Chair, Associate Professor: REGINA G. KUNZEL
Faculty 1998-99: Associate Professor: KUNZEL. Assistant Professor: KENT, SANBORN. Lecturer: CLEGHORN. Bolin Fellow: RUSTIN.
GENERAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The American Studies Program uses interdisciplinary approaches to develop students' understanding of the complexity of the culture(s) usually labeled "American." Examining history, literature, 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 with Advanced Placement credit in American History. All elective courses are open to students who meet the requirements of the departments that sponsor those courses. American Studies 302 and 403 are open to non-majors with permission of the instructor.
RATIONALE FOR COURSE NUMBERING
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 course, 302, is offered primarily for Juniors, although it is open to Sophomores who have had 201 and will be away from campus during the spring of their Junior year. 300-level independent study courses are offered to upperclass students. 403 is designed for Senior majors; it, like 302, is open to students who can demonstrate adequate preparation to the instructor.
THE MAJOR
Required major courses:
American Studies 201
American Studies 302
American Studies 403
Elective courses:
Eight courses: five should be chosen from one of the Specialization Fields listed below, the other three chosen from among any of the electives listed. Advanced Placement credit in appropriate areas, or departmental courses not listed here, may be substituted for electives in the major, with permission of the Program Chair.
THE DEGREE WITH HONORS IN AMERICAN STUDIES
A student wishing to be a candidate for Honors in American Studies will undertake a substantial independent project during Senior year, in American Studies 403, W030, and American Studies 492. The project will constitute the student's independent work for American Studies 403, and grades for American Studies 403 and W030 will be deferred until thesis projects are completed in the second semester. The awarding of Honors will be determined by the American Studies Program Committee based on the recommendation of the student's project advisor and two other faculty readers.
Majors considering the Honors program are urged to consult as early as possible with the Chair of the Program. Permission to pursue Honors will be contingent upon the quality of performance in courses in the major (normally, a B+ average will be the minimum requirement) and the recommendation of a faculty member willing to be the student's project advisor.
AMERICAN STUDIES AND OTHER PROGRAMS
Students majoring in American Studies are encouraged to consider pursuing concentrations in Afro-American, Environmental, 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
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 towards the American Studies major if their subject matter is American culture. We encourage students to pursue cross-cultural comparative studies.
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 American Studies 302 in their Sophomore year. (For the first two years of this new requirement, the Chair of the Program may authorize a substitute course if this plan is not workable.) Students should consult as early as possible with the Chair 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. Fulfillment of concentrations in Afro-American Studies, Environmental Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies may be used as the basis for individually designed Specialization Fields. All such arrangements must be approved by the American Studies Committee.
POLITICAL CULTURE
Many people claim that America is a representative democracy. But the term "representation" harbors an instructive ambiguity. Sometimes the concept is used to refer to governmental institutions and practices. Politics, however, is also conducted through cultural representations-through, that is, the images, symbols, icons and narratives we use to construct distinct identities for ourselves. In important respects the production, organization, and distribution of power occurs as a result of interplay between these governmental and cultural processes of representation. This specialization affords students the opportunity to investigate that process in detail.
Elective courses:
ANSO 387 Propaganda
French 212 Sister Revolutions in France and America
History 101 America in the 1960s
History 111 Topics in Asian American History
History 115 The Great Depression: Culture, Society and Politics in the 1930s
History 227 Comparative American Immigration History
History 242 The "Good War:" World War II and American Culture and Society
History 243 America from San Gabriel to Gettysburg: 1492-1865
History 244 A History of the United States Since 1865
History 246 Cultural Encounters in the American West
History 261 African-American History Through Emancipation
History 262 African-American History From Reconstruction to the Present
History 301C The Wilsonian Legacy (Deleted 1998-99)
History 304 American Labor History
History 308 Studies in American Social Change
History 311 History of the Old South
History 312 History of the New South
History 313 The Rise of American Business
History 315 The Civil Rights Movement
History 318 The Black Radical Tradition in America
History 319 Politics and Culture in Colonial America
History/Women's and Gender Studies 324 Women in the United States Since 1870
History 331 Comparative Asian-American History, 1850-1965
History 332 Contemporary Issues in Recent Asian-American History, 1965-Present
History 357 The U.S. Congress
History 358 The Chinese American Experience
History 360 Civil War and Reconstruction
History 361 Salem Witchcraft
History 366T W. E. B. Du Bois
History 368T The Politics and Rhetoric of Exclusion: Immigration and Its Discontents
Political Science 201 (formerly 110) Power, Politics, and Democracy in America
Political Science 205 Latino Politics (Deleted 1998-99)
Political Science 207 Political Elections
Political Science 209 Poverty in America
Political Science 211 Public Opinion and Political Behavior
Political Science 212 Mass Media in American Politics
Political Science 213 Theory and Practice of Civil Rights Protest
Political Science 214 (formerly 313) Congressional Politics Today
Political Science 216 Urban and Ethnic Politics and Policies (Deleted 1998-99)
Political Science 218 Presidential Politics
Political Science 219 Constitutional Law
Political Science 230 American Political Thought
Political Science 234 Democracy
Political Science 239 Political Thinking About Race: Resurrecting the Political in Contemporary Texts on the Black Experience
Political Science 311 Gender Gaps in American Politics: Women, Men, and Political Action (Deleted 1998-99)
Political Science 312 Southern Politics
Political Science 315 American Political Parties
Political Science 316 Public Policymaking in the U.S.
Political Science/Environmental Studies 317 Environmental Law
Political Science 318 The Voting Rights Act and the Voting Rights Movement
Political Science 319 The First Amendment
Political Science 332 Fugitive Identities: Slavery and the Boundaries of American Politics
Political Science 338 American Legal Philosophy
Political Science 410 Seminar in American Politics: Women, Men, and the American Political System
Sociology 215 Crime in the Streets
Sociology 218 Law and Modern Society
Sociology 265 Drugs and Society
Sociology 307 Law and Disorder
Women's and Gender Studies/Arts/Political Science 306 Practicing Feminism: A Study of Political Activism
Women's and Gender Studies 402 Women's Health: Global and Domestic Issues
SOCIAL DIVERSITY: RE-IMAGINING AMERICA
We often think of the United States as a large national community. Given the geographical, racial, and cultural diversity of the United States, however, the ways in which Americans imagine this community inevitably vary from time to time, place to place, and among different individuals and groups. Indeed, the cultural landscape of America is more often than not a contested terrain, in which different visions coexist and compete. This specialization offers students an opportunity to consider some of the practical and speculative ways in which historically less powerful social groups-such as Native Americans, African Americans, gays and lesbians, working class Americans, immigrants and other ethnic and regional minorities-attempt to rewrite the American Story.
Elective courses:
ANSO 240 Southwestern Cultures (Deleted 1998-99)
Economics 209 Labor Economics
Economics 222 African Americans in the U.S. Economy (Deleted 1998-99)
Economics 227T American Regional Economic History (Deleted 1998-99)
Economics 237 The Economics of Inequality and Poverty
Economics/Environmental Studies 238 The Regions of America
English 217 Introduction to Chicana/Chicano Literature (Deleted 1998-99)
English 218 Introduction to U.S. Latina and Latino Writing
English/Women's and Gender Studies 219 Introduction to Literature by Women
English 220 Introduction to African-American Writing
English 341 American Genders, American Sexualities
English 345 Black Aesthetics (Deleted 1998-99)
English 357 Contemporary American Fiction
English 367 Latina Feminisms in the United States (Deleted 1998-99)
History 101 America in the 1960s
History 111 Topics in Asian American History
History 227 Comparative American Immigration History
History 246 Cultural Encounters in the American West
History 250 Introduction to U.S. Latino Studies
History 261 African-American History Through Emancipation
History 262 African-American History From Reconstruction to the Present
History 303/Religion 225 Afro-American Religious History
History 304 American Labor History
History 311 History of the Old South
History 312 History of the New South
History 315 The Civil Rights Movement
History 317 Intellectual Traditions of Chicano Nationalism
History 318 The Black Radical Tradition in America
History 320 Adolescence in America
History/Women's and Gender Studies 324 Women in the United States Since 1870
History 327 (formerly 355T) Major Themes in the History of Native Americans
History 331 Comparative Asian-American History, 1850-1965
History 332 Contemporary Issues in Recent Asian-American History, 1965-Present
History/Women's and Gender Studies 344 The History of Sexuality in America
History 346 Masculinity: History and Theory
History 358 The Chinese American Experience
History 360 Civil War and Reconstruction
History 361 Salem Witchcraft
History 364 Imagining Urban America, Three Case Studies: Boston, Chicago, and L.A.
History 366T W. E. B. Du Bois
History 368T The Politics and Rhetoric of Exclusion: Immigration and Its Discontents
History 385T Inventing Gender: America 1600-1850
Music 122 Afro-American Music
Music 125 Music Cultures of the World
Music 130 History of Jazz
Music 212 Jazz Theory and Improvisation
Music 320T Black Music and Postmodernism (Deleted 1998-99)
Political Science 205 Latino Politics (Deleted 1998-99)
Political Science 209 Poverty in America
Political Science 213 Theory and Practice of Civil Rights Protest
Political Science 216 Urban and Ethnic Politics and Policies (Deleted 1998-99)
Political Science 217 Los Angeles: A Post Industrial City (Deleted 1998-99)
Political Science 239 Political Thinking About Race: Resurrecting the Political in Contemporary Texts on the Black Experience
Political Science 312 Southern Politics
Political Science 332 Fugitive Identities: Slavery and the Boundaries of American Politics
Psychology 341 Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Sociology 103 Behind the Rhetorics of Race
Sociology 210 The Construction of Social Problems
Sociology 215 Crime in the Streets
Sociology 220 Ethnicity
Spanish 306T Latino Writing: Literature by U.S. Hispanics
Theatre 211 African-American Performance
Theatre 321 American Minstrelsy
Women's and Gender Studies/Arts/Political Science 306 Practicing Feminism: A Study of Political Activism
Women's and Gender Studies 402 Women's Health: Global and Domestic Issues
READING CULTURE: TEXTS AND ARTIFACTS
This specialization offers students an opportunity to consider the relations between culture and the production of social meanings in genres ranging from those traditionally thought of as elite (poetry, painting, orchestral music) to those traditionally thought of as popular (movies, television, advertising, and rock 'n roll). Drawing on diverse theoretical and methodological approaches (material culture theory, literary history, iconography, semiotics, Frankfurt school analysis, and so on), this specialization encourages students both to investigate the relations between high and low culture and to reflect on the nature and uses of cultural inquiry itself.
Elective courses:
AMS/English 231T Literature of the Sea
ANSO 387 Propaganda
ArtH/Environmental Studies 201 American Landscape History
ArtH/Environmental Studies 252 Campuses
ArtH 262 Twentieth-Century Architecture
ArtH 264 American Art and Architecture, 1600 to Present
ArtH/Environmental Studies 305 North American Suburbs
ArtH 350 Topics in American Art: The Crisis of Victorian Painting
ArtH 403 The American House
ArtH 462 The Subject of the Representation: Contemporary Art and Film
Economics/Environmental Studies 238 The Regions of America
English 204 The Feature Film
English 208 Introduction to American Literature (Deleted 1998-99)
English 209 American Literature: Origins to 1865
English 210 American Literature: 1865 to the Present
English 217 Introduction to Chicana/Chicano Literature (Deleted 1998-99)
English 218 Introduction to U.S. Latina and Latino Writing
English/Women's and Gender Studies 219 Introduction to Literature by Women
English 220 Introduction to African-American Writing
English 338 Literature of the American Renaissance
English 341 American Genders, American Sexualities
English 345 Black Aesthetics (Deleted 1998-99)
English 349 American Modernism of the 1920s
English 351 American Poetry
English 353 Modern Poetry
English 354 Contemporary American Poetry
English 357 Contemporary American Fiction
English 358 Violence and Narrative (Deleted 1998-99)
English 361 Nabokov and Pynchon
English 367 Latina Feminisms in the United States (Deleted 1998-99)
English 377 Suicides and Survivors
Environmental Studies 278 Transportation and the Shaping of Urban America (Deleted 1998-99)
History 114 Families and Social Change
History 115 The Great Depression: Culture, Society and Politics in the 1930s
History 242 The "Good War": World War II and American Culture and Society
History 317 Intellectual Traditions of Chicano Nationalism
History 320 Adolescence in America
History 332 Contemporary Issues in Recent Asian American History, 1965-Present
History/Women's and Gender Studies 344 The History of Sexuality in America
History 346 Masculinity: History and Theory
History 358 The Chinese American Experience
History 361 Salem Witchcraft
History 364 Imagining Urban America, Three Case Studies: Boston, Chicago, and L.A.
