American Studies Courses

Fall 2012

FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE SEMINARS

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

AMST 0191H: "My Body, My Choice"?: Reproductive Politics in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade [WRIT] [J hour]From waiting periods to mandatory ultrasounds, a record number of provisions aimed at restricting women's access to abortion were enacted in 24 U.S. states in 2011. Dubbed the "war on women" by numerous observers, these legislative battles evidence the difficulty in determining reproduction's "proper" place in governmental politics. But is there more to this battle than abortion? Beginning with Roe v. Wade, this course explores how welfare, labor, citizenship, the family, religion, and activism alter mainstream conceptions of reproductive politics. Using a variety of sources, including films and websites, we will consider what an expansive reproductive freedom might entail. Sara Matthiesen

AMST 0191I: Mapping the South Asian Diaspora: Citizenship, Identity and Popular Culture [WRIT] [H hour] This course looks at the migration and cultural productions of the South Asian diasporic communities in the U.S. and England. We'll explore how South Asian immigrants navigate questions of citizenship and identity, while maintaining (or disrupting) connections to the South Asian subcontinent. Through an examination of the ways in which gender, nationalism, class, and sexuality are discussed and performed in literature, film and television, we can trouble the idea of a singular way of being South Asian, causing us to question how we read "home" and "abroad." Pia Sahni

Lectures

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

AMST 1250G: Topics in Material Culture Studies: The Arts and Crafts Movement in America 1880-1920 [I hour] In the 1880s an international movement to reform the design of buildings and their furnishings took hold in America. Its proponents wanted to improve visual culture in America by advocating the pride and honesty of craftsmanship and by embracing the ideal of unity of design, but more important, they hoped to change the way Americans lived and worked. This course examines the architecture, furniture, silver, ceramics, and printed works of the Arts & Crafts Movement in America from 1880 -1920. Understanding and interpreting material life is emphasized through local field trips and first-hand experience with the collections of the RISD Museum. Robert Emlen

AMST 1611A: Making America: Twentieth-Century U.S. Immigrant/Ethnic Literature [J hour]Examines the literature of first and second generation immigrant/ethnic writers from 1900 to the 1970's. Attempts to place the individual works (primarily novels) in their literary and sociocultural contexts, examining them as conscious works of literature written within and against American and imported literary traditions and as creative contributions to an ongoing national discourse on immigration and ethnicity. Richard Meckel

AMST 1612D: Cities of Sound: Place and History in American Pop Music [F hour]This course investigates the relationship between popular music and cities. We will look at a number of case studies from the history of music in the twentieth century. We will try to tease out the ways that certain places produce or influence certain sounds and the ways that musicians reflect on the places they come from in their music. Accordingly, we will consider both the social and cultural history of particular cities and regions--New Orleans, Memphis, Chicago, New York, Washington DC, and others--and aesthetic and cultural analyses of various forms of music--including blues, jazz, punk, hip-hop, and others. Samuel Zipp

AMST 1612Q: Women / Writing / Power [I hour]An introduction to American women's writing and to the development of feminist literary practice and theory. This course will cover a broad historical range from the colonial poets Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley to contemporary writers Toni Morrison, a Nobel Laureate, and Marilynne Robinson, a Pulitzer Prize winner. Attention to the effects of racial, class, and cultural differences will inform this course that will focus on gender and literature. Beverly Haviland

SEMINARS

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

AMST 1700G: Public Memory: Narratives of 9/11 [WRIT] [Q hour]This junior seminar will focus on narratives concerned with the events of 9/11 and their aftermath: documentary, testimony, stories, memoirs, novels, graphic novels and feature films. We will also study and visit some of the memorials and museums that have been proposed or created in connection to 9/11 and consider them in the context of public memory and public art. Course work will require a project or research paper that engages the question of the role of the humanities in the creation of the public memory of catastrophic events. Enrollment limited to 20 junior and senior American Studies concentrators. Beverly Haviland

AMST 1904F The American Experience: The Southeast Asian Refugees/American [P hour]Explores the complexity of the American experience, the displacements and diasporas of the Vietnamese, the Cambodians, the Hmong, the Lao, and the Iu Mien in America through multiplicity of perspectives and interdisciplinary approach. Special emphases are on the reinvention of new lives in New World, the American-born generation, how the American-ness and the sense of "home" are constructed, defined, and contested through literary and cinematic works, self-representations, and cultural productions written and produced by these new Asian Americans themselves. Enrollment limited to 20. Wanni Anderson

