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Informatie over Ba American Studies
Hieronder staan het programma en de vakomschrijvingen van Ba American Studies Klik op de naam van een vak in een schema om naar de omschrijving te gaan.
| » Jaar 1 | |||||||
| Periode | Type | Code | Naam | Taal | ECTS | Uren | |
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| semester I a | verplicht | LAX025P05 | The Americas Ia: The American Century | Engels | 5 | 4 | |
| verplicht | LAX039P05 | Theories of Culture Ia | Engels | 5 | 4 | ||
| verplicht | LAX048P05 | Rhetoric and Composition Ia | Engels | 5 | 4 | ||
| semester I b | verplicht | LAX026P05 | The Americas Ib: The American Century | Engels | 5 | 4 | |
| verplicht | LAX041P05 | Theories of Culture Ib | Engels | 5 | 4 | ||
| verplicht | LAX049P05 | Rhetoric and Composition Ib | Engels | 5 | 4 | ||
| semester II a | verplicht | LAX032P05 | The Americas IIa: New Frontiers | Engels | 5 | 4 | |
| verplicht | LAX043P05 | North & South Americans I | Engels | 5 | 4 | ||
| verplicht | LAX060P05 | US Political Culture 1 | Engels | 5 | 4 | ||
| semester II b | verplicht | LAX033P05 | The Americas IIb: New Frontiers | Engels | 5 | 4 | |
| verplicht | LAX044P05 | North & South Americans II | Engels | 5 | 4 | ||
| verplicht | LAX061P05 | US Political Culture 2 | Engels | 5 | 4 | ||
| » Jaar 2 | |||||||
| Periode | Type | Code | Naam | Taal | ECTS | Uren | |
| semester I a | verplicht | LAX045B05 | Theories of Culture II: Politic. Theory | Engels | 5 | 2 | |
| verplicht | LAX046B05 | The Americas IIIa | Engels | 5 | 3 | ||
| verplicht | LAX047B05 | Rhetoric and Composition IIa | Engels | 5 | 4 | ||
| semester I b | verplicht | LAX048B05 | Theories of Culture II: Media Theory | Engels | 5 | 2 | |
| verplicht | LAX049B05 | The Americas IIIb | Engels | 5 | 3 | ||
| verplicht | LAX050B05 | Rhetoric and Composition IIb | Engels | 5 | 4 | ||
| semester II | verplicht | LAX041B10 | Political Culture | Engels | 10 | 2 | |
| semester II a | keuzegroep A | LAX057B05 | Special Topics 2: Incarceration | Engels | 5 | 2 | |
| keuzegroep A | LAX059B05 | Special Topics 1: Canada and the US | Engels | 5 | 2 | ||
| keuzegroep A | LAX069B05 | Special Topics 3: Digital Cities, DYI | Engels | 5 | 2 | ||
| keuzegroep B | LAX065B05 | Global USA I | Engels | 5 | 2 | ||
| keuzegroep B | LAX067B05 | Media Specialization I | Engels | 5 | 2 | ||
| semester II b | keuzegroep C | LAX060B05 | Special Topics 5: Life and Death | Engels | 5 | 2 | |
| keuzegroep C | LAX062B05 | ST 4: Canada's Cultural Mosaic | Engels | 5 | 2 | ||
| keuzegroep C | LAX070B05 | Special Topics 6: Failed Colonies | Engels | 5 | 2 | ||
| keuzegroep D | LAX066B05 | Global USA II | Engels | 5 | 2 | ||
| keuzegroep D | LAX068B05 | Media Specialization II | Engels | 5 | 2 | ||
| Opmerkingen | In the second semester, students should choose a course from Group A (one out of three), group B (one out of two), group C (one out of three) and group D (one out of two). | ||||||
| » Jaar 3 | |||||||
| Periode | Type | Code | Naam | Taal | ECTS | Uren | |
| semester I | verplicht | Minor | Engels en Nederlands | 30 | variabel | ||
| keuze | LAX056B15 | MINOR Stage American Studies | Engels | 15 | variabel | ||
| semester II | verplicht | LAX999B10 | Bachelor's Thesis American Studies | Engels | 10 | variabel | |
| semester II a | verplicht | LAX022B10 | Mobility, Migration, Transculturation | Engels | 10 | 4 | |
| verplicht | LAX052B05 | Theories of Culture IIIa | Engels | 5 | 2 | ||
| semester II b | verplicht | LAX053B05 | Theories of Culture IIIb | Engels | 5 | 2 | |
| Opmerkingen | Students who have a very good reason for not travelling abroad may follow a specific compulsory Minor instead. Please contact your study advisor. | ||||||
| 1 | Bachelor's Thesis American Studies | LAX999B10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| • To build upon and develop in-depth understanding and knowledge of the Americas, past and present, acquired during BA seminars. • To explore a specific topic within American Studies in relation to its cultural, sociological, historical, political, legal, and literary contexts, as appropriate. • To foster the scholarly skills (selection, processing, and evaluation of information) and academic knowledge necessary for semi-independent research. • To explore and apply current cultural/political/media and other theories as relevant to American Studies. • To develop advanced-level insights into interdisciplinary perspectives on the production of knowledge. • To equip the student with relevant transferable communication and writing skills, including the use of electronic technologies. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2 | Global USA I | LAX065B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| “The chief business of the American people is business” (President Calvin Coolidge) In the years since the Second World War, the character of what Robert Kagan has called “the world America made” has changed considerably. Focusing on a crucial aspect of the evolution of that “world,” this course traces the global history of U.S. capitalism from the establishment of the Bretton Woods system in 1944, through the turbulence of the 1970s and the end of the Cold War, to the present day, when, in the eyes of many commentators, the U.S.-dominated global (or, at least, Western) order faces a series of unprecedented threats . Students will explore how U.S. economic power interacted with the nation’s military and political power to shape an international order in which U.S.-based companies and U.S.