Chair, Professor: MARK REINHARDT
Faculty 2008-2009: Professor: WONG*. Associate Professors: L. JOHNSON, KENT***. Assistant Professors: AUBERT, CEPEDA*, RÚA, THORNE**, WANG. Senior Lecturer: CLEGHORN. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow: VIMALASSERY. Visiting Assistant Professor: UM.
GENERAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The American Studies Program, an eleven-course major, uses interdisciplinary approaches to develop students' understanding of the complexity of the culture(s) usually labeled "American." Examining history, literature, visual media, performance, and other forms of expression, we explore the processes of cultural definition as contested by diverse individuals and groups. We ask new questions about aspects of American life long taken for granted; we also use American culture as a laboratory for testing classic and contemporary theories about how cultures work.
NON-MAJORS, FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS, AND SOPHOMORES
American Studies 201 is open to non-majors including first-year students. All elective courses are open to students who meet the requirements of the departments that sponsor those courses. Courses designated as junior or senior seminars are open to non-majors with permission of the instructor.
RATIONALE FOR COURSE NUMBERING
In addition to an occasional 100-level topical course, the introductory course is offered at the 200 level to suggest the desirability of some preliminary training in college-level history, literature, sociology, or political science. The intermediate courses, designated as Junior Seminars at the 300 level, are offered primarily for juniors, although they are open to sophomores who have had 201 and will be away from campus during the spring of their junior year. 400-level courses designated as Senior Seminars are designed for senior majors.
THE MAJOR
Required major courses:
American Studies 201
300 level courses designated Junior Seminar
400 level courses designated Senior Seminar
Elective courses:
Eight courses: five should be chosen from one of the specializations listed below, the other three chosen from among any of the electives listed, but students must draw their remaining courses from two of the other specializations. Students are also required to take at least one course covering pre-1900 American history or culture.
THE DEGREE WITH HONORS IN AMERICAN STUDIES
Candidates for honors in American Studies will undertake a substantial, year-long independent project during their Senior year. Applicants should have a consistent record of high achievement in courses taken for the major, and normally will have done work in the field of study of their proposed thesis. Students who wish to write or produce an honors project should consult with a prospective faculty advisor in their junior year. Formal application to pursue honors should be made by the time of spring registration in the junior year. Students must submit a 1- to 2-page preliminary proposal describing the proposed project to the Chair of the American Studies Program at this time. Final admission to the honors thesis program will depend on the AMST advisory committee's assessment of the qualifications of the student and the merits and feasibility of the project. If the proposal is approved, they will be permitted to register for AMST 491, W30, and AMST 492 the following year. The completed project is due in mid-April. Each student will present a short oral presentation of his or her thesis at the end of spring semester. Honors Theses count as one of the eleven courses required for the major.
ADVISING
All majors will be assigned a faculty advisor. Majors must meet with their advisor during the first week of classes during the fall semester and at the time of the spring semester registration period in order to have their courses and plans for the American Studies major approved. Both majors and non- majors are encouraged to talk at any time with the program chair or other affiliated faculty about the major.
AMERICAN STUDIES AND OTHER PROGRAMS
Students majoring in American Studies are encouraged to consider pursuing concentrations in Africana Studies, Environmental Studies, Latina/o Studies, Performance Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies. Many of the courses counted for those concentrations may also earn credit toward the American Studies major.
STUDY AWAY FROM WILLIAMS
We encourage students to pursue cross-cultural comparative studies. A major in American Studies can be combined with study away from Williams for a semester or a year if plans are made carefully. Many courses that will be approved for College credit may also count toward the American Studies major if their subject matter is American culture.
Students planning to be away in the junior year should have taken American Studies 201 before they leave; those away for junior-year spring term should take a Junior Seminar in their sophomore year. Students should consult as early as possible with the chair or their advisor about their plans for fulfilling the requirements of the major.
SPECIALIZATION FIELDS
To provide focus for work in the major, each student will choose one of the Specialization Fields listed below and record this choice when registering for the major. (This commitment can be revised, in consultation with the chair.) At least five electives will be taken from among those designated to support a specialization field. In extraordinary cases, students who wish to do so may be permitted to design their own specialization field. All such arrangements must be approved by the American Studies Advisory Committee.
ARTS IN CONTEXT
This specialization is for students interested in American arts, literature and media. Its approaches are interdisciplinary: it trains students to examine cultural artifacts with attention to aesthetic form and to the contexts-historical, social, political-that determine and situate those forms. Broadly, it asks how history has shaped the arts and media and how the arts and media have shaped how we think and who we are. Students in this specialization take courses across a range of genres and media: poetry, fiction, music, film and video, pop culture, visual culture, performance, experimental and activist art.
