AMERICAN STUDIES MAJOR REQUIREMENTS
AMERICAN STUDIES MINOR
AMERICAN STUDIES PROSEMINARS AND THE SENIOR PAPER

ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES MINOR

The Major in American Studies is an interdisciplinary and comparative Program of Study that addresses the U.S. as the outcome of historical processes that are both national in contour and also global in scope. Such processes include migration, labor accumulation, land acquisition, cultural dissemination, implications of U.S. laws and policies, and identity formations around gender, sexuality, and race.

As an interdisciplinary enterprise, American Studies is not merely characterized by the accumulation of knowledge from different disciplines. It is the arena within which fields in the social sciences and humanities are re-imagined in coherent interrelationships. Students and faculty study within a variety of academic settings, which might include literature, history, sociology, anthropology, geography, cultural studies, art history, urban studies, political science and women’s studies. As a comparative enterprise, we study the U.S. in relation to other naations and culures around the globe.

The Department of American Studies also includes the minor in Asian American Studies and cooperates with the Departments of African American and African Studies, American Indian Studies, Chicano Studies and Jewish Studies to make it possible for students to concentrate their work in one of those cultural areas.

REQUIREMENTS OF THE MAJOR:

A major in American Studies requires a minimum of 33 credit hours that together comprise a coherent focus in American cultural studies. Requirements include:

1. Two foundation courses chosen from 1xxx- or 2xxx-level American Studies courses. (6-8 credits)

2. A two-sequence proseminar course. The first semester of this sequence is an historical examination of the field and its methodologies. The second semester of the sequence focuses on the completion of the senior paper. (6 credits)

3. Twenty-one additional credits taken as breadth requirements at the 3xxx-level (or above). Four courses must carry an American Studies designator. One course that makes up these 21 credits must involve world cultures.

The Department encourages students to pursue a minor in our unit. To complete a minor in American Studies, students must complete at least fifteen credits in 3xxx or above courses. Only courses listed with Department of American Studies designators may count toward the minor. In other words, courses in History, English, or any other department will not be counted toward the minor. Approved courses must also be completed with a C grade or higher to qualify. Please fill out an “Intent to Minor Form” to declare your minor.

A central aim of a liberal education in the Department of American Studies is to create active learning opportunities within a small group experience which examines the foundations and implications of the discipline. This process unfolds in the two proseminars. In the first seminar (AmSt 4961), students explore: 1) the evolution of the field from its inception in the era of the Great Depression to the present, and 2) the multicultural dimensions of the field. In the second proseminar (4962W) students focus: 1) on the problems related to representative theme, figure, or period, and 2) research and write their senior thesis. American Studies majors in the proseminars engage in discussions and written exercises that demonstrate understanding of the discipline’s subject matter, modes of inquiry, and particular insight into the human experience.

A related goal of the proseminars is to provide a context in which students can engage in freedom of inquiry and speech and a vigorous exchange of ideas. Respect for different beliefs and points of view, set against a background of academic civility, is essential to our seminars. The aim of writing and debate is to strengthen the student’s competence in reading, writing, and speaking with clarity. The seminars also encourage critical thinking and openness to new ideas, combined with intellectual independence and curiosity about the worlds in which we all live. The proseminars thereby expose students to an appreciation of the complexities of knowledge and the capacity to gain new perspectives about one’s own life through the study of other groups and peoples.

One of the other purposes of the proseminars is to personalize the Department through small group experiences and close work with faculty to provide an environment in which the students explore the meaning of American Studies for themselves. A faculty member from the Department will facilitate that process and provide the structure in which informed choices can be made. The second proseminar provides the classroom setting in which students develop a plan for researching and producing a project that helps define each student’s academic interests. Finally, the writing of the senior paper comes as the culmination of the seminars. Here students formulate an original research project of their choice in conjunction with the class instructor.