Reading Culture

Course Description

As an introduction to the methods and scope of American Studies, Reading Culture will present an in-depth, interdisciplinary look at either a defined period in the American past, or a specific social or political movement or moment. Subjects could include, for example, the 1920s, the American Civil War era, the Civil Rights movement, McCarthyism, or the AIDS epidemic in the US. Our purpose will be to explore how culture in its many forms and manifestations shaped how people lived their daily lives and created meaning in a specific moment or set of circumstances. How was culture formed by the context, and how was the context created by cultural production? Particular emphasis will be placed on looking at the relationship, and even the disconnect, between different kinds of culture - knowledge production and education, visual culture, including art, photography, and film, music, landscapes, and built environments. In order to do that, we will learn how to read, broadly construe, and understand how different cultural forms convey messages and how distinct ways of seeing and hearing relate to other cultural forms. Through discussion, research, and writing, class members will investigate these varied dimensions of culture. They will learn to understand them in their broader social, aesthetic, ethical, and political contexts. In addition, this class, as an introduction, will prepare students to take more advanced courses in American Studies. This is also a writing-intensive class, so students will be engaged in extensive and varied writing (and rewriting) assignments and projects that will help them to hone these crucial skills.

Code

AMST 2098

Credits

3

Subject

AMST

Programs That Include This Course

• Bachelor's Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies