American Studies Program

Faculty
Introduction
Minor in American Studies
Course Descriptions

Faculty

Director

Matthew Pratt Guterl (African American and African Diaspora Studies)

Associate Director

Deborah N. Cohn (Spanish and Portuguese)

Distinguished Professors

David N. Baker Jr. (Jacobs School of Music), Richard Bauman (Folklore and Ethnomusicology)

College Professor

Henry Glassie (Folklore and Ethnomusicology)

Chancellor's Professors

John Bodnar (History), Raymond DeMallie (Anthropology)

Professors

Judith Allen (Gender Studies), Patrick Baude (School of Law), Sarah Burns (Art History/Fine Arts), Claude Clegg (History), Stephen Conrad (School of Law), Sandra Dolby (Folklore and Ethnomusicology), Ellen Dwyer (Criminal Justice), Jesse Goodman (School of Education), Michael Grossberg (History), Karen Hanson (Philosophy), Russell Hanson (Political Science), Raymond Hedin (English), David Hertz (Comparative Literature), George Hutchinson (English, Tarkington Chair in Literary Studies), Jeffrey C. Isaac (Political Science), Robert Ivie (Communication and Culture), David James (Sociology), Dawn Johnsen (School of Law), Edward T. Linenthal (History), James Madison (History), Portia Maultsby (Folklore and Ethnomusicology), Audrey McCluskey (African American and African Diaspora Studies), John McCluskey Jr. (African American and African Diaspora Studies), Richard B. Miller (Religious Studies, Poynter Center), David P. Nord (School of Journalism), David J. Nordloh (English), Carol Polsgrove (Journalism), Darlene Sadlier, John Stanfield (African American and African Diaspora Studies), Ronald Wainscott (Theatre and Drama), Gregory Waller (Communication and Culture), Pamela Walters (Sociology), Vernon J. Williams (African American and African Diaspora Studies)

Associate Professors

Chris Anderson (Communication and Culture), Steven Ashby (Labor Studies), Purnima Bose (English), Mellonee Burnim (Folklore and Ethnomusicology), James Capshew (History and Philosophy of Science), Margo Crawford (English), Nick Cullather (History), Jonathan Elmer (English), Judith Failer (Political Science), Wendy Gamber (History), Helen Gremillion (Gender Studies), Paul Gutjahr (English), Joan Hawkins (Communication and Culture), Jason B. Jackson (Folklore and Ethnomusicology), Stephanie Kane (Criminal Justice), DeWitt Kilgore (English), Barbara Klinger (Communication and Culture, Film Studies), John Lucaites (Communication and Culture), Fred McElroy (African American and African Diaspora Studies), Radhika Parameswaran (Journalism), Eric Sandweiss (History), Dennis Senchuk (Philosophy), Beverly Stoeltje (Anthropology), Steven Stowe (History), Robert Terrill (Communication and Culture), Jeffrey Wasserstrom (History)

Assistant Professors

Elizabeth Armstrong (Sociology), John Bowles (Fine Arts), Yoonmee Chang (English), Konstantin Dierks (History), Ilana Gershon (Communication and Culture), Jason Jackson (Folklore and Ethnomusicology), Trica Keaton (African American and African Diaspora Studies), Sarah Knott (History), Emily Maguire (Spanish and Portuguese), Khalil Muhammad (History), Phaedra Pezzullo (Communication and Culture), Yeidy Rivero (Communication and Culture, Latino Studies), David Shorter (Folklore and Ethnomusicology), Marvin Sterling (Anthropology), Ted Striphas (Communication and Culture), Shane Vogel (English)

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Introduction

The American Studies Program (AMST) provides students an opportunity to pursue the study of American cultures from an interdisciplinary perspective. Courses are designed to examine significant aspects of U.S. institutions, policy, media and cultural expressions by drawing on a wide range of resources from the social sciences and humanities.

Because of its interdisciplinary nature, American Studies will attract students with diverse interests who wish to know more about the United States in a comparative, international context.

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Minor in American Studies

Requirements

Students must complete 15 credit hours. At least 12 credit hours must be at the 200 level or higher; at least two 3-credit American Studies courses must be at the 300-level or higher, including:

AMST A100.
either A201 or A202.
three additional approved courses chosen in consultation with the American Studies advisor; the courses must fit the criteria listed below.

