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American Studies Courses

Primarily for Undergraduates

045:001 Understanding American Cultures 4 s.h.
The United States in historical, contemporary, and transnational perspective; social and cultural diversity and conflict in American life; debates on concepts of America, the American Dream, national culture, citizenship. GE: Cultural Diversity, Humanities.
 
045:005 American Issues 3 s.h.
Representative issues: radio and American culture; cultural history of the Civil War era; American history, literature, culture.
 
045:020 Sources for American Studies 3 s.h.
Variety of historic and contemporary sources, such as literature, law, photography, painting, film, TV, music, fashions, environments, events of everyday life.
 
045:025 Diversity and American Identities 3 s.h.
History and variety of American identities, examined through citizenship, culture, social stratification; conflict and commonalities among groups according to race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality; how art, literature, music, film, photography, and other cultural artifacts represent diversity of identities.
 
045:030 Introduction to African American Culture 3 s.h.
Interdisciplinary look at Black culture in the United States through significant contributions of the humanities (music, art, literature, drama, philosophy) to development of Black culture. GE: Cultural Diversity, Humanities. Same as 129:061.
 
045:049 Introduction to American Indian and Native Studies 3 s.h.
Themes and methodologies in the study of American Indians and other indigenous peoples; approaches from anthropology, history, law, literature, other disciplines. Offered fall semesters. GE: Cultural Diversity. Same as 149:049.
 
045:060 Sex and Popular Culture in the Postwar U.S. 3 s.h.
English majors may apply this course to the following area and/or period requirement. AREA: Literary Theory and Interdisciplinary Studies. PERIOD: 20th- and/or 21st-Century Literature. GE: Cultural Diversity. Same as 131:061, 154:060.
 
045:065 Disney in America 3 s.h.
How the Walt Disney Corporation has influenced American cultural values, ideals, and experiences through its evolution from an animation company in the 1920s, to a theme park company and television producer in the 1950s, to a media conglomerate today; the corporation’s national importance, Hollywood's contributions to the Depression and World War II, postwar urban and community planning, America’s changing leisure behavior, advertising and childhood, modern business history, exportation of American culture.
 
045:075 American Popular Music 3 s.h.
 
045:080 American Political Humor 3 s.h.
How political humor reflects and influences American attitudes regarding government institutions, elected officials, the democratic process; how humor works; examples from Revolutionary War present and from varied media, including cartoons, fiction, film, television, the Internet.
 
045:085 Native American Material Culture 3 s.h.
Overview of American collectors and collections of Indian objects, prehistoric to contemporary. Same as 149:085.
 
045:090 Seminar in American Cultural Studies 3 s.h.
Interdisciplinary perspectives on a single theme or period.
 
045:095 Honors Project arr.
Independent interdisciplinary research, writing.
 
045:100 Independent Study arr.
Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
 

For Undergraduate and Graduate Students

045:105 Native Peoples of North America 3 s.h.
History, culture of American Indian peoples; emphasis on North America. GE: Cultural Diversity. Same as 113:110, 149:110.
 
045:110 Gilded Age in America 3 s.h.
End of the Civil War to turn of 20th century, through historical documents, literature, arts, and journalism; social, cultural, and political experience.
 
045:115 American Culture of the 1930s 3 s.h.
The Great Depression through historical records, literature, photography, movies, other arts; emphasis on expression of American life and thought, social and cultural experience.
 
045:118 American Women Playwrights: 1776-Present 3 s.h.
How women in the United States have expressed themselves in theatre since 1776; diversity of voices in works by African American, Asian American, Latina, Native American, European American, lesbian playwrights; female-authored drama and production in relation to concurrent male-authored traditions and socioeconomic, political, cultural phenomena. Same as 049:118.
 
045:123 American Literature and History 3 s.h.
Examination of fictional histories (novels about history), their relationship to historical interpretation. English majors may apply this course to the following area and/or period requirement. AREA: American Literature and Culture. PERIOD: 18th- and/or 19th-Century Literature, or 20th- and/or 21st-Century Literature. Same as 008:123.
 
045:129 African American Cinema and Culture 3 s.h.
African American contribution to U.S. cinema in context of African American and American culture. Same as 048:129.
 
