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Spring
2002 Courses AMST
72
AMST 72.12 The course provides a basic chronology and interpretations of American culture from 1890-2000. We will "read" primary texts of autobiographies, photographs, movies, novels, and music. These will be analyzed within a framework that emphasizes four large patterns of the 20th century: shift from a producer to consumer culture; U.S. rise to international economic, military, and cultural dominance; assertions of identities based on race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality; and tensions between private liberty and public obligation. The course requires two short essays, a mid-term, final exam, and regular participation in weekly discussion sections. * Students MUST also register for one discussion section. AMST
167.10 This course will examine American attitudes toward nature and the physical environment over the past 200 years with an emphasis on the conflicts that have arisen between aesthetic and spiritual values and economic and technological development. We will pay particular attention to the changing definitions of nature, wilderness, and natural resources. Readings will be assigned from Carolyn Merchant, ed. MAGOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY and Robert Finch & John Elder, eds. THE NORTON BOOK OF NATURE WRITING. Two short (8-10) papers are required, one a review of a book, exhibition, or film selected from a list of recommended works, the other an essay on a place or personal experience with nature. Field trips and field screenings will be arranged.
AMST 168.10 This seminar introduces students to major methods for understanding and interpreting cultural and historical materials. The course will examine a range of problems, including 1) Definitions of culture; 2) Questions of ideology and stereotypes; 3) the institutions (corporations and individuals) that produce culture; and 4) how different audiences interpret the culture they consume. This course is writing intensive and discussion oriented. American Studies majors or by permission of instructor.
AMST 176.80 Examination of selected aspects of American Architecture from the mid-19th century to the present. Stylistic properties, typological developments, technological innovations, and urbanistic patterns introduced as a means for interpretation of historic meaning. Buildings analyzed both as artifacts and as signifiers of social, cultural, and economic tendencies.
AMST 180.10 Senior research seminar for American Studies majors. During the course students will produce an analytic essay based on primary research in American culture. The course concludes in a public symposium where majors present their research projects.
AMST 186.80 This course explores the history of U.S. urban life and culture, focusing on the period since the late nineteenth century when a majority of Americans have lived either in urban centers or in the suburban developments that sprang up around them. Aproaching the American city as a contested cultural terrain, we will analyze the urban politics of race, class, gender and sexuality; the changing definition of urban work and its effects on life in the city; the reconfiguration of urban space, including the development of parks, apartment buildings and public housing; social and moral reform efforts to police the city and its inhabitants; the role of mass culture and public amusements in shaping urban experience; the rise of popular urban discontent; the increasing tendency toward suburbanization; and the so-called “disintegration” of urban neighborhoods. Although course readings will examine these dynamics in a variety of American cities, students will be encouraged to use this scholarship to develop a more complex understanding of their own urban surroundings and will e required to take a historical walking tour of one Washington, D.C. neighborhood. Class time will consist of two weekly lectures and one smaller section meeting where students will discuss the week’s assigned readings and films. * Students MUST also register for one discussion section.
AMST 187.80 Nearly 80% of Americans live in urban areas under a variety of pressures – social, economic, environmental. The contemporary city has become a bewildering context of hopes, fears and opportunity. Building Cities is intended to provide both background and insights needed by present and prospective urban entrepreneurs and enlightened citizens to play more effective roles in contemporary city-building and renewal. Course requirements are weekly class meetings, required readings, seminar discussions, a field trip, a term paper and a final examination. Selected readings from US and international literature will be assigned.
AMST 192.80 An introduction to the history of American movies emphasizing the art, entertainment, and business contexts of movies from 1896-1996. Required viewing of 21 movies (14 in class + 7 outside.) Required reading: Robert Sklar, Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies (1994); Richard Maltby & Ian Crave, Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction (1995); and Lillian Ross, Picture (1952). Two short papers (5-10 pages), quizzes, and a final exam.