-derived business practices have become increasingly influential in the lives of people all over the globe. Concentrating on the rise of U.S. economic power and influence in three key regions of the world (Western Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East), the course also considers the domestic effects of the expansion of that power and influence and introduces students to different ways of conceptualizing it. Has this been a process of democratization, globalization, imperialist domination, or something else entirely? And what have been the effects on populations both within the U.S. and abroad? While many may feel ambivalent about living in an allegedly Americanized world, how might we feel about alternative ways of working and securing wealth? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 3 | Global USA II | LAX066B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| “The chief business of the American people is business” (President Calvin Coolidge) In the years since the Second World War, the character of what Robert Kagan has called “the world America made” has changed considerably. Focusing on a crucial aspect of the evolution of that “world,” this course traces the global history of U.S. capitalism from the establishment of the Bretton Woods system in 1944, through the turbulence of the 1970s and the end of the Cold War, to the present day, when, in the eyes of many commentators, the U.S.-dominated global (or, at least, Western) order faces a series of unprecedented threats . Students will explore how U.S. economic power interacted with the nation’s military and political power to shape an international order in which U.S.-based companies and U.S.-derived business practices have become increasingly influential in the lives of people all over the globe. Concentrating on the rise of U.S. economic power and influence in three key regions of the world (Western Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East), the course also considers the domestic effects of the expansion of that power and influence and introduces students to different ways of conceptualizing it. Has this been a process of democratization, globalization, imperialist domination, or something else entirely? And what have been the effects on populations both within the U.S. and abroad? While many may feel ambivalent about living in an allegedly Americanized world, how might we feel about alternative ways of working and securing wealth? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 4 | Media Specialization I | LAX067B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our contemporary media environment is vertiginously complex, multi-centered, and evolving. Media Specialization is a two-course sequence designed to give students the historical perspective and critical tools they will need to understand U.S. popular culture in the present moment, and to participate in that culture through informed everyday consumption, rigorous scholarly discourse, and thoughtful cultural production. In the first block, we take a historical approach, exploring how media have shaped American life from the 18th century to the present, through a focus on two different kinds of media spectacles: the Event and the Hoax. How did writers frame the death of a political leader, in the aftermath of a bloody Civil War, to help “heal the soul of the nation”? How do music celebrities use digital technologies to assert control over their careers? We will study primary sources related to diverse historical events--from the funeral of president Abraham Lincoln to the surprise album “drop” of Beyoncé’s Lemonade—alongside the scholarly debates those events have provoked about the role of democracy, celebrity, and collective emotion in American life. Along the way, we will attend to how the mediation and reception of these events are shaped by ideologies of empire, race, gender, and class. “Events” show us how history unfolds through media; meanwhile, “hoaxes”—successful deceptions of supposedly gullible audiences—show us how people respond to technological change. From the Great Moon Hoax of 1835, to Orson Welles' radio broadcast The War of the Worlds, to the scandal around author/impostor J.T. LeRoy from the early 2000s, hoaxes force us to reflect on our understanding of, and continued investment in, categories like truth, authenticity, and “reality.” The major assignment for this course is the Curation Project, which asks students to explain and contextualize a media event of their choice for a general audience. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 5 | Media Specialization II | LAX068B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our contemporary media environment is vertiginously complex, multi-centered, and evolving. Media Specialization is a two-course sequence designed to give students the historical perspective and critical tools they will need to understand U.S. popular culture in the present moment, and to participate in that culture through informed everyday consumption, rigorous scholarly discourse, and thoughtful cultural production. In the second block, we explore the relationship between media and contemporary U.S. politics around three themes: diversity, dystopia, and counterpublics. How does contemporary media both reflect and obscure the racial, gender, religious, and economic diversity of American life? How do we evaluate the competing arguments around digital media, which is described as both a forum of resurgent democracy and a tool of authoritarian control? To what extent does the digital media environment demand new philosophies and terms of analysis? To explore these essential questions, we will read a few classic works of media theory (by Roland Barthes, Raymond Williams, Jean Baudrillard) alongside primary texts from, and journalistic commentaries on, the current media ecosystem. Our primary texts will be drawn from diverse forms of popular media, including television commercials, streaming series, "fake news" stories, and digital “think pieces.” The final assignment for this course is a Research Paper, which asks students to devise an original argument about a media-related topic of their choice. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 6 | MINOR Stage American Studies | LAX056B15 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 7 | Mobility, Migration, Transculturation | LAX022B10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Whether it is students spending an exchange semester away from their home university; migrant workers crossing land or water in pursuit of the American or European Dream; or political refugees trying to escape life-threatening circumstances in their home countries: mobility and migration have always constituted a fundamental experience of many people. Yet its causes and consequences have only recently started to receive an increasing amount of critical attention at a time shaped by global trade agreements as well as global terrorism and national security interests. While unskilled migrants have long since been perceived as an economic threat by many wealthy receiving nations, current changes in the geopolitical order have led to significant immigration policy changes in the Americas and Europe that increasingly blur the lines between economic migrants, political or environmental refugees, and potential terrorists. This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to current forms, practical problems of, as well as theoretical debates on migration by exploring the social, cultural, psychological, geopolitical, legal, and economic implications of specific international migration movements in the Americas and Europe. The course will concentrate on the following topics: globalization, international trade agreements,the geopolitics of borders; plurinational lives and transcultural identity formations; current social, economic, political, and environmental push and pull factors; the migration of elites; developing nations and the Western welfare state; undocumented migrant workers, border violence, and human rights debates along the U.S.-Mexican border; migration and gender (sex-trafficking);changes in international refugee laws and immigration policy measures in the U.S. and Europe after 9/11; debates on citizenship, social cohesion, integration, and assimilation; the pros and cons of open borders;the role of the media in the production of discourses on migration. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 8 | North & South Americans I | LAX043P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This course offers an in-depth interdisciplinary introduction to the peoples, cultures, and societies of Central and South America, with a special emphasis on nations, regions, developments, events, and movements that have a particular relevance for the United States. We will study this rich and diverse region from a variety of different disciplines and perspectives, frequently adopting a comparative (inter-American) perspective. Part I focuses on Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, including Simon Bolívar and the Spanish American wars of independence; the world revolutionary Che Guevara and his protests against imperialism and capitalist exploitation; Cuba before, during, and after the Castros; and current developments in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Brazil after the “pink tide.” We will furthermore explore the literary and cultural responses to key political events such as the legacies of dictatorship in contemporary Chile, the socio-political significance of Magical Realism and the Latin American Boom, and contemporary literary and social developments in the Caribbean. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 9 | North & South Americans II | LAX044P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This course offers an in-depth interdisciplinary introduction to the peoples, cultures, and societies in Latin America, and in relationship to North America, with a special emphasis on nations, regions, developments, events, and movements that have a particular relevance for the United States. We will study this rich and diverse region from a variety of different disciplines and perspectives, frequently adopting a comparative (inter-American) perspective. We will focus on topics such as indigenous movements in Mexico and Nicaragua, ecological justice movements in Canada and the Amazon region, tourism and sustainability in Mexico, the U.S.’s colonial legacy in Puerto Rico, liberation theology and the sanctuary movement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 10 | Political Culture | LAX041B10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political culture is what embeds and informs our political behavior. It can be defined as a set of attitudes, values, beliefs and practices shared by a people and shaping their political perceptions and actions. As such, involves moral judgments, political myths, and ideas about what makes for a good citizen, a good society, and a good government. Political cultures vary from state to state (and sometimes even within one state), but they tend to be fairly stable over time. This course examines American political culture. Drawing on a wide range of historical and theoretical readings, it familiarizes students with some of its guiding ideas, including liberty, equality, democracy, individualism, unity, and diversity. Moreover, we will study how political debates in the U.S. tend to be over how these ideas can be realized, not over whether they are worth striving for in the first place. We will explore how American political culture—through debates, public protest, and the circulation of values and myths—intersects with American media and popular culture. And we will try to assess what the election of Donald Trump means for American political culture. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 11 | Rhetoric and Composition Ia | LAX048P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rhetoric & Composition Ia is the first of four language proficiency and argumentation courses designed for American Studies majors. During this course, students will be introduced to academic writing skills, with a particular focus on the composition of argumentative essays. Rhetoric & Composition is not a language acquisition course, but language proficiency in English will be developed further through various assignments, writing tasks, and tests. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 12 | Rhetoric and Composition Ib | LAX049P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rhetoric & Composition Ib is the second of four writing and argumentation courses designed for American Studies majors. During this course, students will be introduced to academic writing skills, with a particular focus on the composition of argumentative essays. Rhetoric & Composition is not a language acquisition course, but language proficiency in English will be developed further through various assignments, writing tasks, and tests. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 13 | Rhetoric and Composition IIa | LAX047B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This second-year course completes the departmental program in Rhetoric and Composition. Building on the foundations of academic writing laid in Rhetoric and Composition I, Rhetoric and Composition II offers rigorous consolidation and additional practice in various forms of academic English while also intensifying the focus on the subject-specific demands faced by students writing and speaking argumentatively in an American Studies setting. Students will deepen their understanding of formal argumentation and produce a series of argumentative essays (ranging in length from 1000 to 2500 words) to demonstrate their grasp of scholarly language, argument, and structure; their ability to deal with historical and theoretical contexts; and the quality of their research skills. Through the analysis of a selection of academic articles and argumentative essays, students will study and learn to reproduce diverse modes of scholarly rhetoric in both written and oral form. In the second half of the course, they give individual oral presentations based on the arguments articulated in their final research essays. Throughout the course, students are asked to reflect critically on their own writing and the writing of others, with the aim of furnishing them with the skills that will be required for third-year research seminars and the composition of their B.A. theses in the final year of the American Studies program. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 14 | Rhetoric and Composition IIb | LAX050B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This second-year course completes the departmental program in Rhetoric and Composition. Building on the foundations of academic writing laid in Rhetoric and Composition I, Rhetoric and Composition II offers rigorous consolidation and additional practice in various forms of academic English while also intensifying the focus on the subject-specific demands faced by students writing and speaking argumentatively in an American Studies setting. Students will deepen their understanding of formal argumentation and produce a series of argumentative essays (ranging in length from 1000 to 2500 words) to demonstrate their grasp of scholarly language, argument, and structure; their ability to deal with historical and theoretical contexts; and the quality of their research skills. Through the analysis of a selection of academic articles and argumentative essays, students will study and learn to reproduce diverse modes of scholarly rhetoric in both written and oral form. In the second half of the course, they give individual oral presentations based on the arguments articulated in their final research essays. Throughout the course, students are asked to reflect critically on their own writing and the writing of others, with the aim of furnishing them with the skills that will be required for third-year research seminars and the composition of their B.A. theses in the final year of the American Studies program. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 15 | Special Topics 1: Canada and the US | LAX059B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In this course unit students are introduced to Canadian society from a historical and comparative perspective, focusing on transatlantic relationships with Europe as well as on the convergences and (cultural) differences between Canada and the U.S. By examining a variety of topics such as the connection between Francophone and Anglophone Canada and bilingualism, Free Trade Agreements, popular culture, media and national identity, representations of space and identity, federal and provincial politics in relation to Indigenous peoples, students will gain insight in the complexity of Canadian society and questions of identity, Canada's transatlantic allegiance, and its dynamic relationship with the U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 16 | Special Topics 2: Incarceration | LAX057B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born in the synthesis of homegrown reformist sensibilities and old-world moral philosophy, the modern penitentiary is one of America’s most influential institutional innovations both at home and abroad. Although its seeds were sown by the religious cultures of Northern Protestantism, the prison has always had roots firmly planted in the blighted soil of antebellum slavery. Celebrated for ostensibly curbing the excessive brutality of the state, yet contested since its inception for tampering with the mysteries of the human mind, the prison was originally conceived as a technology for reforming the soul, yet its conquest is now measured only in terms of bodies captured: today, the United States boasts the world’s highest incarceration rate by far. This course will explore the “perverse exceptionalism” of American incarceration through an interdisciplinary mixture of literary, filmic, ethnographic, historical, and sociological sources. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 17 | Special Topics 3: Digital Cities, DYI | LAX069B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This course explores the relationship between “real” cities in the past and present and their “virtual” counterparts in the digital realm. With a base in American Studies, the course draws from multiple academic fields (including literature, philosophy, history, art history, architecture, human geography, and urban studies as well as various streams of the developing field of the digital humanities) to study this productive interface. The course also connects to and reflects on developments in American and global culture that relate to the democratization of cultural production—i.e., the “DIY” movement in its many forms—and its expression through digital tools, applications, and media. Uniting theory and practice, the course will enable participants not only to study the intersection between urban and digital culture but also to “do” it themselves. Class sessions will be divided into seminar meetings (on Mondays) and workshops (on Thursdays). The seminars will focus on the assigned readings based on the theme for that week. The workshops will be dedicated to working with different sets of digital tools to construct individual and group projects connected to the theme. Prospective themes include the historical and cultural connections between Groningen and the Atlantic World (including the USA); mapping American cities in literature (and American literature in cities); charting music, art, and fashion scenes; and hometowns and the meanings of “home.” (In collaboration with the instructor, participants may also develop their own themes for part of the course.) Drawing from the theoretical knowledge and practical skills they develop during the course, participants will conclude the course by constructing a final project based on a topic of their choice. This project may take a digital form such as a website, a video game, a mobile app, a curated online portfolio, or a podcast but it may also take other forms (e.g., an exhibition, a performance, a paper) that reflect upon the themes of the course and the digital methods employed within it. In each case the final project will include a written discussion that situates the project within its theoretical and academic context. Participants will be evaluated by the quality of their contributions to the weekly seminars and workshops (through "in-class assessments") and by their ability to integrate and express the academic knowledge from the course in the form of their final projects ("essay"). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 18 | Special Topics 5: Life and Death | LAX060B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 19 | Special Topics 6: Failed Colonies | LAX070B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accounts of the colonization of the Americas often represent Europeans’ success as inevitable. Colonizers had “guns, germs, and steel” and native peoples were bound to give way before them. But most colonial projects failed, sooner or later. Although their names may have been scrubbed from maps and memory, many defunct colonies had legacies that lasted long after they expired. This course examines the history and literature of failed colonies in the early Americas and beyond. It considers why most settlements initially struggled with survival, why some collapsed after promising starts, and why others only appeared in visionary proposals. It considers the difficulties colonizers faced in building new societies, polities, and economies in unfamiliar environments among wary and often hostile neighbors. Alongside this analysis of causes and effects, the course considers historical representations and the cultural legacies of these failures. It explores the fact-based fictions of colonizer-castaways, the arguments of early critics of colonialism, as well as the moral, political, and imperial lessons that contemporaries learned from failure. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 20 | ST 4: Canada's Cultural Mosaic | LAX062B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| One of the most important elements of Canadian federal policy was the introduction of official multiculturalism in the 1970s. In 1988, the federal government passed the Canadian Multiculturalism Act. Central to this policy was the official recognition of the diverse cultures in a plural society. In understanding official multiculturalism in a broader context, it is necessary to first examine its basic values. This examination will be followed by a critical discussion of the situation of cultural and linguistic minorities within Canada, which will for example touch upon questions of liberal multiculturalism, multicultural theory and practices, postcolonialism, mixed race and so-called visible minorities. The course also includes a comparative perspective,examining immigration policies and issues of citizenship in Canada, Europe and the U.S. and discussing the Canadian mosaic in relation to the U.S. melting pot. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 21 | The Americas Ia: The American Century | LAX025P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to cultural, historical, political, social, and economic developments in the Americas from the 1890s until the 1970s. While our main focus will be on the United States, we will frequently adopt a comparative, hemispheric perspective due to the U.S.’s substantial involvement in Latin America and the Caribbean during the first half of the twentieth century. We will focus in particular on the following themes: the Spanish-American War and the rise of the U.S. as a global power; expansionism and empire; pan-Americanism and transatlanticism; U.S. diplomatic and military responses to developments in Latin America and the Caribbean; immigration and demographic shifts; WWII; the Cold War; Castro and the Cuban Revolution; the Vietnam War; the Civil Rights Movement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 22 | The Americas Ib: The American Century | LAX026P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to cultural, historical, political, social, and economic developments in the Americas from the 1970s to the present. While our main focus will be on the United States, we will frequently adopt a comparative, hemispheric perspective due to the increasing economic, political, and military integration of the U.S., Mexico and Canada since the 1990s. We will focus in particular on the following themes: 9/11 and the war on terror; the war on drugs; party polarization and the rise of the New Right; family politics in the Americas; environmental concerns; Inter-American economic relations; the US’s current cross-national and international relations and trade networks; strategies of world leadership and power. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 23 | The Americas IIa: New Frontiers | LAX032P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to cultural, historical, political, social, and economic developments in the Americas in the 19th century, with a specific focus on the position of the U.S within a hemispheric framework. Among the many topics we will address are the consolidation of the nation, the impact of Caribbean slave revolts on national identity construction, expansionism to the West and South, the American Borderlands, slavery, immigration, mobility, religious movements, industrialization, architecture, urbanization and changing gender roles. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 24 | The Americas IIb: New Frontiers | LAX033P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to cultural, historical, political, social, and economic developments in the Americas in the 19th century, with a specific focus on the position of the U.S within a hemispheric framework. Among the many topics we will address are the consolidation of the nation, the impact of Caribbean slave revolts on national identity construction, expansionism to the West and South, the American Borderlands, slavery, immigration, mobility, religious movements, industrialization, architecture, urbanization and changing gender roles. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 25 | The Americas IIIa | LAX046B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This module is the first part of a course that offers an interdisciplinary introduction to cultural, historical, political, social, and economic developments in the Americas roughly between 1500 and 1800, with our principal focus on the regions that would later become part of the United States. Our investigations will be cast within an Atlantic framework: that is, they will consider how the European settlement of the Americas and the creation of the United States were in constant interaction with the economic, dynastic, statist, and cultural developments of those people who lived in the Americas, Europe, and Africa. We will use this perspective to trace the settlement of the Americas from the late fifteenth century to the forging of the United States in the late eighteenth century. The course is designed to provide an introduction to early American political and social history as well as its wider culture and to provide a framework for synthesizing knowledge of the Americas within broader worldhistorical developments. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 26 | The Americas IIIb | LAX049B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This module is the second part of a course that offers an interdisciplinary introduction to cultural, historical, political, social, and economic developments in the Americas roughly between 1500 and 1800, with our principal focus on the regions that would later become part of the United States. Our investigations will be cast within an Atlantic framework: that is, they will consider how the European settlement of the Americas and the creation of the United States and is pluralistic, heterogeneous culture were in constant interaction with the economic, dynastic, statist, and cultural developments of those people who lived in the Americas, Europe, and Africa. We will use this perspective to trace the settlement of and cultural developments in the Americas from the late fifteenth century to the forging of the United States in the late eighteenth. The course is designed to provide an introduction to early American political, social and cultural history, and to provide a framework for synthesizing knowledge of the Americas within broader world-historical developments. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 27 | Theories of Culture Ia | LAX039P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 28 | Theories of Culture Ib | LAX041P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 29 | Theories of Culture II: Media Theory | LAX048B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This course introduces students to a range of media theories relevant to the study and analysis of American social and cultural life. Theorists and thinkers we will study may include: Walter Benjamin, Marshall McLuhan, Raymond Williams, Friedrich Kittler, Niklas Luhmann, Lev Manovic and Jason Mittell. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 30 | Theories of Culture II: Politic. Theory | LAX045B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This course introduces students to a range of political theories relevant to the study and analysis of American political life. Theorists and thinkers we will study may include: John Locke, Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, John Dewey, and Hannah Arendt. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 31 | Theories of Culture IIIa | LAX052B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Theories of Culture III is a two-course sequence dedicated to materialist approaches to culture: theories based on the premise that the way people make their living (the mode of production) determines the way people make sense of their lives (ideology). The first two weeks of the course introduce basic concepts of historical materialism, such as alienation, commodity fetishism, and ideology. Subsequent weeks focus on case studies from U.S. culture in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1950s: as the economy changed from one based on agrarian and industrial production, to one driven by the engine of consumer desire, literature and popular culture reflected on those changes in surprising ways. Marx and his heirs (Althusser, Williams, Mulvey), will help us analyze primary texts like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925), a scandalous novel by Anita Loos that became a sexy 1953 film. We’ll expand our analysis with help from sociologists and historians--Thorstein Veblen, Max Weber, Lizbeth Cohen--who studied the social, religious, and political dimensions of American life in a time of rapid economic and cultural change. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 32 | Theories of Culture IIIb | LAX053B05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Theories of Culture III is a two-course sequence dedicated to materialist approaches to culture. Building on the first block, this course considers what happens to U.S. culture when the economy transforms again, from the corporate capitalism of the early twentieth century to the “late capitalism” of the present. We begin with updates to Marxist theory that come to terms with the changes wrought by the emergence of the United States as a global superpower: Horkheimer and Adorno’s classic account of “the culture industry,” Jameson’s powerful description of “postmodernism”, and Bourdieu’s influential critique of “cultural imperialism.” From there we move to contemporary challenges, like climate change and the digital revolution, that have shaken the foundations of U.S. hegemony based on the universal spread of capitalism and democracy. We will investigate the role of critical theory under these new conditions, which have prompted both calls for a “post-critical” turn in the humanities (Latour and Felski) and revivals of communist praxis (Dean and Clover). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 33 | US Political Culture 1 | LAX060P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political culture is what embeds and informs our political behavior. It can be defined as a set of attitudes, values, beliefs and practices shared by a people and shaping their political perceptions and actions. As such, involves moral judgments, political myths, and ideas about what makes for a good citizen, a good society, and a good government. Political cultures vary from state to state (and sometimes even within one state), but they tend to be fairly stable over time. This course examines American political culture. Drawing on a wide range of historical and theoretical readings, it familiarizes students with some of its guiding ideas, including liberty, equality, democracy, individualism, unity, and diversity. Moreover, we will study how political debates in the U.S. tend to be over how these ideas can be realized, not over whether they are worth striving for in the first place. We will explore how American political culture—through debates, public protest, and the circulation of values and myths—intersects with American media and popular culture. And we will try to assess what the election of Donald Trump means for American political culture. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 34 | US Political Culture 2 | LAX061P05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political culture is what embeds and informs our political behavior. It can be defined as a set of attitudes, values, beliefs and practices shared by a people and shaping their political perceptions and actions. As such, involves moral judgments, political myths, and ideas about what makes for a good citizen, a good society, and a good government. Political cultures vary from state to state (and sometimes even within one state), but they tend to be fairly stable over time. This course examines American political culture. Drawing on a wide range of historical and theoretical readings, it familiarizes students with some of its guiding ideas, including liberty, equality, democracy, individualism, unity, and diversity. Moreover, we will study how political debates in the U.S. tend to be over how these ideas can be realized, not over whether they are worth striving for in the first place. We will explore how American political culture—through debates, public protest, and the circulation of values and myths—intersects with American media and popular culture. And we will try to assess what the election of Donald Trump means for American political culture. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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