American Studies Program

FALL 2007 REGISTRATION

Here is a list of courses that satisfy requirements for the American Studies major and minor being offered in Fall 2007.   In addition, students can also sign up for independent study courses (AMS 377, AMS 477), honors thesis (AMS 480), and internship credits (AMS 340).   There are a variety of opportunities for internships, both locally and nationally.   In order to register for an internship, independent study, or honors thesis, you will need to fill out an Independent Study Permit Form available in the programs office or from the registrar.   Faculty in American Studies would be happy to talk with you about the courses you are considering or possible internships or independent study projects.   Please contact the director of American Studies if you have any questions:

Contact Programs Office

529-5333

Course Offerings—Fall 2007

American Studies

MPF 101 Introduction to American Studies (3)   MWF 11-11:50 Hamlin; TR 3:30-4:45 Quinn

This course will introduce students to the study of culture in the United States from an interdisciplinary perspective.   Drawing from a variety of source materials ranging from literary and historical texts to visual images and material objects, and relying on a range of interpretive techniques, students examine aspects of thought, expression, and behavior that have shaped and defined the complex modern society of the US.

201 Approaches to American Culture (3) MWF 3-3:50 Kernodle

"American Music, Identity, and Culture"

This course will focus on the intersections of race, gender and popular music in Post World War II America.  We will explore the construction of nationalistic, race, gender and geographic identity from the 1940s until the late 1970s and how these entities are reflected in various genres of popular music including rock & roll, country, rockabilly, the blues, soul music and disco, etc.

241 Religions of American Peoples (4) TR 2-3:50 Williams

American religious pluralism and the experience of minority peoples such as Roman Catholics, Jews, and Eastern Orthodox. Emphasis on historical, social, and cultural themes. Readings in fiction and autobiographical writings.

301 Public Stories:  Docuemtary and Digital Storytelling   TR 12:30-1:45 Quinn

This course explores the uses of storytelling for community-based work.  How do tellers craft tales that are compelling and entertaining? What are the range of primary sources that they plumb? How might stories be used to preserve and document fragile, contested, or ephemeral memories?  How might stories be used to connect and organize disparate groups of people over time and space? How might listening and telling help us understand what it means to be American at the dawn of the 21st century?

We will consider how stories have served work in historic preservation, social movements, and human rights documentation.  We will examine and produce traditional and digital stories using traditional proverbs, family memories, audio documentaries, and web-based sites including, Flickr and YouTube.  We will hone skills in listening, writing and speaking and each student will author at least one polished story by the end of the term.  No previous storytelling experience is necessary.

MPC 401 Senior Capstone in American Studies (4)   TR 3:30-4:45 Cayton

Semester topic --  Don't Know Much About History:  History and Schools
In this course we will investigate how material about the past makes its way into school curricula.  Students will have the opportunity to do hands-on work constructing possible local history units for teachers.

Courses from Other Departments

Courses from the following cognate departments and programs:   (these courses are especially useful in fulfilling the American Culture Focus for the major and the minor)

Anthropology

ATH 185F   Cultural Diversity of the US   TR 2-315 Akers

           Anthropological introduction to the diversity of contemporary cultural life in the United States.

ATH 444 Museum Collections Management and Conservation   TR 7-8:15pm J.Spielbauer           

           Practical course in curatorial techniques and responsibilities in registration, cataloging, security, storage, and handling of museum specimens and problems in the conservation of specimens along with appropriate initial solutions.

Architecture

ARC 225 Design and Human Behavior   TR 12:30-1:45 Bell

Study of perception and psychological response to the built environment. Emphasis on cultural differences, design for special populations, ergonomics, and anthropometrics.

ARC 427   The American City Since 1940   R 2:30-7 Dutton

Examination of the American city and its physical transformation since 1940. Studies how different experiences of the city are conditioned by issues of class, race, gender, culture.

Black World Studies

BWS 151   Introduction to Black World Studies   A—MW 5-6:50 Coates; B--TR 1-2:50 Hunter; C--TR 10-11:50 Hunter

Introduces the Afrocentric perspective as it has developed in anthropology, history, political science, geography, sociology, religious studies, mass communications, theater, art, etc. Covers theories, research, methodologies, and practice of Africana studies. Students develop historical and contemporary understanding of the African diaspora.

BWS 336   African American Writing, 1878-1945   TR 12:30-1:45 Taylor

Survey of African American writing from after the Reconstruction era to World War II, with special attention to the emergence and history of the New Negro Renaissance. Among the writers studied are Paul Laurence Dunbar, Charles W. Chesnutt, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Sterling A. Brown, Alain Locke, Margaret Walker, and Richard Wright.

