American Studies (AMS)

This course will introduce students to some of the primary questions and methods of American Studies. We will begin by asking a deceptively simple set of questions: What is American Studies? How do we practice American Studies? What are its borders and boundaries? We will then move on to some of the central questions of the field: Is there such a thing as an American identity? How have American defined themselves? Who is an American? What are the promises and preoccupations of America and American Culture? In trying to answer these questions we will draw from a variety of texts and genres, from fiction and poetry to political speeches, diaries, music, visual art, sociological studies, historical narratives, critical theory, media and other forms of popular culture.

The capstone course in American Studies is a seminar in which students will be asked to produce a 20-25 page interdisciplinary research paper on a particular aspect of American culture. Seminar topics will change or rotate with each offering of the course. Some sample topics include: Leisure in America; American Region and Culture: Understanding Place in American Perspectives; America and Consumerism; Popular Culture in America; America in a Global Perspective: American Borders.