Academics
American Studies > Course Descriptions
101 Introduction to African American Studies
(Cross-listed as African American Studies 110. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
110 Introduction to American Studies
Have Americans always shared a common culture, or do the differences between us outweigh what unites us? In this introduction to the field of American Studies, we will explore key debates about what it means to be American, especially the impact of gender, race, ethnicity, and class on definitions of American identity, whether singular or collective. We will study mainly historical, political, and literary texts, especially first-person, nonfiction texts like letters, speeches, essays, and autobiographies in verse and prose. Students will also get a taste of the multidisciplinary nature of American Studies through film, music, dance, creative research projects, and guest speakers. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
116 Chicago: A Rainbow of Religions
(Cross-listed as Religion 116. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
119 Introduction to American Politics
(Cross-listed as Politics 120.)
120 Foundations of the American Republic
(Cross-listed as History 120.)
121 Modern America
(Cross-listed as History 121.)
200/480 Topics in American Studies
Topics vary from year to year, see below.
200 Topics: Classical Greek Mathematics Meets Modern Urban America
Spring 2009
This course examines the influences of Classical Greek mathematics on the work of the American architect and city planner Daniel Burnham, considering primarily, but not exclusively, his Chicago efforts starting from the 1893 Columbian exposition. The centennial of Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago will be celebrated by exploring its interplay with Euclid’s original five postulates that begin Book I of Elements. We will investigate, for example, the intriguing similarity between the Plan’s urgent call for an extensive lakefront park at Euclid’s remarkable parallel postulate. The course also considers the Greek geometric influences on the foundations of American urban planning and architecture. In particular, the American work of architect Mies van der Rohe is examined with in this Classical Greek mathematical framework. A significant amount of mathematics and geometry comprise the course content in order to provide students with the necessary background for successful and meaningful engagement. Guest speakers and field trips supplement the classroom experience.
200 Topics: Second City, Second Nature: Chicago as Cultural Environment
Fall 2009
This team-taught course in American Studies will focus on Chicago as a city in constant flux – starting with the centennial of the 1909 Plan of Chicago by city planners Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett as a demonstration of this movement. Rather than an anomaly, instability of geography, culture, and industry comprise the malleable fabric of Chicago city life. As such, this course will cover topics including but not limited to: the raising of Chicago, literally, from the mud in the 1840s; the patterns of migration and immigration that made Chicago a “boom city” (including settlements such as Hull House); and, the rise of the modern metropolis, with its engineering and architectural wonders, green space initiatives, and the complicated legacy of public housing. Additionally, this course will be fully integrated with the Virtual Burnham Initiative.
200 Topics: American Celebrations: Chicago Performance and Alternative Culture
Spring 2008
This course examines the social performances, both on stage and off, that simultaneously reaffirm the cultural vitality of ethnic communities and permits those communities to challenge aspects of dominant culture. The course will examine the way public rituals, ceremonies, festivals and other performative events enrich and define local ethnic community, while enlivening the larger Chicago community. This study of celebrations may include street fairs, parades and community centered cultural programs, and will serve as an attempt to understand both the invention and re-invention of community and personal identity. Substantial field study. (Cross-listed as Sociology 275 and Theater 285. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
200 Topics: Chicago: Art, Literature, and Institutions
Spring 2007
This course explores Chicago’s artistic and literary scenes. It begins with a brief survey of the city’s history as an artistic and literary metropolis, with an emphasis on how the growth of various institutions – the Art Institute, Poetry (Chicago), etc. – shaped the city’s creative history. We will then examine Chicago’s current artistic and literary milieu, with an emphasis on living artists and writers and the institutions that support them. Students will examine the role of the city and its institutions in shaping creative activity, and will place current creative endeavors in their civic, institutional, and historical contexts. We will meet with artists, writers, and representatives of the city’s cultural institutions, thus taking advantage of the city as a cultural resource. Guest speakers will bring interdisciplinary perspectives beyond those of the instructors.
