- This course introduces scholarly approaches to the study of American culture and American life. Each week we will compare the unique vantage points of different disciplines, different eras, and different kinds of texts, including autobiography, biography, law and social policy, painting, photography, music, advertising, criticism, film, ethnographic research, speeches, poetry, novels, and the built environment.
But we will also look at these themes in terms of interdisciplinary perspectives, experimental textual forms, and artifacts of questionable origin: social critique in novels and photographs, talk show appearances, counterfeit souvenirs, video performance, “secret” flight logs, and web commentary. Exploring notions of authorship, authenticity, and legitimacy in this way provides additional purchase on the boundaries of American studies and the audiences for American texts.
In order to begin their own investigations of these questions, students will engage in class discussions and online discussions on the assigned texts, and will pursue their own research and analysis in an essay portfolio. The capstone of the portfolio work will be a final research paper.