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 click for larger view "Studio Portrait" - 1929 |
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| The major in American Studies enables a student to pursue her
liberal arts education by focusing on American society and culture in
the past and present. Instead of specializing in one of the traditional
disciplines, she combines several disciplines (e.g., history, art history,
literature, economics) in the sequence of courses she takes to fulfill
her major requirements.
Because of the wide-ranging interests and methods included within the interdisciplinary American Studies Program, careful consultation between a student and her adviser is crucial to the planning of the major. In order to structure their studies of American society and culture, majors will select a focus -- such as an era (e.g. antebellum America, the twentieth century) or a topical concentration (e.g. ethnicity and race, urban life, social policy, material culture, the family, industrialization, the arts, the media, popular culture, comparative American cultures)--which they will explore in at least four courses. It is expected that several courses in the major will explore issues outside the theme. |
All paintings used on the AMS web site are courtesy of the Smith College Museum of Art. Copyright 2001, American Studies Program, Smith College
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