American Studies 340 - SYMP IN AMS: CULTUR&CATASTROPH

Topics course. Limited to senior majors: According to a growing number of social theorists and scientists, the critical task of our time is to grasp the enviromental conditions, economic systems, technological developments, and political ideologies that have set us on a path to converging and compounding catastrophes: climate change, resource exhaustion, inequality, social fragmentation, and political repression. This course begins by examining how these conditions have shaped American culture, and asks why news broadcasts, the entertainment industry, and social media so often respond to crises with distraction, diversion, disinformatin, fear-mongering, and scapegoating. We explore the effots of artists and activists to divise expressive forms (in visual arts, fiction, poetry, essays, movies, music) to constructively confront social and environmental hazards.

Instructor Permission. Limited to AMS majors Limited to seniors