201 Stereotype, Prejudice, Discrimination
(Cross-listed as Psychology 205 and African American Studies 205. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
203 American Literature I: Early American Literary Culture
(Cross-listed as English 203.)
204 Nineteenth-Century American Literature
(Cross-listed as English 204.)
205 Twentieth-Century American Literature
(Cross-listed as English 205.)
206 American Nature Writing
(Cross-listed as English 206.)
212 Educational Reform in the U.S.
(Cross-listed as Education 212 and Philosophy 214.)
215 The NAACP: 100th Anniversary of Progressive Activism
(Cross-listed as African American Studies. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
216 African American Literature I
(Cross-listed as English 216. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
217 African American Literature II
(Cross-listed as English 217. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
218 Blues Women in African American Literature
(Cross-listed as English 218, and Women's and Gender Studies. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
219 American Art
(Cross-listed as Art 219.)
220 Political Parties
(Cross-listed as Politics 220.)
221 The Presidency
(Cross-listed as Politics 221.)
222 Congress
(Cross-listed as Politics 222.)
223 Urban and Suburban Politics
(Cross-listed as Politics 223.)
224 Special Studies: Literature and the Vietnam War
(Cross-listed as Asian Studies 224 and English 224. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
225 Mass Media and American Politics
(Cross-listed as Politics 224.)
226 The Judiciary
(Cross-listed as Politics 226.)
227 History of Jazz
(Cross-listed as Music 227. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
241 American Foreign Policy
(Cross-listed as Politics 240.)
250 The American Civil War
(Cross-listed as History 250.)
252 Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies
(Cross-listed as Women's and Gender Studies 252. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
254 African American History
(Cross-listed as History 254 and African American Studies 254. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
255 African American Autobiography
(Cross-listed as History 255. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
260 Law and the Political System
(Cross-listed as Politics 260.)
263 American Cities
(Cross-listed as History 263 and Environmental Studies 263.)
264 History of Rock and Roll
(Cross-listed as Music 264.)
265 American Music
(Cross-listed as Music 265.)
266 Music in Film
(Cross-listed as Music 266.)
267 United States and World History
(Cross-listed as History 267.)
270 History of Education in American Society and Thought
(Cross-listed as History 270 and Education 270.)
271 American Philosophy: Principles and Pragmatism
(Cross-listed as Philosophy 270.)
275 Popular Music and American Society
(Cross-listed as History 275.)
275 Introduction to Film Studies
(Cross-listed as Communications 275.)
291 Tutorial
325 Black Literature in the 1960s
(Cross-listed as English 325 and African American Studies 325. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
326 Latino Cultures in the U.S.
(Cross-listed as Spanish 325 and Latin American Studies 325. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
328 Topics in American Politics
(Cross-listed as Politics 328. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement, depending on topic.)
335 Racism and the African American Experience
(Cross-listed as African American Studies 335 and Sociology and Anthropology 335.)
336 African American Theater
(Cross-listed as Theater 336 and African American Studies 326. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
341 Global Cultures and International Business Activities of Chicago
(Cross-listed as Business 341. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
345 Latino Identities in Chicago
(Cross-listed as Spanish 345 and Latin American Studies 345. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
348 Public History: Museums and Exhibitions
(Cross-listed as History 348.)
355 American Social History
(Cross-listed as History 355.)
359 American Constitutional Law
(Cross-listed as Politics 360.)
360 Colonial America
(Cross-listed as History 360.)
361 Advanced Topics in African American History: The Modern American Civil Rights Movement
(Cross-listed as History 361 and African American Studies 361. Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
362 Love in a Time of Capitalism
(Cross-listed as Sociology and Anthropology 362.)
363 Chicago: History and Public Memory
(Cross-listed as History 363.)
365 American Thought
(Cross-listed as History 365.)
366 American Civil Liberties
(Cross-listed as Politics 365.)
