This course examines the constructions of black women's identities as represented in twentieth century fiction by U.S. black women writers whose themes include the impact of slavery, migration, class, and family on sexuality, "sisterhood" and racial solidarity. Typical texts include works by writers as varied as Octavia Butler, Lorraine Hansberry, Andrea Lee, Paule Marshall, Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange, and Paula Woods.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: UNITED STATES

This course analyzes the social experience and cultural heritage of Asian Americans through their writing and places them in a broader comparative context of multi-racial/ethnic American society. We will examine the development of Asian American literature, its social implications and historical context, and the diversity of subject matter which makes up the literary scene of Asian American communities since the mid-19th century.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: UNITED STATES

This course explores the history of the United States' involvement with and policy toward countries in East Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines, from the early 19th century to the present. Topics include the changing roles of the United States in East Asia, the process of economic development in an international context, cross-cultural misperceptions, and power rivalries in the Pacific Rim.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: INTERCULTURAL

Exploring American Utopian Communities. Since the 19th century, communities of people in America, both secular and religious, have attempted to bring their vision of a perfect society into practice. In this course, students will study both historic writing and American literature that will bring to life the struggles, triumphs, rise, and demise of several of these fascinating experiments in communal living.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: UNITED STATES

Race and Gender in Asian American Films. This course will begin with a look at the creation of stereotypes of Asians as revealed in early Hollywood films. We will see graphic examples of racism and stereotyping as well as fascinating work by actors, actresses, and directors who were pioneering for their times. With this informed historical perspective, we will then look at a selection of feature length dramas made by and about Asian Americans. In addition to identifying key themes in the Asian American experience, we will examine how ideas about gender influence the spectrum of relationships; intimate, familial, and societal as portrayed in the selected films.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: UNITED STATES

Latino/a Experience. This course will explore the history and experience of Latino/a immigrants in the United States, paying particular attention to how race, ethnicity, identity, politics, class, and gender influence the lives of Latino/a immigrants. We will also examine how they have influenced historical developments in different regions of the country, especially in terms of U.S. demographics.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: UNITED STATES

Black Literary History and the Archive
Black Literary History and the Archive Description: How do we resurrect the lives of people who were considered unimportant, those whose contributions were dismissed and buried? What does the existing historical archive tell us about what is considered valuable and about what constitutes "memory"? This class examines the lives of two of the most important nineteenth-century Black women writers, Harriet Jacobs and Harriet Wilson, as a means to develop the tools of literary recovery. As we expand the contours of the historical canon, we will also reflect on our own sense of the scope and shape of African American historical memory and the ways in which we organize history. How do we interpret religion, resistance and labor activities that that fall "outside" of the most recognized narratives about African American experience? This class will take on these larger questions as we also engage in archival work in newspapers, census records and beyond.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: UNITED STATES

Discipline And Desire: The History Of Sexuality In The United States
This course examines the history of the politics of sexuality in the United States since the American Revolution. It begins with theoretical works on the intersections of sexuality and politics, including writings by Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Reich, Daniel Bell, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Michael Warner. It then considers important moments in the history of American sexuality, including the growth of cities and erotic subcultures after the war for independence, the establishment of "republican discipline" and Victorianism in the early 19th century, blackface minstrelsy and the eroticization of slavery, the confinement of prostitution, the creation of domestic and public spheres, the explosion of working-class sexual entertainment during the industrial revolution, feminism and the social hygiene movement, the invention of homosexuality and emergence of gay and lesbian subcultures, black music and the racialization of sex, Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique vs. Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl, Stonewall and Gay Liberation, Roe v. Wade, the feminist "pornography wars," the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, and the politics of gay marriage.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: UNITED STATES

Race and American Citizenship. This course examines how American citizenship, from the war for independence to the present, has been defined in relation to ideas of race. In the early republic, how was citizenship created -- as both a legal category and a set of cultural norms -- and how did it reflect and influence concepts of "whiteness" and "blackness"? During the Civil War and Reconstruction, what was required of ex-slaves to become citizens, and how did they respond to those requirements? What were the privileges of whiteness and what were its costs? For African Americans during the era of segregation, what were the problems of "second-class citizenship" and what were its benefits? In response to the great waves of immigration at the turn of the 20th century and after 1965, how did nativists, liberals, employers, labor leaders, and immigrants themselves re-define "Americanism"? How has the Supreme Court, in cases such as Plessy and Brown, ruled on questions of difference, belonging, and national ob! ligation? What was gained from the civil rights movement's campaign for "full citizenship" and what was lost? What does it mean to be a "good American citizen
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: INTERCULTURAL

Sociopolitics of Race: Color-blind/Color-conscious. Course explores the social politics of race through the lenses of color-conscious and color-blind ideologies. Topics focus on the construction of race; racial identity development and socialization for differently positioned group members; psychological impact of race and racial identification on academic achievement, esteem, and health; contemporary research on colorblind and color conscious ideologies and primes; and social policy. Interdisciplinary readings include social psychological theory and research (Steele's Whistling Vivaldi, Sue's Microaggressions and Marginality, contemporary journal articles), Literary Analyses (Morrison's Playing in the Dark), Critical Theory (Delgado and Stefanic's Critical Race Theory), and Sociology (Bonilla-Silva's Racism without Racists). Heavily discussion-based.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: UNITED STATES

The 1960s
A close examination of the significant social movements of the 1960s and their ongoing relevance in the 21st century. Prerequisite: American Studies major or permission of instructor.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET:UNITED STATES

American Experiments in Communal Living
This interdisciplinary seminar explores American visions of utopia in fact and in fiction. Students will study the proliferation of American "utopian" societies, both religious and secular, from 1780 up to the 1930s before moving to an examination of more contemporary intentional communities, including dystopian separatists, and counter-culture communes. Readings include statements by charismatic founders, personal accounts of members, historical analyses, and utopian novels.

This course is designed to assist students with the completion of their research papers on topics that reflect their areas of emphasis in American Studies. It will provide an opportunity for seniors to synthesize their area of specialization with an analysis of critical issues in the study of American culture and society.