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American Studies 202 Syllabus Fall 1996

  • indicates a textbook available from the Grecourt Bookstore or on reserve at Neilson Library.
  • indicates a reading from the copy packet available from Paradise Copies on Crafts Avenue.
  • indicates an online reading; only required readings are listed here (Optional online readings are in the "Related Sites and Optional Readings sections.)
  1. Introduction: On the origins and meaning of "culture"
    9/4
  2. The Evolution of a Field
    9/10
    • Henry Nash Smith, "Can American Studies Develop a Method?" (l957)
    • Susan Willis, "Learning from the Banana" (1977)
    9/12
  3. Anthropological Approaches to Culture
    9/17
    • Clifford Geertz, 'Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfights' (1972)
    9/19-9/26
  4. Feminist Critique of the Literary Canon
    10/1-10/3
  5. Gender and Popular Literature
    10/8-10/10
  6. Public Art and Popular Reaction 10/17-10/22
  7. Media, Popular Culture, and American Studies
    10/24-10/29
  8. Popular Culture and Cultural History
    10/31
  9. Methods of Biographical Research
    11/5
  10. Gender and Popular Culture in Postwar America
    11/7
    • Regina Kunzel, "Pulp Fictions and Problem Girls: Reading and Rewriting Single Pregnancy in the Postwar United States" (1995)
    11/12
  11. Interrogating Race
    11/19
    • Shelley Fisher Fishkin, "Interrogating 'Whiteness,' Complicating 'Blackness': Remapping American Culture," (1995)
    11/21
  12. Debates Over Multiculturalism
    11/26
    • Manning Marable, "Black Studies, Multiculturalism and the Future of American Education," (1995)
    • excerpts from Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., The Disuniting of America(1991) or Dinah DeSouza An Illiberal Education (1991) [To be distributed.]
    • Related Sites and Optional Readings
  13. Recent Work in American Studies
    11/23
    • Tricia Rose, Black Noise
    11/25
  14. Student Presentations
    12/10-12/12
      In this last week of class you will share the results of your independent work with other members of the seminar. Please limit your presentations to 15 minutes. We'll use an additional 5 minutes for feedback and discussion.

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