Elective courses:
Africana Studies 160 Defining the African Diaspora
ArtH 264 American Art and Architecture
ArtH 265 Pop Art
ArtH 262 Sunshine and Noir: Art of California
ArtH 470 American Orientalism
Comparative Literature 230 Violent States, Violent Subjects
English 209 Introduction to American Literature, Origins to 1865
English 210 Introduction to American Literature, 1865 to Present
English 220 African-American Literature
English 246 The Novel and Globalization
English 253 Contemporary African-American Literature
English 256 Culture and Colonialism
English 258 Poetry and the City
English 338 American Renaissance
English 341 American Genders/American Sexualities
English 342 Representing Sexualities
English 343 Whitman and Dickinson in Context
English 350 James Baldwin and his Contemporaries
English 372 African-American Thought and Culture
English 388 Asian-American Writing and the Visual
English 407 Twentieth-Century American Poetic Movements
History 395 Fashioning Bodies
Latina/o Studies 203 Chicana/o Film and Video
Latina/o Studies 240 Politics of Language in the Literature and Culture of US Latina/os
Latina/o Studies 331 Sound and Movement in the Diaspora: Afro-Latin Identities
Latina/o Studies 335 Contemporary US Theatre and Performance: Latinos/as in the Everyday
Latina/o Studies 464 Latina/o Visual Culture
Music 114 American Music
Music 122 African-American Music
Music 130 History of Jazz
Music 210 American Pop Orientalism
Music 220 Rhythm and Jazz in America, Brazil and Cuba
Music 231 Nothing But the Blues
Music 232 Latin Music USA
Music 240 Ellington
Music 241 Coltrane
Theatre 220 Approaching Performance Studies
Theatre 330 Aesthetics of Resistance: Contemporary Latino/a Theatre and Performance
COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN RACE, ETHNICITY, AND DIASPORA
This interdisciplinary specialization examines the role of race, ethnicity, and diasporic movements in the construction of American identities. Students explore how experiences and concepts of race and ethnicity are transformed through the processes of diaspora and immigration. These courses may encompass a broad spectrum of fields such as history, literature, religion, politics, anthropology, gender studies, media and the performing arts, among others. NOTE: Concentrators in this area are required to take a combination of courses that will allow them to comparatively assess the experiences of at least two ethno-racial groups in the Americas.
Elective courses:
Africana Studies 140 Defining the African Diaspora
Africana Studies 165 The Quest for Racial Justice in Twentieth-Century America
Africana Studies 200 Introduction to Africana Studies
Africana Studies 208 Writing Africa from Beyond: The Novel of the Diaspora
Africana Studies 210 Black Leadership in American Culture
Africana Studies 211 Topics in African-American Performance: Theatre and Film of the Harlem Renaissance
Africana Studies 220 Rhythm and Jazz in America, Brazil, and Cuba
Africana Studies 240 Contemporary African American Literature
Africana Studies 260 Leadership in the Civil Rights Movement
Africana Studies 260 South African and American Intersections
Africana Studies 282 African-American History from Reconstruction to the Present
Africana Studies 285 Religion in Black Film, Media, and Literature
Africana Studies 286 Constructing Black Lives in Film and Literature
Africana Studies 300T Racial-Sexual Politics and Cultural Memory
Africana Studies 320 Race-Gender in the Black Diaspora
Africana Studies 383 The History of Black Women in America: From Slavery to the Present
Africana Studies 400 Senior Seminar: Black Feminist Theory and Practice
Africana Studies 410 Race, Culture, and Incarceration
Africana Studies 467 African Americans in Urban America
American Studies 283 Topics in Asian American Literature
American Studies 302 Asian American Writing and the Visual Arts
American Studies 311 Asian American Film
American Studies 330 The Aesthetics of Resistance: Contemporary Latino/a-American Theatre and Performance
American Studies 331 Sound and Movement in the Diaspora: Afro-Latin Identities
American Studies 335 Contemporary US Theatre and Performance: Latinos/as in the Everyday
American Studies 409 Tracing the Roots of Routes: Transnationalism and its (Dis)Contents
ArtH 203 Chicana/o Film and Video
ArtH 212 Race, Sexuality, and Cinema
History 148 The Mexican Revolution: 1910 to NAFTA
History 164 Slavery in the American South
History 243 Modern Latin America, 1822 to the Present
History 249 The Caribbean from Slavery to Independence
History 281 African-American History, 1619-1865
History 282 African-American History From Reconstruction to the Present
History 286 Latino(a) History from 1846 to the Present
History 364 History of the Old South
History 365 History of the New South
History/American Studies 368 Cultural Encounters in the American West
History 370 Studies in American Social Change
History 380 Comparative American Immigration History
History 384 Comparative Asian-American History, 1850-1965
History 385 Contemporary Issues in Recent Asian-American History, 1965-Present
History/Latina/o Studies/Women's and Gender Studies 386 Latinas in the Global Economy: Work, Migration, and Households
History/Latina/o Studies/Women's and Gender Studies 387 Community Building and Social Movements in Latino/a History
History 443 Slavery, Race and Ethnicity in Latin America
History 456 Civil War and Reconstruction
History/American Studies 488T The Politics and Rhetoric of Exclusion: Immigration and Its Discontents
Music 122 African-American Music
Music 130 History of Jazz
Political Science 213 Theory and Practice of Civil Rights Protest
Political Science 318 The Voting Rights Act and the Voting Movement
Political Science 349T Cuba and the United States
Psychology 341T Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Theatre 210 Multicultural Performance
Theatre/American Studies 211 Topics in African American Performance: The 1960s, the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movement
CRITICAL AND CULTURAL THEORY
Critical and cultural theory is for students who want their American Studies work to combine philosophy, aesthetics, and social thought. Its approach is methodological, conceptual, and problem-driven. Students combine courses in feminist theory, anti-imperial and postcolonial theory, literary theory, critical race theory, queer theory, psychoanalysis, Marxism, and other counter-traditions in political theory and philosophy.
Elective courses:
Africana Studies 201/ArtH 200 Modern and Contemporary African Art
Africana Studies 300/Women's and Gender Studies 415 Racial-Sexual Politics and Cultural Memory
Africana Studies 320/Anthropology 326 Race-Gender in the Black Diaspora
Africana Studies 323/Philosophy 323/Political Science 323) The Origins of Totalitarianism
Africana Studies 400/Women's and Gender Studies 400 Black Feminist Theory and Practice
Africana Studies 410/Political Science 302 Race, Culture, and Incarceration
ANSO 305 Social Theory
Anthropology 270T Trauma, Memory, and Reconciliation
Anthropology 328T Emotions and the Self
Comparative Literature 338/Latina/o Studies 338 Theorizing Popular Culture
Comparative Literature 340 Literature and Psychoanalysis
Comparative Literature 344/Religion 304 From Hermeneutics to Post-Coloniality
English 117/Comparative Literature 117 Introduction to Cultural Theory
English 230/Comparative Literature 240 Introduction to Literary Theory
English 246 The Novel and Globalization
English 249 Hitchcock and Psychoanalytic Theory
English 256 Culture and Colonialism: An Introduction
English 346/ArtH 307/Comparative Literature 356/INTR 346 The Human Face in the Modern Imagination
English 386/Women's and Gender Studies 388/Comparative Literature 342 Psychoanalysis, Gender, and Sexuality
English 390 History in Theory
English 394 Gothic Theory
English 408/Comparative Literature 345 Culture, Criticism and Praxis
History 483T African Political Thought
History 490T History, Nostalgia, and the Politics of Collective Memory
INTR 260 Games, Play and Virtual Worlds
Music 210T American Pop Orientalism
Philosophy 201 Reading the Critics of Reason
Philosophy 224/INTR 224/Religion 224 After God
Philosophy 282/Religion 280 The Turn to Religion in Post-Modern Thought
Philosophy 304 Authenticity: From Rousseau to Post-structuralism
Philosophy 305 Existentialism and Phenomenology
Philosophy 316/INTR 316/Religion 316 Nothing, God, Freedom
Philosophy 327/Women's and Gender Studies 327 Foucault: Power, Bodies, Pleasures
Philosophy 379 American Pragmatism
Philosophy 393 Hegel: Freedom and History
Political Science 204 (Marasco) Intro to Political Theory: Utopias
Political Science 230 American Political Thought
Political Science 239 Political Thinking About Race
Political Science 326 Imperialism
Political Science 326/Women's and Gender Studies 336 Sex, Gender, and Political Theory
Political Science 333/ECON 299 Economic Liberalism and Its Critics
Political Science 338 Critical Theory and the Frankfurt School
Religion 204 Redeeming a Broken World: Messianism in Modernity
Religion 284 Foucault
Sociology 345 Producing the Past
Theatre 220/Women's and Gender Studies 220/ARTS 204 Approaching Performance Studies
Theatre 322/Comparative Literature 322 Performance Criticism
Women's and Gender Studies 101 Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies
Women's and Gender Studies 225/Philosophy 225 Introduction to Feminist Thought
Women's and Gender Studies 227/Sociology 225 Sex and Gender
Women's and Gender Studies 228/Philosophy 228 Feminist Bioethics
Women's and Gender Studies 271T/Philosophy 271T Woman as "Other"
Women's and Gender Studies 341/English 341 American Genders, American Sexualities
Women's and Gender Studies 342/English 342 Representing Sexualities: U.S. Traditions\
Women's and Gender Studies 402 Feminism and the Politics of the Family
Women's and Gender Studies 489T/History 489T History and the Body
SPACE AND PLACE
This route focuses on the human landscape and the built environment. Courses listed below variously undertake the reading of geographical regions, patterns of habitation, imagined spaces, property relations and/or artifacts.
Elective courses:
ArtH/American Studies 264 American Art and Architecture, 1600 to Present
Environmental Studies 101 Humans in the Landscape: An Introduction to Environmental Studies
Geosciences 105 Geology Outdoors
Geosciences 201/Environmental Studies 205 Geomorphology
Geosciences/Environmental Studies 208 Water and the Environment
History 364 History of the Old South
History 365 History of the New South
History 380 Comparative American Immigration History
History 466/American Studies 364 Imagining Urban America, Three Case Studies: Boston, Chicago, and L.A.
INTR 242/ArtH 268/ArtS 212/Religion 289 Network Culture
Political Science 101 The Politics of Place in America
Political Science 317/Environmental Studies 307 Environmental Law
Political Science 335 Public Sphere/Public Space
Political Science 349T Cuba and the United States
Sociology 215 Crime in the Streets