American Studies

• CAS AM 200: Introduction to American Studies
  An exploration of the multi-faceted themes of American society and culture in selected historical periods using a variety of approaches to interpret such topics as American art, literature, politics, material culture, and the mass media. Required of majors and minors. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS AM 250: American Arts and Society
  Investigates key issues and themes in American arts and letters. Topic for Spring 2011: Policing the Boundaries of American Identity: Anti-Immigration Movements in U.S. History to 1930. Examines how the trope of America as a ?Nation of Immigrants? has challenged and affected political and social policy, with a specific focus on the period of Second Wave immigration (1880?1925).
• CAS AM 301: Perspectives on the American Experience
  American history and society as viewed by those who made it. Topic for Fall 2011: American Spectacle: Melodramatic Theatre and Early Silent Film. Examines the intersections between theatre and early silent film covering the period between 1865 and 1920 and how these two forms overlapped with and frequently stole features from each other.
• CAS AM 363: Surfing and American Culture
  The history of the sport of surfing, tracing the cultural, technological, and economic aspects of its transformation from a Polynesian folkway to a global multi-billion dollar economic force. Thematic emphasis on questions of American diversity and identity.
• CAS AM 367: Material Culture
  Introduction to the theory and practice of the interdisciplinary study of material culture, which includes everything we make and use, from food and clothing to art and buildings. Also offered as CAS AH 367.
• CAS AM 401: Senior Independent Work
  
• CAS AM 402: Senior Independent Work
  
• CAS AM 491: Directed Study
  
• CAS AM 492: Directed Study
  
• CAS AM 501: Special Topics in American Studies
  Topic for Fall 2010: American Culture in the Sixties. A survey of American art, literature, film, and visual culture of the 1960s.
• CAS AM 502: Special Topics in American Studies
  Two topics are offered Spring 2011. Students may take one or both for credit. Topic for Section A1: American Landscapes. An interdisciplinary exploration of the meanings of landscapes in American culture. Uses art history, literature, history, archaeology, and cultural landscape studies to examine how we shape the land and use it to define ourselves. Topic for Section B1: Buildings Archaeology: New Approaches to the Study of Early American Architecture. New research and rigorous methods challenge long-held assumptions and uncover intriguing histories and meanings of early American buildings and landscapes.
• CAS AM 546: Historic Preservation
  An introduction to the American preservation movement, including current issues and modern practice. Considers key aspects of the history, theory, and philosophy of historic preservation, and introduces students to key figures in preservation agencies and organizations in this region.
• CAS AM 553: His Bdg & Ldscp
  This course description is currently under construction.

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