Recommended Courses for AMS Credit

This list contains most, but not all, of the courses that can count toward American Studies. The list of courses is not meant to be exhaustive but rather to indicate the range of possibilities within the major. We encourage majors and prospective majors to discuss other possibilities with their advisers, or with the Director of the American Studies Program, Professor Michael Thurston, Seelye Hall #416, ext. 3385.

Students are especially encouraged to consider courses in Afro-American studies, and Latin American and Latino/a studies. In addition, students should explore the relevant offerings in the Five Colleges. Students are especially alerted to courses in the Five College Program in Asian/Pacific/American Studies, which are very likely to count toward the AMS major.

Codes

L Literarure
H Historical studies
S Social science
N Natural science
M Mathematics and analytic philosophy
A The arts
F A foreign language

Afro-American Studies

AAS 111 Introduction to Black Culture (S)

AAS 117 History of Afro-American People to 1960 (H)

AAS 202 Topics in Black Studies

Topic: Yet Do I marvel: The African American Poetic Tradition (L)

AAS 278 The '60's: A History of Afro-Americans in the United States From 1954 to 1970 (H)

AAS 335 Seminar: Free Blacks in the U.S. Before 1865 (H)

American Studies

All courses count towards the major except AMS 100 and AMS 102.

Anthropology

Some courses in anthropology may count toward the major, depending on the student's focus. Anthropology courses provide an excellent way to fulfill the "explicit comparison" requirement.

Biological Sciences

BIO 101 Modern Biology for the Concerned Citizen (N)

Chemistry

CHM 108 Environmental Chemistry (N)

Economics

ECO 224 Environmental Economics (S)

ECO 230 Urban Economics (S)

ECO 231 The Sports Economy (S)

ECO 233 Free Market Economics (S)

ECO 265 Economics of Corporate Finance (S)

ECO 275 Money and Banking (S)

ECO 314 Seminar: Industrial Organization and Antitrust Policy (S)

ECO 331 Seminar: The Economics of College Sports and Title IX (S)

ECO 341 Economics of Health Care (S)

ECO 351 Seminar: The Economics of Education (S)

ECO 363 Seminar: Inequality (S)

Education & Child Study

EDC 110 Introduction to American Education (S)

EDC 232 The American Middle School and High School (S)

EDC 235 Child and Adolescent Growth and Development (S)

EDC 336 Seminar in American Education

Topic: Urban Educational Reform, Policy and Practice.

English Language & Literature

ENG 120 Colloquia in Literature (L)
(Will count when course focuses on U.S. material)

ENG 231 American Literature Before 1865 (L)

ENG 233 American Literature From 1865 to 1914 (L)

Exercise & Sport Studies

ESS 200 Sport: In Search of the American Dream (H/S)

Film Studies

FLS 200 Introduction to Film Studies (H)

First-Year Seminars

First-year seminars will count when the course focuses on United States material.

Government

GOV 190 Empirical Methods in Political Science (S/M)

GOV 200 American Government (S)

GOV 201 American Constitutional Interpretation (S)

GOV 202 American Constitutional Law: The Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment (S)

GOV 206 The American Presidency (S)

GOV 207 Politics of Public Policy (S)

GOV 208 Elections in the Political Order (S)

GOV 213 Colloquium: The Bush Years (S)

GOV 215 Colloquium: The Clinton Years (S)

GOV 237 Colloquium: Politics and the U.S./Mexico Border (S)

GOV 304 Seminar in American Government

Topic: Inequality, Social Policy, and the Politics of Methods. Who Counts? (S)

GOV 306 Seminar in American Government

Topic: Politics and the Environment (S)

GOV 307 Seminar in American Government

Topic: Latinos and Immigration Politics in the U.S. (S)

GOV 312 Seminar in American Government.

Topic: Political Behavior in the United States (S)

History

HST 265 Race, Gender and United States Citizenship, 1776-1861 (H)

HST 267 The United States Since 1877 (H)

HST 278 Women in the United States, 1865- Present (H)

HST 371 Problems in 19th-Century United States History

Topic: African-American Historical memory. (H)

HST 372 Problems in American History

Topic: Cross-Cultural Captivity in North America, 1500-1860 (H)

HST 383 Research in United States Women's History: The Sophia Smith Collection (H)

HST 390 Teaching History (H)

Landscape Studies

LSS 100 Landscape, Environment, and Design

LSS 105 Introduction to Landscape Studies

LSS 200 Socialized Landscapes: Private Squalor and Public Affluence (H/S/A)

Latin American and Latino/a Studies

Courses in this program are good ways to meet the "explicit comparison" requirement.

Music

MUS 100 Colloquia
(Will count when course focuses on U.S. material)

Psychology

PSY 225 Health Psychology (S/N)

PSY 241 Psychology of Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood (S/N)

PSY 243 Adult Development (S/N)

PSY 246 Colloquium: Psychology of Asian American Experiences (S)

PSY 247 Psychology of the Black Experience (S/N)

PSY 252 Abnormal Psychology (N)

PSY 265 Colloquium: Political Psychology (S)

PSY 266 Psychology of Women and Gender (S/N)

PSY 269 Colloquium: Categorization and Intergroup Behavior (S/N)

PSY 270 Social Psychology (N)

PSY 333 Seminar in Developmental Psychology (N)

Identity in Psychology, Fiction and Autobiography

PSY 342 Seminar: Psychology of Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood among U.S. Hispanics (S)

PSY 369 Research Seminar on Categorization and Intergroup Behavior (N)

PSY 371 Seminar in Personality (S/N)

Topic: Well Being

PSY 374 Psychology of Political Activism (S)

PSY 375 Research Seminar on Political Psychology (N)

Public Policy

PPL 220 Public Policy Analysis (S)

PPL 250 Race and Public Policy in the United States (S)

PPL 390 Senior Public Policy Workshop (S)

Sociology

SOC 101 Colloquium: Introduction to Sociology (S)
(Will count when course focuses on U.S. material)

SOC 201 Evaluating Information (M)

SOC 202 Quantitative Research Methods (S/M)

SOC 203 Qualitative Methods (S)

SOC 212 Class and Society (S)

SOC 213 Race and National Identity in the United States (S)

SOC 218 Urban Sociology (S)

SOC 219 Medical Sociology (S)

SOC 229 Sex and Gender in American Society (S)

SOC 250 Theories of Society (S)

SOC 317 Seminar: Inequality in Higher Education (SS)

SOC 323 Seminar: Gender and Social Change (S)

SOC 333 Social Justice, the Environment and the Corporation

Study of Women & Gender

SWG 150 Introduction to the Study of Women and Gender (H)

SWG 201 Queer Black Studies, An Introduction (L/S)

SWG 205 LGBT History and Politics (H)

SWG 222 Gender, Law and Policy

SWG 230 Feminisms and the Fate of the Planet (H/S)

SWG 270 Colloquium: Documenting Lesbian Lives (H/S)

SWG 312 Queer Resistances: Identities, Communities and Social Movements (H/S)

Theatre

THE 213 American Theatre and Drama (L/H/A)

Interdepartmental/Extradepartmental Course Offerings

IDP 208 Women's Medical Issues (N)