BWS 338   African American Writing 1946- Present   TR 2-3:15 Johnson

Survey of African American writing since World War II, with special attention to literary and cultural contributions of such writers as James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Gwendolyn Brooks, Amiri Baraka, Paule Marshall, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker.

BWS 365 Civil War and Reconstruction Era (3) MWF 11:00-11:50 Jackson

Origins and growth of sectionalism with emphasis on the period after 1850, secession and Civil War, Federal and Confederate governments, Reconstruction, and foreign issues.

Communication

COM 143   Introduction to Mass Communication   TR 9:30-10:45 Becker

Introduction to major mass communication theories as a context to examining some major issues surrounding mass media in American society.

COM 146   Media Aesthetics and Design   MWF 9-9:50 German; MWF 1-1:50 German

This course is an introduction to media aesthetics. Students will develop an awareness of the artistic choices necessary for good television production and will be introduced to design elements and techniques available for use. Prerequisite: majors or permission of instructor.

COM 206   Diversity and Culture in American Film   TR 9:30-10:45, TR 12:30-1:45   Scott

Analysis of the representation of diversity and culture as portrayed in American motion pictures.

COM 215 Electronic Media History   MWF 10-10:50 Drushel; MWF 3-3:50 Anderson

           No description available.

COM 281 Mediated Sexualities: Lesbians, Gay, Bisexuals and Transgendered Persons and the Electronic Media   MWF 11-11:50 Drushel

COM 354   Media and Society   TR 2-3:15 Becker

Survey of the place of electronic media in society. Topics covered include media and culture; media economics, industries, and institutions; politics of media content; media and social representation. Prerequisite: junior standing, major status, or permission of instructor.

COM 447   Mass Media Criticism   TR 8-9:15 Scott

Examination of the performance of mass media, especially television, in current social settings. Topics include news and entertainment programming and relationship between media industry and its products.

Comparative Religion

REL 241   Religions of American Peoples   TR 2-3:50 Williams

Cross-listed with AMS; see description above.

Economics

ECO 131   Economic Perspectives in Inequality in the United States   TR 11-12:15 Sullivan; TR 12:30-1:45 Sullivan

No description available.

REL 427   Great Depression Revisited   MWF 1-1:50, MWF 2-2:50 Hall

           The Great Depression of the 1930s was a traumatic period in our history, still widely discussed and analyzed by economists, and its specter has influenced our leaders and their policies to this day. Vigorous debate continues over the cause(s) of its unprecedented severity, and therefore, what its lessons are. A wide range of competing theories have been proposed, each involving different assumptions based upon opposing ideological foundations, about the way our macroeconomic system functions. In this team-taught course, students read original literature that offers opposing views of the causes. Competing theories are applied in a computer simulation program, which allows students to capture the relationships implied by the institutional framework of the period and the economic literature in order to judge the degree to which opposing views can be supported. Prerequisite: ECO 317 and senior standing or permission of instructor.

Educational Leadership

EDL 282   Cultural Studies, Power, and Education   TR 5-6:15 Staff

Introduces the basic concepts used in cultural studies by studying the locations and uses of power in the education of the American public.

EDL 334   Youth Subcultures, Popular Culture, and Non-Formal Education   TR 3:30-4:45 Staff

Using contemporary social and educational theory, this course covers recent development in understanding youth cultures including work from England, the United States, and other countries. Focuses on youth subcultures and popular culture in the United States.

English

ENG 141   Life and Thought in American Literature   MWF 2-2:50 Staff; TR 2-3:15 Staff

Introduction to multiplicity of voices in American culture as expressed in literary texts written in and about America: (141) from colonial period through 1865; (MPT 142) 1865 - 1945 (MPT 143) 1945 to present.

ENG 142   Life and Thought in American Literature 1865-1945   TR 11-12:15 Staff;

MWF 1-1:50 Staff; TR 5-6:15 Bernheim

See 141 above.

ENG 143   American Literature 1945 to Present     TR 11-12:15 Staff;

MW 5-6:15 Staff

See 141 above.

ENG 144   Major American Authors   TR 2-3:15 Staff

Introduction to American literature and culture through the study of a small group of important writers. Selected authors represent a range of traditions and may include writers as diverse as Bradstreet, Franklin, Dickinson, Douglass, Whitman, Melville, Wharton, Twain, Cather, Baldwin, Faulkner, and Morrison.

ENG 336   African American Writing, 1746-1877   TR 12:30-1:45 Taylor

Survey of the beginnings of African American literature to the end of Reconstruction. Among the various writers discussed are Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglas, Frances E.W. Harper, William Wells Brown, Linda Brent, and Harriet Wilson. Particular attention given to the origins of poetry, fiction, slave narratives, and drama as well as to the relative importance of speeches, political tracts, newspaper writing, and folk forms of literature.

