100 History and Form of American Culture This course discusses the origins and development
of the dominant cultural institutions of the
United States, particularly the evolution and
impact of the mass media and advertising and the
way in which mass culture perpetuates systems of
domination based on class, race, and gender.
(Patterson, Fall, offered annually) Typical readings: Domhoff, Who Rules
America Now?; Ewen, Captains of Consciousness;
Dyer, Advertising as Communication; Zinn, A
People’s History of the U.S.; Barnouw, Tube of
Plenty; a variety of interpretive articles, as well as
primary sources
101 America: I, Eye, Aye
This course focuses on
American first-person narratives in order to
examine the ways in which a variety of American
writers have advanced their moral and political
views by conjoining conventions of autobiography,
natural history, and social critique. It
includes an analysis of the politics of self- and
national-identity through close textual readings.
(Quinby, offered annually) Typical readings: Jefferson, Declaration of
Independence; essays by Emerson, Thoreau,
Whitman, and Fuller; Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass; Jordan, On Call
201 Methods of American Studies as Used in the Study of American Attitudes
Toward Nature
This course provides a continuation of
the issues and ideas raised in AMST 100 and
101. It examines several ways in which theories
of culture have been used to look at American
attitudes toward the natural world and thus serves
to introduce the student of American culture to
methods of cultural analysis. It also provides a
chronological overview of the evolution of
American views of the natural world, touching
on attitudes toward Native Americans, natural
resources, gender and nature, human uses of
animals, development of agribusiness, etc.
(Patterson, offered annually) Typical readings: Smith, Virgin Land; Marx,
The Machine in the Garden; Nash, Wilderness and
the American Mind; Merchant, The Death of
Nature; Jefferson, Notes on Virginia; Crevecoeur,
Letters of an American Farmer
254 American Masculinities: Cultural
Construction and Gay Men
Taught from a
perspective affirming the rights of sexual
minorities: course discusses the lives of gay men
today, the various constructions of masculinity by
gay men, their resistance to homophobic
constructions of them, and the “gender
insubordination” of some gay men who contest
aspects of dominant constructions of
masculinity. Examines the experience of gay men
in school, sports, work, military service, religion,
politics; their representation in the media; the
HIV crisis; and differences based on region/race/
ethnicity. The course uses analytical texts,
fiction, memoir, film, visiting speakers.
(Patterson, Spring)
302 The Culture of Empire
This course traces
the history of racist attitudes in the United States
and their impact on Native Americans, African
Americans, and the people of the Philippines,
Japan, and Vietnam. This course requires active
participation in classroom discussions and a
substantial research paper. (Patterson, offered
alternate years) Typical readings: Berkhofer, The White Man’s
Indian; Jordan, The White Man’s Burden; Dower,
War Without Mercy; Drinnon, Facing West;
Thompson, Sentimental Imperialism
310 The History of Sexual Minorities in America
This course traces the historical
development of lesbian and gay communities in
the United States, with particular emphasis on
changing concepts and definitions of lesbian and
gay identity, the growth of lesbian and gay social
institutions, the development of political
organizations devoted to the protection of the
civil rights of lesbian and gay Americans, the
problem of homophobia, and the political
activism generated by the AIDS crisis. The course
requires active participation in classroom
discussions and a substantial research paper.
(Patterson, offered alternate years) Typical readings: Miller, Out of the Past; Katz,
Gay American History; Pharr, Homophobia;
Human Rights Watch, Hatred in the Hallways
465 Senior Seminar: Issues in American Studies (Offered annually)
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