Requirements:
12 semester courses totaling 48 credits, as follows (see check list at
end of Handbook):
- AMS 201 and 202.
- Eight courses in the
American field. At least four must be related in a coherent
manner. At least two courses must be in the Humanities and two in
the Social Sciences. At least two must be devoted primarily to the
years before the twentieth century. At least one must be a seminar,
ideally in the theme selected. Students who write honors theses
do not have to take a seminar.
- One course that will enable
the student to make explicit comparisons between the United States
and another society, culture, or region. The purpose of this requirement
is to encourage students to take at least one course in their major
that enables them to think about what they have learned of the U.S.
in comparative perspective. There are relatively few courses in the
Smith curriculum that do this explicitly. Therefore, students can
fulfill this requirement by making such comparisons
on their own but through their engagement with materials and ideas
in a course whose focus is largely outside the U.S. -- courses, for
example, in Anthropology or in non-U.S. history, literature, or art.
-
AMS 340/341.
Focus: Students have chosen
many different ways of giving their major in American Studies a focus
that builds on their own needs and on the College's rich curricular offerings.
Here are some samples of
what they have chosen as the foci of their majors:
Popular Culture/ Mass
Media
FLS 241: Genre/ Period
GOV 210: Public Opinion
and Mass Media in the U.S.
SOC 318: Sociology of Popular
Culture
FLS 200: Introduction to
Film Studies
American Cities
SOC 213: Ethnic Minorities
HST 279: Urban History
EDC 200: Education in the
City
GOV 204: Urban Politics
Racial and Ethnic Diversity
in American Life
ENG 267: Introduction to
Asian American Literature
GOV 310: Native Americans
in American Law and Politics
AAS 248: Gender in the Afro-American
Literary Tradition
SOC 214: Sociology of Hispanic
Caribbean Communities in the U.S.
Public History and the
World of Museums
AMS 302: The Material Culture
of New England
AMS 410: Tutorial on Research
Methods at the Smithsonian
AMS 412: Research Project
at the Smithsonian
19th
Century American Culture and Politics
ENG 248, American Literature
from 1865 to 1914
AAS 335, Free Blacks in the
U.S. before 1865
HST 266, The Age of the American
Civil War
ARH 264, Arts in North America
Double
Majors : Students who double major in American Studies and
another field normally can count toward the American Studies requirements
up to four courses used to fulfill the requirements of another major.
Senior
Certification Form : When indicating on the Senior Certification
Form which 64 courses they have taken outside the major, an American
Studies student can list American subject courses that she does not
need to fulfill the Program's requirements, but not American Studies
courses themselves.
Teaching
Certification : American Studies majors can become licensed,
as under-graduates, to teach in public schools throughout the country.
Licensure is available on the elementary, middle, or secondary levels.
Gaining undergraduate licensure, however, requires careful planning.
Students interested in doing this should decide fairly early in their
undergraduate careers, usually by the end of sophomore year.
Students
who are considering obtaining a teaching license should contact Rosetta
Cohen, or any other member of the Department of Education and Child
Study.
Minor:
There is no minor in American Studies. |