ENG 338   African American Writing, 1945 to Present   TR 2-3:15 Johnson

Survey of African American writing since World War II, with special attention to literary and cultural contributions of such writers as James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Gwendolyn Brooks, Amiri Baraka, Paule Marshall, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker.

ENG 353 American Literature, 1865-1914   TR 9:30-10:45 Hebard

Intensive study of issues animating American culture from the Civil War to World War I, as articulated in selected texts from a variety of literary forms.

ENG 354   American Literature, 1914-1945   TR 3:30-4:45 Staff

Intensive study of issues animating American culture between 1914 and 1945, as articulated in selected texts from a variety of literary forms and traditions.

ENG 355   American Literature 1945 to Present   TR 2-3:15 Staff

Intensive study of issues animating American culture from 1945 to the present as articulated in selected texts from a variety of literary forms and traditions.

Film Studies

FST 206   Diversity and Culture in America   TR 9:30-10:45, T 4-6:30 Scott

Analysis of the representation of diversity and culture as portrayed in American motion pictures.

Geography

GEO 201   Geography of Urban Diversity   TR 11-12:15 Prytherch

Location of economic activities and social groups among and within U.S. urban areas. Geographic perspectives on underlying processes and resulting problems resulting from changing distributions.

GEO 451   Urban and Regional Planning   TR 3:30-4:45 Prytherch

Introduction to the purposes and possibilities of urban and regional land use planning. Topics include historical development of planning, theoretical rationale for planning, and major analytical and legal tools and techniques available to planners at urban and regional levels.

GEO 458   Cities of Difference   W 2-6:30 England

           No description available.

Gerontology

GTY 154   Aging in American Society   MWF 9-9:50 Staff; MWF 10-10:50 Staff; MWF 11-11:50 Staff; TR 9:30-10:45 Staff; TR 11-12:15 McGrew; TR 12:30-1:45 Staff; TR 3:30-4:45 McGrew

Overview of the processes of aging. Emphasis placed on "typical" aspects of aging from three perspectives: the aging individual, social context of aging, and societal responses to an aging population.

History

HST 111   Survey of American History   MW 10-10:50, W 4-4:50 A.Cayton; 10-10:50,

W 5-5:50 A.Cayton; MWF 11-11:50 McVety; MW 10-10:50, R 3:30-4:20 A. Cayton; MW 10-10:50, R 5-5:50 A.Cayton; MW 10-10:50, R 5-5:50 A.Cayton; F 8-8:50; MW 10-10:50 A.Cayton; MW 10-10:50, R 4-4:50 A.Cayton; MW 10-10:50, W 6-6:50 A.Cayton; MW 10-10:50, W 7-7:50 A.Cayton

Survey of the interplay of forces that have brought about evolutionary development of American economic, cultural, and political history from 1492 to the present. A functional and synoptic treatment of America's great historical problems.

HST 112   Survey of American History   F 9-9:50, MW 1-1:50 Cobb; F 10-10:50, MW 1-1:50 Cobb; M 7-9:40 Jackson; MW 1-1:50, W 4-4:50 Cobb; MW 1-1:50, W 5-5:50 Cobb; F 8-8:50, MW 1-1:50 Cobb; F 9-9:50, MW 1-1:50 Cobb

Same as 111 above.

HST 219   U.S. Diplomatic History to 1914   MWF 1-1:50 McVety

From 1776 to 1914, emphasizing the conflicts over issues of isolationism, neutrality, manifest destiny, imperialism, arms control, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Open Door.

HST 361 Colonial America   TR 2-3:15 Pestana

        Colonial American history has traditionally been taught as the first (and least important) chapter of the history of the United States. This course will attempt to complicate that traditional approach by placing the British colonies in North America in a number of broader contexts. We will not only think about British North America as only one part of the British colonial endeavor, we will also consider British colonization and empire as only one of a number of examples of European expansion in the early modern period. The course will attempt to assess the colonies on their own terms, looking at a number of topics of significance to the colonists themselves and of interest to us.

HST 369 20 th Century America Since 1933   TR 8-9:15 Winkler

Social, cultural, economic, and political developments in the United States from the New Deal to the present.

HST 371   Native American History to 1800   MWF 10-10:50 Cobb

The varieities of historical experience among the Indian peoples of the Americas over three centuries of European colonialism.

Interdisciplinary Studies

IDS 153   American and World Cultures   W 3-3:50 Berman

Seminar designed to enable students to enhance knowledge and understanding of the contributions diversity makes in society. Students will learn about and reflect on the intersections of the social identities of gender, age, class, race, sexual orientation, ability, religion, and culture. Course involves attending a series of lectures by eminent scholars, followed by class discussion and critique of the scholarships and presentations of these eminent scholars.

