Below is a sample list of American Studies related courses. To see the entire list, which contains more than 100 courses, consult the course bulletin.

Africana Studies
AFR 222 Images of Women and Blacks in American Cinema
A study of the creation of images and their
power to influence the reality of race and sex in
the American experience.Viewing and analysis
of American cinema as an artistic genre and as a
vehicle through which cultural and social history
are depicted.

Art History
ARTH 231 Architecture in North America to 1914
A survey of American architecture and urbanism
from the colonial period to the 1960s.

Economics
ECON 243 The Political Economy of Gender, Race, and Class
An introduction to radical economic analysis of
contemporary, globalizing capitalism. Analysis of
race, class, and gender, and of their interconnections.
Radical economic critiques of current
neo-liberal economic policies. Study and critique
of contemporary radical economic movements,
including the environmental movement;
the movements for socially responsible consumption,
investment, business, and work; and
the antiglobalization or globalization from
below movement.

English
ENG 266 American Literature from the Civil War to the 1930s
A selection of literature from the period between
the Civil War and the Great Depression, tracing
the trajectory of American fiction from realism
to high modernism. Emphasis on the ways that
these texts invite and respond to questions about
economics, social justice, sexual politics, and the
role of literature in society. Attending closely to
nuances of authorial style, classroom discussion
will also consider each work in light of the ongoing
debate between realism and formalism in
art. Authors read will be drawn from the following:
Twain, James, Roth, Chesnutt, Chopin,
Dreiser,Wharton, Gilman, Stein, Toomer,
Yezierska, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, and
Hurston.

History
HIST 291 Marching Toward 1968: The Pivotal Year
Within a single year the Tet offensive in
Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther
King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and the election
of Richard M. Nixon transformed American foreign
and domestic policy, ending an era of liberal
internationalism, domestic reform, and
generational protest. Exploration of how, and
why, “The Sixties” happened. Consideration of
recent political and intellectual trends that
reflect the continuing impact of the 1960s on
American public life.

Political Science
POL1 313 American Presidential Politics
Analysis of the central role of the president in
American politics and the development and
operation of the institutions of the modern presidency.
The course will focus on sources of presidential
power and limitations on the chief
executive, with particular emphasis on relations
with the other branches of government and the
making of domestic and foreign policy.

Sociology
SOC 205/WOST 211 American Families and Social Equality
American families are undergoing dramatic
changes in social, political, and economic arenas:
the rise of the dual-worker family, the increasing
number of single mothers, the demands of family
rights by gay and lesbian families, and growing
numbers of couples having children at older
ages. The new economy poses real challenges for
American parents as the social and economic
gaps between families continues. As women dedicate
a greater proportion of their time to the
workplace, more children are cared for outside
the home. How do children view parents’
employment? How do families function when
they have only limited hours together? What
does fatherhood mean in these families? Using a
provocative blend of social science, novels, and
memoirs, we will examine how gender, race, ethnicity,
and social class shape the experience of
family life in the contemporary United States.
Students may register for either WOST 211 or
SOC 205. Credit will be given in the department
in which the student is registered.

Women's Studies
WOST 249 Asian American Women in Film and Video
This course will serve as an introduction to
Asian American film and video and begin with
the premise that there is a distinct American
style of Asian “Orientalist” representation by
tracing its development in classic Hollywood
film over the last 75 years.We examine the politics
of interracial romance, the phenomenon of
“ yellow face” drag, and the different constructions
of Asian American femininity, masculinity,
and sexuality. In the second half of the course,
we look at the production of what has been
named “Asian American cinema” in the past 15
years. Our focus is on contemporary works,
drawing upon critical materials from film theory,
feminist studies, Asian American studies, history,
and cultural studies.

_{Maintained by William Cain
Date Created: April 21, 2000
Last Modified: October 25, 2004
Page Expires: September 1 2005}