American Studies
201W
Introduction to American
Studies
Required texts:
Schedule
Week 1
Thursday: course introduction, discussion of syllabus: what is American? What is American Studies?
Week 2
Tuesday: Henry Nash Smith, "Can 'American Studies' Develop a Method?"; Warren I. Susman, "History and the American Intellectual: Uses of a Usable Past"; and Bruce Kuklick, "Myth and Symbol in American Studies" (all in Maddox, ed., Locating American Studies; please also read the commentaries by Lawrence Buell, Michael Frisch, and Howard P. Segal)
Thursday: Gene Wise, " 'Paradigm Dramas' in American Studies: A Cultural and Institutional History of the Movement"; Robert F. Berkhofer, Jr., "A New Context for a New American Studies?"; and George Lipsitz, "Listening to Learn and Learning to Listen: Popular Culture, Cultural Theory, and American Studies" (all in Maddox, ed., Locating American Studies; please also read the commentaries by Jay Mechling, Barry Shank, and Amy Kaplan)
Week 3
Tuesday: John Higham, "The Immigrant in American History"; Abraham Cahan, "Yekl," pp. 167-198 (section 1, "Jake and Yekl," to end of section 3, "In the Grip of his Past"); paper topics distributed
Thursday: "Yekl," pp. 199-254 (section 4, "The Meeting," to conclusion)
Week 4
Monday: screening of Hester Street
Tuesday: Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing About Film, chapters 1-4; discussion of Hester Street
Wednesday: first paper due
Thursday: Mae M. Ngai, "Introduction: Illegal Aliens: A Problem of Law and History" and "The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 and the Reconstruction of Race in Immigration Law"
Week 5
Tuesday: Henry Roth, Call It Sleep: Prologue; Book I: The Cellar
Thursday: Call It Sleep: Book II: The Picture
Week 6
Tuesday: Call It Sleep: Book III: The Coal; Book IV: The Rail, sections I-X
Thursday: Call It Sleep: Book IV: The Rail, sections XI-XXII; paper topics distributed
Week 7
Tuesday: Frederick Jackson Turner, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History"; Alan Taylor, "Introduction," "Natives," "Colonizers," "The Great Plains"
Thursday: Luther Standing Bear, My People the Sioux: preface, introduction, chapters I-XIII
Week 8
Monday: second paper due
Tuesday: My People the Sioux, chapters XIV-XXVI
Thursday: fall break, no class
Week 9
Tuesday: K. Scott Wong, "The Transformation of Culture: Three Chinese Views of America" (in Maddox, ed., Locating American Studies; please also read the commentary by Gary Y. Okihiro)
Wednesday: screening of Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision
Thursday: Maya Lin, "Vietnam Veteran's Memorial" and "Existing Outside"; discussion of A Strong Clear Vision
Week 10
Tuesday: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam" and Cmdr. George L. Jackson, "Constraints of the Negro Civil Rights Movement on American Miliary Effectiveness"
Thursday: A. J. Verdelle, The Good Negress: "This Rain Coming" to "Hay Dreams" (pp. 1-57); paper topics distributed
Week 11
Tuesday: The Good Negress: "Girl Baby" to "All Lined Up and Smiling" (pp. 58-102)
Thursday: The Good Negress: "Gibraltar Jones" to "The Language of Mastery" (pp. 103-194)
Week 12
Monday: third paper due
Tuesday: The Good Negress: "Appliances Soldiered All Around" to "Years Like Riots" (pp. 195-299)
Thursday: no class
Week 13
Tuesday: Houston A. Baker, Jr., "Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance" (in Maddox, ed., Locating American Studies; please also read the commentary by Robert B. Stepto)
Wednesday: screening of The Great White Hope
Thursday: discussion of The Great White Hope
Week 14
Thanksgiving break
Week 15
Tuesday: Ramón Guitiérrez, "Community, Patriarchy and Individualism: The Politics of Chicano History and the Dream of Equality" (in Maddox, ed., Locating American Studies; please also read the commentary by Vicki L. Ruiz); paper topics distributed
Thursday: Junot Diaz, Drown, pp. 3-117 ("Ysrael" to "Boyfriend")
Week 16
Tuesday: Junot Diaz, Drown, pp. 121-208 ("Edison, New Jersey" to "Negocios")
Thursday: last thoughts
Friday: final paper due
How your final grade is determined:
