy notes, you do not actually need to to the reading. But that is not the spirit of the class.

This class is awful. She needs to learn how to give a decent lecture. The readings were generally pretty interesting, but she really has no idea how to discuss them, except those taken from her book, which she generally regurgitates during lecture. The class is basically all about French food. All the time. She believes that in order to engage the class she needs to ask super specific questions that will then cause students to share stories no one else wants to hear, instead of just actually discussing the texts we read. Additionally, the TAs were a bunch of stuck up sociology grad students who gave a ridiculous midterm where the class average was a C+. I took this class hoping that it would be a light, fun, sociology class on food and instead a bunch people just kept trying to prove to the class that sociology is really serious and important to life. Honestly, a C+ as a class average in a sociology class is really unheard of. fyi, I got way above the class average, but it's still just unnecessary and ridiculous. The final was much easier since they realized that they were idiots and gave the class a midterm that could only be successfully completed in about 2.5 hours. Worst class ever. Oh and Professor Ferguson doesn't allow computers in her class, which only adds to the chaos of her terrible lecturing. And she smacks her lips really loudly while she is speaking, which really…

If you are a sociology major or have an interest, take her. If not, and are looking for a professor who will review the plot and implications besides those in a sociological context, stick with a Classics teacher. She tends to pick favorites too which could help or hurt. Easy workload but difficult grader.

This class should be renamed "McDonald's, Sushi, Passover and French Food". That's all that is really talked about. Besides comments like "some say violence is as american as apple pie" by the professor, the class offers nothing of interest. The lecture is simply a re-hash of the reading with a lot of stupid questions thrown in by Ferguson-who is in love with her idea of the French (she wrote a book about French food). Don't buy the books on the reading list, you can get by without them. But the reading has to be done, because the midterm and final are basically a test about how well you can cite all the authors. Terrible class full of anecdotes from students and ignorant comments about foreign foods.

Professor Ferguson is, as many other reviewers have said, a very nice lady. She was enthusiastic about meeting outside of class, very nice about being lenient about deadlines (which was very helpful for me), and (at least as far as I could tell) graded fairly. That said, I dreaded going to her class. While her efforts to stay on point were admirable, they meant that discussions were severely restricted. The most frustrating thing about the class was her ineptitude at facilitating discussion: she would often ask open-ended questions, and then simply disregard answers until someone gave the one she was looking for. Her teaching methods might, I imagine, work better in a lecture than in a smaller, discussion-based class. Also, the perspective Professor Ferguson offered on the (excellent, well-chosen) readings rarely required a particularly close reading of the text, nor did she step back and examine the implications of the text. The latter problem was particularly surprising to me considering her background in sociology. Overall, the class is fine, but not particularly stimulating. If you're really interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the books, find another teacher; otherwise, Professor Ferguson will be flexible, friendly, and available.