Undergraduate Program

For American Studies Undergraduate Handbook, 2009-2010, please click here.

For American Studies Major Planning Worksheet, please click here.

For American Studies Course Offerings 2009-2010, please click here.

Program Description

The American studies program is committed to a self-critical and historically grounded examination of the United States and its diverse people, viewed within a local and global context. The major is designed to be comparative along a number of axes. First, it is an interdisciplinary project, drawing on a mix of methodological and theoretical approaches. Second, it compares the United States with other imperial enterprises and states. And third, it compares different social groups and identities in historical context. The program aims to help students develop critical thinking, research, and writing skills so that they will be able to function effectively in an ever-changing, complicated, and culturally diverse world.

Students will take courses and work closely with faculty who are committed to interdisciplinary, multicultural, and transnational work and who include these interlocking themes in their courses:

1. Political Culture and Economy addresses the ways in which global capitalism structures everyday life and life chances in the United States;
2. Comparative Race, Ethnicity, and Diaspora Studies features research concerning the myriad relations among different racial, ethnic, and diasporic groups; and
3. Cultural Representations and Practices support research into the history, aesthetics, and politics of different cultural forms, including music, visual culture, literature, film, mass media, popular culture, and vernacular performance.

Because of their broad-based exposure to the United States, collective learning experience, and ability to focus on topics of particular interest to them, American studies students find the major a useful preparation for careers in education, law, journalism, social work, community organizing, business, and government. The major also offers an excellent liberal education for students interested in exploring their responsibilities and opportunities as American citizens. Students who intend to go on to graduate school, whether in American studies or another discipline, should determine an appropriate selection of courses with their American studies faculty adviser.