Fall and spring semesters.

This course is designed to provide American Studies juniors (and others) with a methodological grounding in the discipline and an opportunity to conduct research on a topic of their own choosing. We will engage a wide range of materials and methodologies in this course in order to grasp the broad interdisciplinarity of the field of American Studies.

Fall and spring semesters.

(Offered as ENGL 458 and AMST 358.)  [before 1800]  This course will delve deeply into the literature and history of “Turtle Island,” or North America.  The Quiché Maya Popol Vuh (Council Book), the Iroquois Great Law, and the Wabanaki creation cycle are rooted in longstanding, complex oral narratives of emergence and transformation, which were recorded by Native authors and scribes.  We will close read these epics (in English) as works of “ancient American” literature, as narratives of tribal history, and as living constitutions o

(Offered as AMST 311 and BLST 361 [CLA]).  The course will survey nineteenth- and twentieth-century histories of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the two nations that share the island of Hispaniola. Despite the emergence of distinct national identities in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, their histories are deeply intertwined. We survey the history of Hispaniola in three moments. We begin with the Haitian Revolution. What was the legacy of the Haitian Revolution for Hispaniola in the nineteenth century? We examine the history of abolition, independence, empire, and the peasantry.

(Offered as AMST 260 and SOCI 260.)  Whereas capital, culture, and commerce flow freely in contemporary capitalism, labor does not.  Walls--physical, legal and cultural--aim to keep certain people in and “others” out.  In this course we explore the sociological forces behind cross-border labor flows and the parallel reality of immigrant life.  We focus specifically on the experience of Latinos in the United States.

This course investigates the practice and ideal of community in America both on a national and a local level, asking students to engage in specific projects aimed at strengthening the public sphere and fostering community life. We will consider the nature and limits of democracy, the meaning of belonging, the experience of stigma and exclusion, the concepts of civic responsibility and public discourse, and the conflict and compromises inherent in political advocacy.

The United States has inscribed the separation of church and state into its constitutional order, and yet Americans have for two centuries been more deeply committed to religious faith and practice than any other people in the Western world. This course endeavors to explore that paradox.

The United States has inscribed the separation of church and state into its constitutional order, and yet Americans have for two centuries been more deeply committed to religious faith and practice than any other people in the Western world. This course endeavors to explore that paradox.

This course explores the social and cultural history of sports in American society, focusing on the unique histories of sports such as hunting, soccer, basketball and football and, in particular, their relation to issues of race, ethnicity, and gender. Course materials will include a range of primary and secondary materials: archival photographs, academic monographs and journal articles, documentary films, legal documents, poetry and paintings. The course is discussion-based and includes short writing assignments, collaborative work, and a final exam.