AMST 195.10 1.0-3.0 Credits
AMST 198.80 By examining the works of several important, representative writers, the participants in this course will attempt to "hear" Native North American voices, speaking on their own behalf, about their own concerns. The novels of these writers will be analyzed for what they reveal about Native North American life, past and present, in the United States and Canada. Social, economic, political, psychological, philosophical, and spiritual issues affecting Native Americans, individually and as communities will be included in the discussion, as will various authors' critiques of mainstream American and Canadian society. Besides their representativeness and authenticity as social documents, the texts were selected because they illustrate the many ways in which Native American writers have "appropriated" the genres and sub-genres of mainstream popular fiction (westerns, romances, adventure stories, mysteries, historical novels, science fiction) and reconfigured them to serve their own purposes. AMST
200.10 Directed research project. Only open to honors candidates in American Studies AMST
251.10 Internships and independent study at the Smithsonian
AMST 253.10
AMST 269.10
AMST 272.80 History 272 is a research seminar. During the semester we will emphasize he development of research skills. The final product of the course will not be a seminar paper, however. Rather is will be an extended research proposal. This proposal must include a review of all the relevant secondary material in the area of your proposed research, which explains the importance of the contribution of your project. The proposal must also include an extensive bibliography. Since the research must be drawn, at least in part, from primary sources, the proposal must also include a discussion of archive or library collections and records that are important to your study. There must also be specific information on exactly how these sources will be used in the study. If, for example, you plan to use photos from a Library of Congress collection, you must explain which photos you will use and how they will be used. Further, you must specify the points they will be used to illustrate or how they will be read. In most cases you should have reviewed substantial proportions of the collections you propose to use in your study and be able to write about them with authority. Your research need not be limited to standard academic projects but can also include proposals for exhibits, oral history projects, proposed film projects, tour designs for thematically linked historic sites, and other public history projects. As with any other research project, your proposal must include a thorough discussion of secondary sources, a detailed description of primary resources to be included, and a complete design for project production. Where possible, consultancies will be arranged for those who require specific expertise in exhibit design or film production. Pretend that you are applying to a major funding agency for support. Your job is to convince the officials of that agency that you and your project are worth their money. You must be clear and well focused in your research plan, and you must write your proposal explicitly, displaying your command of the general area and your ability as an accomplished professional who will deliver the final product. AMST
276.80 Analysis of economic techniques and benefits used to encourage the retention and reuse of historic buildings and districts in the United States. Emphasis on revitalization of older commercial centers and the Mainstreet program. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. AMST
278.80 Exploration of scope and purpose of the preservation movement in the United States focusing on developments from the 1960’s to the present. Topics covered include: the emergence of preservation theories in the 19th century, the intent and impact of legislation, organizational dynamics, and preservation as an instrument of change. Discussions with representatives of organizations and government agencies supplement classes.
AMST 284.10 Over the course of the last one hundred and sixty years, photography has emerged as the dominant visual medium in American society. Photographic images have played a central role in mediating our understanding of the different social, political, and cultural landscapes in America. This graduate seminar will consider the many ways in which photography has been practiced by individuals, theorized by visual culture scholars, and incorporated into American life. We will look especially at the unique nature of the medium and interrogate the different traditions and usages that have grown up around it. Readings will comprise a selection of rcent books on the theory and practice of photography in America. AMST
289.10 This graduate course explores the history of U.S. urban life and culture, focusing on the period since the late nineteenth century when a majority of Americans have lived either in urban centers or in the suburban developments that sprang up around them. Approaching he American city as a contested cultural terrain, we will analyze the urban politics of race, class, gender and sexuality; the changing definition of urban work and its effects on life in the city; the reconfiguration of urban space, including the development of parks, apartment buildings and public housing; social and moral reform efforts to police the city and its inhabitants; the role of mass culture and public amusements in shaping urban experience; the rise of pupular urban discontent; the increasing tendency toward suburbanization; and the so-called “disintegration” of urban neighborhoods. Although course readings will examine these dynamics in a variety of American cities, students will be encouraged to use this scholarship to develop a more complex understanding of their own urban surroundings and will be required to take a historical walking tour of one Washington, D.C. neighborhood. Class time will consist of two weekly lectures and a smaller graduate section meeting where students will discuss the week’s assigned readings and films.
AMST 289.11 This graduate seminar examines the use of space, place and identity as categories of analysis in recent American cultural studies. Reading selectively from the field, we will consider the historical construction of space and identity, the extent to which physical spaces have been shaped by various social groups, and the role that particular places have played in grounding historical shifts in the popular conception of race, class, gender and sexuality. Course readings will be drawn from a selection of pivotal theoretical studies on space and identity, including Lefebvre, Soja, de Certeau, Benjamin, Bhabha and Hall, as well as from recent scholarship in literary analysis, visual culture, and social, cultural and public history that makes use of these theoretical approaches.
AMST 295.10 AMST
299.10 AMST
300.10 AMST
352.10 AMST
394.10 AMST
395.10 AMST
398.10 AMST
399.10 |