AMERICAN STUDIES

Professors: Henry Abelove (English), Jeanine Basinger (Film), Neely Bruce (Music), Richard Buel (History), George Creeger (English), Ann duCille (English), Charles Lemert (Sociology), Richard Ohmann (English), Gayle Pemberton (English), Joseph Reed (English), Ronald Schatz (History), Mark Slobin (Music), Richard Slotkin (English), William Stowe (English), Elizabeth Traube (Anthropology)

Associate Professors: Mary Ann Clawson (Sociology), Patricia Hill (History) (Chair), Jerome Long (Religion), Elizabeth Milroy (Art History), Joel Pfister (English), Ashraf Rushdy (English), Joseph Siry (Art History)

Assistant Professors: Indira Karamcheti (English), Jeff Kerr-Richie (History), Sean McCann (English), Claire Potter (History)

Visiting Assistant Professor: Becky Thompson (American Studies, African American Studies)

Wesleyan's interdepartmental program in American Studies provides a broad grounding in the study of U.S. cultural history. The complexity of culture and of its historical development is such that its analysis requires the intellectual tools of more than one discipline and the interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives emerging in American Studies and other interdisciplinary fields. American Studies majors deploy such conceptual tools to examine diverse aspects of social constructions and cultural productions in the United States. Individually designed concentrations, which are the hallmark of American Studies at Wesleyan, allow students to forge interdisciplinary approaches to the particular issues that interest them most, from popular culture and aesthetics to racial politics and gender systems.

A comparative perspective is also essential to an understanding of any culture. Such prominent features of U.S. cultural development as colonialism, slavery, immigration, industrialization, mass culture, gender relations, race and ethnicity, and political culture and state development cry out for comparative treatment. In recognition of the crucial importance of internationalizing and contextualizing the study of the United States, the major incorporates an intra-American component. The hemispheric approach imparts, as the rationale for the Americas graduate program at Brown University argues, "a deeper, richer understanding of the complex histories and societies that resulted from the conflict and confluence of European, indigenous, African, and Asian in the `New World.'"

Major Program. The route into American Studies is completion of at least one semester of one of the following introductory courses: American Studies 151, 152 (U. S. Intellectual History); American Studies 154 (Arts in America): or American Studies 155, 156 (American Literature).

Junior core courses constitute the foundational base for the major. AMST 200 and one junior colloquium are required of every major. "Colonialism and Its Consequences in the Americas" situates American Studies in a hemispheric frame of reference and introduces a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to an intercultural analysis of the Americas. Junior colloquia explore in depth a range of theoretical perspectives utilized in American Studies, consider the history and changing shape of the multifaceted American Studies enterprise, and engage students in research and analysis. Emphases vary among the colloquia, ranging from cultural studies to mass culture, from cultural history to popular culture, from material culture to "Images of America."

In addition to junior core courses and a senior seminar, a major program includes six upper-level electives that focus on the culture of the Americas. The heart of each major's program consists of a cluster of four courses among those electives that form an area of concentration. A concentration within American Studies is an intellectually coherent plan of study, developed in consultation with an advisor, that explores in detail a specific aspect of the culture(s) and society of the United States. It may be built around a discipline (like history, literary criticism, government, sociology), a field (such as cultural studies, ethnic studies, women's studies), or a "problematic" (such as ecology and culture, politics and culture). Frequently chosen areas of concentration include mass culture, film studies, popular culture, ethnicity, urban studies, African American studies, gender studies, and cultural studies. Students are also asked to consolidate the comparative Americas focus by taking two courses that build on the foundation supplied in "Colonialism and Its Consequences." Courses may count both toward a concentration and the Americas component of the major. A senior seminar, essay or thesis that utilizes a hemispheric perspective may count as an Americas course.

Senior Requirement. Senior majors must choose a senior seminar, ordinarily but not necessarily one that facilitates advanced work in their area of concentration. A senior thesis or essay tutorial may be substituted for the seminar requirement. American Studies encourages proposals for senior honors theses, including research projects, critical essays, works of fiction, and other artistic productions.