History 385T Inventing Gender: America 1600-1850
Music 111 Popular Music: Revolutions in the History of Rock
Music 114 American Music
Music 122 Afro-American Music
Music 125 Music Cultures of the World
Music 130 History of Jazz
Music 209 Music in History III: Musics of the Twentieth Century
Musics 212 Jazz Theory and Improvisation
Music 320T Black Music and Postmodernism (Deleted 1998-99)
Political Science 212 Mass Media in American Politics
Political Science 332 Fugitive Identities: Slavery and the Boundaries of American Politics
Political Science 337 The Politics of Contemporary Theory: Power and Political Imagination
Spanish 306T Latino Writing: Literature by U.S. Hispanics
Women's and Gender Studies 402 Women's Health: Global and Domestic Issues
MONEY, CLASS, AND MOBILITY: MAKING IT IN AMERICA
The time-honored description of American as "The Land of Opportunity" presupposes that capitalism is far more than a system of economic production. It is indeed a potent myth, around which a whole series of cultural narratives-in celebration of it, in opposition to it-have been organized. This specialization challenges students to examine the various ways in which different Americans have sought to measure, explain, and justify their individual and collective economic performances. Who "makes it" in America? How? Why?
Elective courses:
AMS 201/History 255 America and the Sea, 1600-present
ArtH 264 American Art and Architecture, 1600 to Present
ArtH 403 The American House
Economics 201T/Environmental Studies 207T Cities
Economics/Women's Studies 203 Gender in Economic Analysis
Economics 205 Public Finance
Economics 206 Current Economic Problems
Economics 208 Modern Corporate Industry
Economics 209 Labor Economics
Economics 220 American Economic History
Economics 224 Baby Booms and Busts
Economics 227T American Regional Economic History (Deleted 1998-99)
Economics 237 The Economics of Inequality and Poverty
Economics/Environmental Studies 238 The Regions of America
Economics 317 Finance and Capital Markets
Economics 376 The Economics of Labor
Economics 386 The Economics of Inequality
History 115 The Great Depression: Culture, Society and Politics in the 1930s
History 227 Comparative American Immigration History
History 243 America from San Gabriel to Gettysburg: 1492-1865
History 244 History of the United States Since 1865
History 261 African-American History Through Emancipation
History 262 African-American History From Reconstruction to the Present
History 304 American Labor History
History 311 History of the Old South
History 312 History of the New South
History 313 The Rise of American Business
History 315 The Civil Rights Movement
History 318 The Black Radical Tradition in America
History 319 Politics and Culture in Colonial America
History 320 Adolescence in America
History/Women's and Gender Studies 324 Women in the United States Since 1870
History 331 Comparative Asian-American History, 1850-1965
History 332 Contemporary Issues in Recent Asian-American History, 1965-Present
History 346 Masculinity: History and Theory
History 354T The Anglo-American World in the Eighteenth Century
History 358 The Chinese American Experience
History 360 Civil War and Reconstruction
History 364 Imagining Urban America, Three Case Studies: Boston, Chicago, and L.A.
History 366T W. E. B. Du Bois
History 368T The Politics and Rhetoric of Exclusion: Immigration and Its Discontents
Political Science 201 (formerly 110) Power, Politics, and Democracy in America
Political Science 209 Poverty in America
Political Science 211 Public Opinion and Political Behavior
Political Science 212 Mass Media in American Politics
Political Science 213 Theory and Practice of Civil Rights Protest
Political Science 216 Urban and Ethnic Politics and Policies (Deleted 1998-99)
Political Science 217 Los Angeles: A Post Industrial City (Deleted 1998-99)
Political Science 230 American Political Thought
Political Science 233 Just Work
Political Science 234 Democracy
Political Science 239 Political Thinking About Race: Resurrecting the Political in Contemporary Texts on the Black Experience
Political Science 311 Gender Gaps in American Politics: Women, Men, and Political Action (Deleted 1998-99)
Political Science 312 Southern Politics
Political Science 316 Public Policymaking in the U.S.
Political Science 332 Fugitive Identities: Slavery and the Boundaries of American Politics
Political Science 420 Senior Seminar in International Relations: Sovereignty