Major Requirements
Major Requirements
Students may enroll as American Studies majors during the sophomore year, after they have had an opportunity to sample a broad range of courses in a variety of departments within the College of Arts and Letters. Students must complete the general requirements of the College of Arts and Letters and 30 credit hours in American Studies, with at least 7 courses taken in AMST and three courses taken in outside departments
Major Requirements (course level) Credits
Introduction to AMST (20000-level) 3
5 Upper Level AMST Courses (30000 level) 15
*with at least one from each track – see below
Senior Seminar in AMST (40000 level) 3
3 Outside Courses (30000- or 40000- level) 9
*one from each track – see below
Total Credits: 30
Also Offered
Independent Study, Special Study, and Directed Readings in AMST (40000-level)
*these courses are currently used primarily for students working on Honors Theses in American studies, and requires special permission from the instructor and either the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) or the Director of the Honors Program.
Tracks:
Courses taken for the major fall into one or sometimes two of the following tracks. Students must take at least one “inside” AMST course from each track, and at least one “outside” course from each track. If you are not sure what track a course is associated with, please ask your AMST faculty advisor or the DUS.
1. American Cultures and Societies
How does the production, distribution, and consumption of various expressive practices and forms—including novels, comic books, paintings, toys, ideas, movies, television programs, songs, and other artifacts from both elite and popular culture—reflect the diversity of American experience? How do they reflect and embody American society and social change? Fields often associated with these kinds of questions include literature, art history, music, media studies (Film, Television, and Theater), and material culture.
2. American Identities
How has America's historic experience as a nation of people of diverse ethnic, racial, religious, sexual, and other identities shaped the varied processes by which Americans forge individual and group identities and claim rights to citizenship, and in turn transform the nation's collective identity? Disciplines related to these questions include history, sociology, theology, gender studies, Africana studies, Latino/a studies, and anthropology.
3. American Political Cultures and Institutions
How do governmental, economic, journalistic, and civic institutions operate within America's cultural frameworks, and how do they mediate (and dramatize) relationships and contending claims among groups and individuals in America? Related fields here include journalism, economics, political science, and policy studies.
