IDS 232 American Identities

3 Credit(s) HP DPDS

This course challenges ideas about and engages with debates over the meaning of “America” and “American” with a particular focus on how these terms have been shaped and limited by structual factors and tied to race, class, gender and ethnicity. Using an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates the humanities and social sciences students will explore how “American” cultural and national identities have developed over four centuries and consider the legacies of this history on “American” experiences today. Students will be introduced to the methods and materials of American Studies as they learn to interpret cultural products drawn from popular and fine arts, literature, music and film, historical, sociological, legal and geographic documents as well as other non-fiction texts.Three lecture hours per week.