IDS 159   Strength Through Cultural Diversity   TR 2-3:15 Mogga; W 5-7:40

Mogga; TR 12:30-1:45 Heuberger; TR 2-3:15 Nelson; TR 3:30-4:45 Nelson; W 6-8:40 Green; TR 12:30-1:45 Campbell; TR 2-3:15 Yates; TR 2-3:15 Campbell

Helps students function effectively in an increasingly diverse global society. With culture defined as "the way we do things around here," conflict is viewed as a natural result of interactions among people. Emphasis on applying the concepts of culture to a variety of countries and to subcultures of the U.S. so that students learn how conflict arises and how negotiation skills can be used to manage conflict.

Music

MUS 135   Historical Survey of Jazz   MWF 11-11:50 Kernodle

Evolution of jazz in the United States from its origins to the present. Emphasis placed on developing aural perceptions of stylistic differences between historical periods and significant performers.

Physical Education, Health, and Sports Studies

PHS 378   Sport and Social Status   11-12:15 Harris

                             Focuses on allocation and socialization. Emphasis upon power in social structure as evidenced in class, status, gender, and race relations.

PHS 475   Women, Gender Relations, and Sport   TR 9:30-10:45 McDonald

Explores the meanings of women's participation in sport and physical activity using sociological, feminist, and cultural studies perspectives. Special consideration given to the ideological significance of sport in U.S. culture and ways in which sporting women accept and challenge contemporary gender relations.

Political Science

POL 343   American Presidency   TR 12:30-1:45 Barilleaux

Evolution of the presidency, its powers and restraints; organizing and using White House staff; executive decision-making; contemporary views of the office.

POL 352   Constitutional Law and Politics   MWF 11-12:10 Staff; TR 11-12:50 Staff

Supreme Court as a legal and political institution; leading judicial decisions with respect to separation of powers and federalism.

POL 353   Constitutional Rights and Liberties   MWF 2-310 Staff

Leading cases and related materials on the Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment.

POL 356   Mass Media and Politics   TR 9:30-10:45 Kelley

Mass media, especially television, in politics in the United States, with comparisons to nature, roles, and impacts on politics of the mass media in other countries. Emphasis given to mass media as instruments of political communication and opinion leadership, and as tools of political influence and control.

POL 373   American Foreign Policy   TR 3:30-4:45 Haney; MWF 8-8:50 Rothgeb

Theoretical and case studies in the formulation and conduct of American foreign policy; analysis of the role of personality, intelligence gathering, decision making, and diplomacy in the execution of foreign policy.

POL 439   North American Politics: Unity and Diversity   M 9-11:50 Vanderbush

Focuses on the political, economic, and sociocultural integration of North America, as well as factors that impede such integration. Themes may include regionalism, NAFTA, immigration, labor organizing, women's movements, race and ethnicity, and environmental policy making. Students are expected to analyze issues from a diversity of perspectives and to participate actively in a collaborative learning environment.

POL 459   Capstone Seminar on the American Political System   W 10-12:50 Staff

Examination of broad themes on the American political system through readings, research, writing, presentations, and discussions. Topics vary, within the broad themes denoted below, according to section. Prerequisite: open to seniors who are majors in the department or who have completed a Thematic Sequence in National Political Institutions, Public Law, or Effective Citizenship.

Psychology

PSY 210   Psychology Across Cultures   TR 11-12:15 Knudson

           No description available.

PSY 325   Psychology of Prejudice and Minority Experience   TR 3:30-4:45 Staff

Consideration of psychological factors underlying prejudice toward racial, ethnic, and other minorities. Impact of prejudice and discrimination on members of minority groups.

Sociology

SOC 152   Social Relations and US   TR 12-1:50 Bulanda; TR 10-11:50 Bulanda

No description available.

SOC 448   The African-American Experience   TR 3:30-4:45 Coates

Concentrates on a socio-historical analysis of the African-American experience. Purpose is to investigate and understand the interaction between race, power, privilege, institutional structures, and ideas associated with this experience in America; provides alternative perspective for viewing this experience.

Theater

THE 393   Culture, Ethnicity, and Gender Issues in Dramatic Literature   TR

9:30-10:45 Jackson

May be offered with various focuses (including African, African American, Latin American, Asian American, feminist perspectives, as well as others); explores alternative cultural, ethnic, and gender issues in dramatic literature. Emphasis on developing student appreciation of and critical response to traditional and nontraditional forms of drama.

THE 493   American Theater   MWF 4-450 Mullenix

Major playwrights, performers, and critics who shaped the course of theatre from Hallam Company to Theatrical Syndicate. Emphasis placed on development of indigenous drama in 19th century.

Women's Studies

WMS 201   Introduction to Women's Studies   TR 2-3:15 Detloff; M 4-6:40 Howard

Interdisciplinary introduction to the study of women which focuses on determinants and expressions of women's roles.