American Studies Courses

SPRING 2013

FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE SEMINARS

(Limited Enrollment - Classes of less than 20 students -Preference given to first-year students and sophomore)

 

AMST 0190X: Gendered Mobility: Migrant Women Workers in a Globalized Economy [I hour]Today's women workers migrate at a historically unprecedented rate. This class looks at Third World women who migrate for work in global cities. We examine their experiences through the intersectional lens of gender, race, class, and nationality. Enrollment limited to 17. WRIT Maria Hwanghouses

AMST 0191J: These Are The Breaks? Rethinking Black Performance in the 20th Century [AB hour] In this course students will look critically at cabaret, documentary film, theatre, dance, popular music, and museum exhibitions, rethinking the ways that Black performances have been configured in debates about American identity in the 20th Century. Enrollment limited to 17. WRIT Micah Salkind

AMST 0191L: Are You Creative?: The Rise of a Modern Virtue [K hour] Are you creative, or, even, a “creative”? Do you plan to be an entrepreneur, a writer, or an artist? Today, “creativity” is championed by education activists, fringe artists, and corporate CEOs alike. This course gives a critical perspective by tracing the biography of an idea through various fields. Enrollment limited to 17. WRIT Samuel Franklin

AMST 0191M: The Vietnam War & Visual Culture [H hour]This course examines how our understanding of one of the most mediated armed conflicts of the twentieth century has changed. Why has "Vietnam" become a metaphor for imperial wars and how has it figured in cultural production within and beyond the United States? Enrollment limited to 17. WRIT Crystal Ngo

AMST 0191N: Beyond Entrepreneurs, Adoptees, and G.I. Wives: Korean American Experiences [H hour] What does it mean to be Korean American? This course explores the historical and contemporary experiences of people of Korean descent in the United States. In the broader context of U.S.-Korean/Asian relations and through the lenses of race, ethnicity, class, and gender, this course will examine the connections and differences in the lives of diverse Korean populations. Enrollment limited to 17. WRIT Jin Suk Bae

Lectures

(THE FOLLOWING IS THE LISTING OF UNLIMITED ENROLLMENT COURSES. APPROPRIATE FOR ALL LEVELS)

AMST 1010: Introduction to American Studies: American Icons [F hour]Studying a collection of American images, texts, places, and practices - ranging from Rambo to Ricky Bobby, from Hurricane Katrina to Kara Walker, and from Honey Boo Boo to Haiti - this course interrogates the key, iconic features of the broader American landscape. Matt Guterl

AMST 1550: Methods in Public Humanities [I hour] A survey of the skills required for public humanities work. Presentations from local and national practitioners in a diverse range of public humanities topics: historic preservation, oral history, exhibition development, archival and curatorial skills, radio and television documentaries, public art, local history, and more. Enrollment limited to 50. Steven Lubar

AMST 1611Z: The Century of Immigration [G hour] Examines in depth the period of immigration that stretched from the 1820s through the 1920s and witnessed the migration of over 36 million Europeans, Asians, Canadians, and Latin Americans to the United States. Explores causal theories of migration and settlement, examines the role of family, religion, work, politics, cultural production, and entertainment in immigrant/ethnic communities, and traces the development and impact of federal immigration policy. Richard Meckel

AMST 1612S: Introduction to American Indian Studies (ETHN 1890H) Introduces students to both historical and contemporary issues in North America. Issues of identity, sovereignty, representation and self-representation are key components. Because this course is inter-disciplinary, we will use texts from anthropology, cultural studies, history, film and literature as tools to understand and appreciate the ways in which American Indian cultures survive, flourish and shape the United States. Elizabeth Hoover

AMST 1612T: Slackers & Hipsters: Urban Fictions, 1850-Present [J hour]Slackers and Hipsters surveys the cult of the cool and disaffected in literature and film over two centuries. Beginning with Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivner," but also sampling works as varied as Chatterjee's English August and Kunkel's Indecision, we'll examine both the aesthetic and political implications of the "slacker" in his/her ironic, apathetic, and peculiarly alienated view of the world. Radiclani Clytus

