American Studies — Courses

AMST 575L (ANTH 575L)
Cultural Theory in Anthropology

An historical survey of twentieth century socio-cultural theory, this course provides graduate students in historical archaeology and other disciplines with complementary background in cultural anthropology. Emphases are on American anthropologists, their theories of culture, the attention to history in these, and the discursive contexts within which various theoretical schools have emerged.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr. Silliman and Staff

AMST 601
Introduction to American Studies

This course focuses on interdisciplinary methods by comparing the ways different disciplines approach the study of American culture. It introduces students to the history of American Studies as a field, to the questions explored in greater depth in the other core courses, and to contemporary intellectual debates within the field. Readings are chosen to enable students to compare the questions asked and the methods and evidence used by scholars in the fields of social and cultural history, literary criticism, the new historicism, and cultural studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms. Smith

AMST 602L (HIST 602L)
Historical Sequence I: American Society and Political Culture: 1600-1865

This course concentrates on the individual’s role in politics and society and traces the development of citizenship and national character (what it means to be an American) from the colonial period to 1860. Topics to be discussed include Puritan communalism, the relationship between American freedom and American slavery, contrasting assumptions regarding the individual in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the tension created by presumptions about race, gender, morality, and citizenship.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms. Miller and Staff

AMST 603
Historical Sequence II: Modern Political, Social, and Cultural History

This course focuses on the emergence of modern American society, culture, and politics from the post-Civil War era through the Great Depression, with emphasis on the following topics: the ideologies of modernism, progressivism, and socialism, and the political, economic, and social forces that constitute modernity; innovations in politics, the arts, and the social sciences, and their relationship to new technologies and the labor practices of industrial capitalism; the labor movement’s struggle for industrial democracy; the emergence of feminism and civil rights.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms. Rudnick and Ms. Thomas

AMST 604
Gender and Sexuality in US History and Culture

This course explores the historical construction of gender and sexuality in US social and political culture of different eras, through current historical scholarship, primary documents, and such cultural representations as literature or film. How are conceptions of manhood and womanhood, of heterosexuality and ”deviant” sexualities, shaped and reshaped in response to historical forces, and linked to concepts of race and class? How are dominant definitions contested?
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms. Humez

AMST 605
Ethnicity, Race, and Nationality

This course will explore the construction and maintenance of ethnic, racial, and national identities in the United States. Students will analyze various interdisciplinary texts which contain implicit and explicit expressions of gender, ethnic, racial, sexual, regional, and national identities. Various case studies will furnish material to train students in the methods and approaches used in American Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms. Tang and Ms. Thomas

AMST 606
Studies in Popular Culture and Technology

This course focuses on changing definitions of culture and methods of cultural studies; the changing meanings of ”folk culture,” ”mass culture,” and ”popular culture”; and the changing dynamics among technology, the media, and culture. Topics for readings and discussion may include: the relations between changing technologies and the activity of audiences in shaping commercial popular culture; the social and economic context of technological innovation; the cultural imperatives of technological change.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms. Rubin

AMST 687
Topics in American Studies

An advanced course offering intensive study of selected topics in American studies, presented in conjunction with the John F Kennedy Library. Course content varies according to the topic and will be announced prior to registration. This course may be repeated. For more information, see “American Studies Summer Institute” on page 56 of this publication.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

AMST 688
Final Project

A substantial research paper, drawing on systematic original research. The project may address a research topic in American studies or may construct a curriculum unit using primary sources and including a pedagogical and intellectual justification. The project will be determined in consultation with the student’s advisor and must be approved by the advisor. A written proposal signed by student and advisor must be submitted to and approved by the director of the graduate program. Depending on faculty availability, students enrolled in AMS.T 688 during the spring semester may participate in a research and writing seminar to facilitate the completion of final projects.
3 Credits

AMST 691
Seminar in American Studies

An advanced course in interdisciplinary research on selected topics relating to American history and culture.
3 Disc Hrs, 3 Credits

AMST 695-696
Independent Study

An advanced course of independent reading in some aspect of American history or culture with the approval of the instructor and the director of the graduate program.
Hrs to be arranged, 3 Credits

AMST 697
Special Topics in American Studies

A field of current interest in American Studies is examined in
detail.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
Hrs by arrangement, 1-6 Credits