AMST 1904H: The Teen Age: Youth, Society and Culture in Early Cold War America [M hour]An interdisciplinary and multimedia exploration of the experiences, culture, and representation of youth in the United States from the end of World War II through the beginning of the Vietnam War. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors. Richard Meckel

AMST 1904U: Museum Collecting and Collections [J hour]This course will explore and examine the methods, practices, and theory of collections management in a museum setting including collections development, museum registration methods, cataloging, collections care, and interpretation. Through readings, discussion, workshops, site visits, and exhibitions, students will explore what it means to be physically and intellectually responsible for museum objects. This course places heavy emphasis on experiential learning and will include several project-based assignments. Ronald Potvin

AMST 1904V: Decolonizing Minds: A People's History of the World [N hour]This seminar will explore the knowledge-production and military-financial infrastructures that maintain empires, as well as the means through which people have either resisted or embraced empire. While some attention will be made to the 19th and early 20th century colonial context, the bulk of the course will focus on the Cold War liberal era to the neoliberal regime that continues today. Possible topics include: popular culture and ideology, the Cold War university, area studies, international anti-war networks, transnational labor activism, the anti-colonial radical tradition, and the Arab Spring/Occupy Movements. Weekly readings; evaluation based on participation and analytical essays. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors. Naoko Shibusawa

AMST 1904W: Native American Environmental Health Movements (ETHN 1890J)American Indian reservations are home to countless sources of environmental contamination, which impact residents' health and ability to maintain cultural practices. In response to this assault, and the numerous scientific studies that often follow, Native communities are taking charge of the research process, and partnering with scientists to explore health affects and remediation possibilities. Through case studies, we will examine how Native communities are pushing to "indigenize" the research process. This class is broadly interdisciplinary, and will be useful for students interested in contemporary issues in Native American communities, and students intending to conduct scientific research in minority communities. Enrollment limited to 20. Interested students must register for ETHN 1890J S01 (CRN 15276). Elizabeth Hoover

AMST 1904Z Old Media New Artists: Innovation and Contingency in African American Culture [Q hour] What are the defining characteristics of newness in twentieth-century African American culture? How have black creative artists repurposed their respective disciplines in accordance with and against the shifting proclivities of African American social politics? Through an interdisciplinary focus that considers music, literature, visual arts, and interactive media, this seminar proposes several alternative epistemological frameworks for recognizing the emerging artistry of our time. Radiclani Clytus

GRADUATE SEMINARS

(THE SEMINARS LISTED BELOW ARE GENERALLY FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS, BUT SOMETIMES SENIORS ARE ADMITTED)

Spring 2013

FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE SEMINARS

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

AMST 0191J: These Are The Breaks? Rethinking Black Performance in the 20th Century [WRIT] [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. Rather than try to understand Black performance, and performers, in reductive aesthetic and political frameworks, students will read and write about them as heterogeneous and complex. Micah Salkind

Lectures

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

AMST 1010: Introduction to American Studies: American Icons [F hour]Why do certain American photos, novels, and films become 'iconic?' What does the very word 'icon' mean? Studying a collection of American images, texts, places, and practices, this course investigates the key themes of American Studies. Elliott Gorn

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 1610G: Asian American History [H hour] A survey of the history of Asians in the U.S. from the early 19th century to the present. Focuses on the changing patterns of immigration, labor, community building, and civil rights struggles. Robert Lee

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. No special background is required. All students are welcome. Enrollment limited to 30. Interested students must register for ETHN 1890H S01 (CRN 24626). 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

SEMINARS

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

AMST 1700I: Community Engagement with Health and the Environment [WRIT] [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. 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 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 [M 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. At the juncture of the oral, the written, the popular, and the high tech, what are the new cultural forms, new cultural products, communication milieu and venues negotiated and contested. Anthropological field research methods and training will be a major emphasis of the course. Wanni Anderson

AMST 1904Y: Lincoln, Whitman, and The Civil War (ENGL 1561O)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. Interested students must register for ENGL 1561O S01 (CRN 24715). Philip Gould