AMST 1612V: History of Religion in America, 1600-1865 (HIST 1800)[T R 10:30 - 11:50 am]This course considers the major people, events, and issues in the history of religion in North America, from pre-Columbian Native cosmologies to the tumultuous events of the Civil War. Attention will be given to "religion as lived" by ordinary people, as well as to the ways that "religion" shaped (or not) larger cultural issues such as immigration, public policy, social reform, warfare, democracy, slavery, and women's rights. Linford Fisher

AMST 1612W: Rethinking Women’s Bodies and Rights: Transnational Reproductive Politics [C hour] This course examines the issues and debates surrounding women’s reproduction in the United States and beyond. It pays special attention to how knowledge and technology travel across national/cultural borders and how women’s reproductive functions are deeply connected to international politics and events abroad. Aiko Takeuchi

SEMINARS

THE SEMINARS BELOW ARE GENERALLY FOR JUNIORS AND SENIORS, BUT SOMETIMES SOPHOMORES ARE ADMITTED)

AMST 1700I: Community Engagement with Health and the Environment [N hour]This junior seminar explores how local community organizations are taking up issues of health and the environment in culturally relevant contexts. We will examine issues of environmental justice, health disparities and the basic tenets of community based participatory research. We will then partner with a local community organization and, depending on need, assist in the design, implementation, and/or evaluation of a program designed to improve the local environment and/or health status of the community. Enrollment limited to 20 junior and senior American Studies concentrators. WRI. Elizabeth Hoover

AMST 1903G: Oral History and Community Memory [P hour] Students in this seminar will conduct oral history interviews and archival research to create an audio and visual history of one Providence neighborhood. Collected materials will be prepared for public presentation as a walking tour and web site. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors. Anne Valk

AMST 1903G: Oral History and Community Memory [Conference] [R 12:00 pm - 01:15 pm] Students in this seminar will conduct oral history interviews and archival research to create an audio and visual history of one Providence neighborhood. Collected materials will be prepared for public presentation as a walking tour and web site. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors. Anne Valk

AMST 1904J: The Asian American Movement: Communities, Politics and Culture [M hour] In 1969 students at S.F. State College invented a new social category; they called it Asian America. This seminar begins with an examination the Asian American Movement, its origins and aspirations, its ideological cross currents, its failures and enduring legacies. But the central question we will ask is, what relevance does the Asian American Movement have for struggles for social justice today? Robert Lee

AMST 1904M: Charles Chapin and the Urban Public Health Movement [Q hour] Examines the science, politics, and programs of the 19th and early 20th century urban public health movement. Scope will be national but the focus will be on Providence, particularly during the tenure of Charles Chapin as Superintendent of Health. Will result in the mounting of an exhibit illustrating and explaining one of facet of the movement. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors. Richard Meckel

AMST 1904S: Ethnic American Folklore: Continuity and the Creative Process [P hour] The course investigates how folklore and the oral culture of diverse cultural groups have transformed within their texts and in their creative representations and meanings. It looks into the dynamics of cultural continuity and the creative process involved, from oral narratives, foodscape, family lore, the senses of place, and the senses of home. Wanni Anderson

AMST 1904Y: Lincoln, Whitman, and The Civil War (ENGL 1561O) (M Hour)A literary and cultural history of the Civil War with special emphasis on Whitman’s poetry and Lincoln's addresses and letters. It focuses on issues of race, democracy, and modernity. Enrollment limited to 20. LILE Philip Gould

AMST 1905A: Crises in American Capitalism (O Hour) We are now in the midst of what is commonly called the Great Recession—the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression. This course investigates these two crises in American capitalism: how they were caused, resisted, represented, and remembered. Students will be asked to interrogate the meanings of these economic crises, and to consider their various political and cultural uses. Assigned texts will include history, fiction, journalism, film, memoir, and photography. Brenda Carter