384 The Rhetorical Presidency
(Cross-listed as Communications 384.)
386 Reading Popular Culture: Television
(Cross-listed as Communications 386.)
390 Internship
393 Research Project
420 Labor in the American Economy
(Cross-listed as Economics 420.)
440 Advanced Writing Seminar: Re-Writing Chicago
(Cross-listed as English 440.)
479 Senior Seminar: America and the Twenty-First-Century World
(Cross-listed as International Relations 480.)
480 Senior Seminar in American Studies
A senior-level enrollment of American Studies 200: Topics above.
490 Internship
491 Tutorial
493 Research Project
494 Senior Thesis
Previous American Studies Course Topics (Team-Taught):
American Families
This course is an interdisciplinary examination of American families, premised on the idea that families, as constituted in the United States, have been significantly different from those of other cultures. To a large extent, this is due to the great variety of family forms found throughout American history, and continuing well into the 21st century. Factors such as immigration, slavery, westward expansion, the subjugation of Native Americans, the fluidity of gender roles, economic instability, and the increasing protection of individual liberty have contributed to how a family, as an institution of care, can be constituted in a number of ways beyond the biological, nuclear family. (American Studies 224 meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
The American Avant-Garde: 1960-80
This course surveys the aesthetic progression of these tumultuous decades in terms of cultural production that was situated outside of the “mainstream.” Combining perspectives from the worlds of art, music, and literature with the social history of the times, this seminar offers new insights into the place of the counterculture artist in American society. Topics include but are not be limited to underground publishing/ graphics, jazz, Pop Art, the Black Arts movement, feminist art and literature, and the arts associated with resistance to the Vietnam War. (American Studies 223 meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
America in the 1930s
This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of American culture and society in the 1930s. Among the topics discussed are political radicalism, federal arts projects, literary movements such as naturalism and modernism, popular culture, labor organizing, and period journals such as The Partisan Review and The New Masses.
America in the 1960s
This senior seminar is an examination of a critical period in American history from the multi- disciplinary approach of American Studies, using such diverse materials as novels, poetry, biographies, art, music, and descriptions of social, political, and economic conditions. The principal topics covered will be the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, the counterculture, and the War on Poverty.
Building Chicago: Architecture and a City’s Growth
No single approach can possibly encompass the immense scope or complex diversity that has marked the development of Chicago as an urban metropolis. It becomes feasible to reconstruct the story of the city, its different stages of growth and myriad of historical, political, literary, and economic influences. We do so by focusing on the city as a construct and using its architecture as a visible means to launch an examination of the various components of Chicago’s constantly shifting profile.
Chicago: Art, Literature, and Institutions
This course explores Chicago’s artistic and literary scenes. It begins with a brief survey of the city’s history as an artistic and literary metropolis, with an emphasis on how the growth of various institutions – the Art Institute, Poetry (Chicago), etc. – shaped the city’s creative history. We will then examine Chicago’s current artistic and literary milieu, with an emphasis on living artists and writers and the institutions that support them. Students will examine the role of the city and its institutions in shaping creative activity, and will place current creative endeavors in their civic, institutional, and historical contexts. We will meet with artists, writers, and representatives of the city’s cultural institutions, thus taking advantage of the city as a cultural resource. Guest speakers will bring interdisciplinary perspectives beyond those of the instructors.
Race and Racism in America
This course examines race and racism as subjects of controversy in American history from the interdisciplinary perspective of American Studies. How did the experience of slavery shape American attitudes toward race? What was the legacy of slavery in the post-emancipation years? How have our political and judicial systems dealt with race and racism?
Realism and Modernism
This interdisciplinary course explores the traditions of realism and modernism in American literary and visual arts between 1865 and 1939. We examine, in their historical and cultural contexts, representations of American life in fiction, poetry, painting, photography, popular prints, and architecture. Methods of literary analysis and art history encourage students to think critically about the various capacities of texts, images, and the built environment to give focus to changing perceptions of modernity in America.