GRS AM 735 (4 credits)
\nIntroduction to handling of primary materials from a number of disciplines in order to develop an American Studies perspective. Required of all American Studies PhD students.<\/p>\n
GRS AM 736 (4 credits)
\nIntroduction to classic problems in the interpretation of American society and culture. Required of all American Studies PhD students.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, AM 736 is offered in the Fall and AM735 is offered in the Spring.<\/p>\n
CAS AM 501 (4 credits)
\nPrevious topics have included:<\/p>\n
American Culture in the Sixties: This course focuses on American culture of the 1960s and covers mainstream, independent, and experimental films, American theater of the 1960s, novels, and the essayistic contributions of the decade’s leading intellectuals. Because the sixties constitute one of the more dramatic periods of political and cultural change in recent history, the course is concerned with historical accounts and historiographic models that attempt to narrate and comprehend the decade.
\nReading Boston \u2013 Conversations About the Real and Imagined City: Team taught by Professor William Huntting Howell (Department of English) and Professor Keith N. Morgan (Department of History of Art & Architecture). Multidisciplinary examination of Boston from Wampanoag settlement to the present. Explores how specific neighborhoods have developed and how they have been presented in literature. Includes frequent site visits around Boston. Serves as AM capstone.
\nTransnational American Studies: Drawing on examples from literature, history, art, photography, architecture, and material culture, this course explores the global origins of American culture. Topics will include the immigrant experience; the middle passage; transatlantic tourism; black internationalism and cultural crossings between Japan and the United States in the late nineteenth century. Readings by and about Emerson, John La Farge, Henry James, Kakuzo Okakura, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gertrude Stein, Langston Hughes, and others.<\/p>\n
CAS AM 502 (4 credits)
\nPrevious Topics have included:<\/p>\n
Mystic Orders and Secret Societies: Fraternalism in America: Interdisciplinary seminar exploring the activities and ideologies of fraternal organizations, including the Freemasons, Ku Klux Klan, and the Rebekahs, among others, and examining the role of secret societies in American culture. Culminates with an original research paper.
\nAmerican Baseball: This interdisciplinary research seminar examines the history, culture, and science of the game from its shadowy origins in the early days of the nineteenth century, explosive growth in popularity during the Jazz Age, to the controversy-ridden Steroid Era. Also offered as CGS HU 500.
\nThe American Cultural Landscape: This interdisciplinary research seminar challenges students to interpret the built environment as evidence of human activity. Buildings, landscapes, transportation networks, and religious compounds are examined as carriers of historical and cultural meaning. The field\u2019s historiography is also addressed.[\/collapsible]<\/p>\n
CAS AM 505\u00a0(4 Credits)
\nThis course explores the American South through literature, film, and other sources. Considers what, if anything, has been distinctive about the Southern experience and how a variety of Americans have imagined the region over time.\u00a0Also offered as HI\u00a0505.<\/p>\n
CAS AM 524 (4 credits)
\nExamines the historic forces that have shaped the distinctive regional landscapes of New England and catalogues the changing forms that make up those landscapes. Also offered as CAS AH 525.<\/p>\n
CAS AM 567 (4 Credits)
\nAn interdisciplinary research seminar exploring a topic in American material culture. Specific content will vary by semester and may be repeated for credit as topics change. Previous topics have included: Material Culture of the Twentieth-Century United States.<\/p>\n
GRS AM 754 (4 credits)
\nConsiders the methods employed to protect and plan for the historic landscape. Topics include the history of preservation planning and the broader planning profession, and a review of case law, legislation, and the protection strategies of current preservation practice.<\/p>\n
GRS AM 765 (4 credits)
\nThis seminar provides an opportunity to examine influential interpretive frameworks employed in the study of American building and the historic landscape, examples of the approach known as vernacular architecture. Also offered as GRS AH 769.<\/p>\n
GRS AM 867 (4 credits)
\nIntroduction 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. Explore contemporary scholarship from a range of disciplines. Also offered as GRS AH 867.<\/p>\n
Students in the American Studies Program also take courses in other departments with affiliated faculty. Some of the courses commonly taken by students are listed below. For a detailed course list, please consult the Graduate Bulletin.
\nAfrican American & Black Diaspora Studies
\nAnthropology
\nHistory of Art & Architecture
\nEnglish
\nFilm\u00a0& Television
\nHistory
\nPolitical Science
\nSociology
\nWomen’s & Gender Studies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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