No courses counted toward fulfillment of a student's major requirements may count toward the requirements for this minor. Students must choose courses that will emphasize either United States Arts and Media, or United States Movements and Institutions. See advisor for approved lists of courses.

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Course Descriptions

A100 Democracy in the Americas (3 cr.) Students compare and contrast ideas about citizenship, national identity, and the social contract across the hemisphere, focusing on the most basic building block of the nation-state: the formal terms of membership in civil society. Students situate the meaning of the concept in the United States within a hemispheric context.

A200 Comparative American Identities (3 cr.) A & H Examines the formation of legal, social, cultural, and economic identities within the United States and within U.S.-controlled territories. Who counts as "American?" To what ends have citizens and non-citizens assumed, claimed, or refused "American" identity? This course employs a comparative frame in considering elite and subordinated classes (and/or genders, races, ethnicities, sexualities); institutional and countercultural forms of self-definition; official history and alternative acts of collective memory.

A201 U.S. Movements and Institutions (3 cr.) A & H Interdisciplinary approaches to a social movement, an institutional structure, or an otherwise clearly delimited arena of social regulation and public activity. Constructing, deconstructing, reconstructing an object of social study. Recent topics have included the American City, Sociologies of Consumption, Philanthropy, and the Politics of Voluntarism. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.

A202 U.S. Arts and Media (3 cr.) A & H Interdisciplinary approaches to a cultural genre (e.g., science fiction, pop art, jazz), discourse (e.g., individualism, family values, globalization) or medium (e.g., comics, television, the Internet). Constructing, deconstructing, reconstructing an object of cultural study. Recent topics have included Images of the Body, Jazz and Cultural Hierarchy, and Youth Cultures. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.

A298 Special Topics in Arts and Humanities for American Studies (3 cr.) A & H Study and analysis of a single, closely-focused American Studies topic within arts and humanities. Topics vary from semester to semester. Focuses on the refinement of students' skills in writing, interdisciplinary interpretation, analytical reasoning, discussion, and research related to the study of fine arts, literature, film, and popular culture. May be repeated with a different topic for a total of 6 credit hours.

A299 Special Topics in Social and Historical Studies for American Studies (3 cr.) S & H Study and analysis of a single, closely-focused American Studies topic within social and historical studies. Topics vary from semester to semester. Focuses on the refinement of students' skills in writing, interdisciplinary interpretation, analytical reasoning, discussion, and research related to the study of public policy, political, economic, and social realities. May be repeated with a different topic for a total of 6 credit hours.

A350 Topics in Interdisciplinary American Studies (3 cr.) Focusing on a specific topic (which will vary by semester) students reflect on established American studies disciplinary methodologies and explore possibilities for new interdisciplinary syntheses. Students consider such issues as the questions a historian asks of a political manifesto and how these questions differ from those of the literary critic or the sociologist. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.

A351 American Studies in Transnational Contexts (3 cr.) A & H P: A100 or permission of instructor. Invites a critical and historical analysis of the relation of culture to nation: why is the study of culture traditionally bound in national frames of reference and how might we organize a study of culture differently? Pursues the question topically (by considering ideas, peoples, social movements, etc., that cross national borders) and conceptually (by attention to the intellectual traditions that make possible alternative mappings of cultural study). May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.

A401 Readings in American Studies (1-3 cr.) Enables undergraduates of advanced standing to undertake independent research projects under the direction of an American Studies faculty member. Students will typically arrange for 2 to 3 credit hours of work, depending upon the scope and depth of reading, research, and production. Projects will be interdisciplinary, and should foreground topics clearly within the rubric of American Studies. May be repeated with different topics for a maximum of 6 credit hours.

A402 Service Learning in American Studies (1-3 cr.) Enables undergraduates of advanced standing to make intellectual connections between scholarly pursuits and community involvement. Students arrange 1 to 3 credit hours of service work either on creative projects that benefit a community (howsoever defined), or with local non-profit organizations, government agencies, activist groups, or foundations. Under the direction of their faculty sponsor, students will develop a project outline consistent with American Studies inquiry and concerns, a method of accountability, and a final report. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours.

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