045:135 The Social Construction of Whiteness 3 s.h.
Whiteness as a socially constructed racial category with material effects in everyday life; race as a category with salience in determining public policy, forming identities, and shaping people's actions; interdisciplinary approach using social history, philosophy, science, law, literature, autobiography, film, and the expressive arts.
 
045:139 Race, Gender, Class, and the American Frontier 3 s.h.
How race, gender, and class shape cross-cultural encounter and imperial expansion on regional frontiers; how frontiers are represented in literature, art, and film.
 
045:140 American Subcultures 3 s.h.
Theories and practices of youth subcultures, mainly 1970s-1990s American (e.g., punks, skinheads, rappers); how youth subcultures, as popular generational forms of identification, intersect with other compelling markers of collective identity, especially race, class, gender, and sexuality; relevant texts from varied media and genres, including fiction, sociology, film, music, popular fashion, others.
 
045:145 Immigration and American Culture 3 s.h.
Immigrants and immigrant communities.
 
045:147 American Disasters 3 s.h.
Fault lines of American society and culture as exposed during catastrophe; history of American disaster investigated through methods from cultural history, visual theory, sociology, and media studies; varied disasters 1800 to present, including those involving cities (Chicago fire, San Francisco earthquake, Chicago heat wave), transportation (Titanic, Challenger, Columbia), and environment (Union Carbide and Bhopal, Exxon Valdez); causes of catastrophes; how Americans react and are drawn to catastrophe (e.g., disaster films, jokes); related topics, including technology, urbanism, race, class, apocalyptic religion, journalism, popular culture.
 
045:150 Topics in American Cultural Studies 3 s.h.
Special topics in American history, literature, culture.
 
045:151 American Business Cultures 3 s.h.
Historical and contemporary records of business and corporate experiences as part of American life and thought, including representations of business in American novels, movies, history, autobiography; emphasis on questions of relationships between gender, ethnicity, class, and sexuality and corporate identities.
 
045:152 Fairs and Amusement Parks 3 s.h.
Nineteenth- and twentieth-century international expositions, amusement parks, and theme parks as cultural events of U.S. self-definition.
 
045:153 The Civil Rights Movement 3 s.h.
History of the American civil rights movement. Same as 129:153.
 
045:154 Food in America 3 s.h.
Cultural significance of production, distribution, and consumption of food in the United States.
 
045:159 Representations of Revolution 3 s.h.
Cultural politics of the revolutionary tradition in American culture from 1776 to 1976.
 
045:160 American Cityscapes 3 s.h.
Changing conventions in representation of American cities between the 1830s and 1930s; fiction and nonfiction, visual and audiovisual culture.
 
045:163 American Ruins 3 s.h.
Emergence and development of American fascination with ruins, from indigenous to urban-industrial remains; actual ruins and depiction of imagined ruins in art, literature, cinema.
 
045:165 The Culture of Nature 3 s.h.
How ideas of "the natural" and "the cultural" underpin beliefs, laws, and social practices; relationship between these two concepts; construction of notions of a natural world; idea of landscape and nature as a resource to be used, appreciated, articulated, or enjoyed; focus on analysis of relationships to animals.
 
045:167 Reading and Writing the History of the Environment 3 s.h.
Culture and society bind human communities to the natural world that supports them; local landforms and waterways in Iowa have shapen, and been shaped by, human uses and meanings; the past inheres in present-day struggles over land and water use, see local landscapes historically; deploy skills of environmental history to understand the historical and cultural roots of present-day conflicts over land use and appreciate how beliefs, rituals, recreational practices, and technologies attach human beings to places in which they live.
 
045:170 American Regional Identities 3 s.h.
Regional identity across regions of the United States; literary, visual, and popular representations of regional identity.
 
045:174 The American Vacation 3 s.h.
Social history of vacations; cultural significance of contemporary patterns; focus on how experiences and meanings are shaped by race, class, gender. Same as 028:179.
 
045:175 Revolution in American Culture 3 s.h.
Emergence of revolutionary identities in American culture, 1776 to 1970.
 
045:185 America in the World 3 s.h.
How U.S. activity influences lives worldwide.
 
045:193 American Photography 3 s.h.
Popular and art photographs as expressions of American life, thought.
 

Primarily for Graduate Students

045:200 Theory and Practice of American Studies I 3 s.h.
Theories, methods, cases in culture studies; emphasis on social science approaches. Prerequisite: American studies graduate standing or consent of instructor.
 
045:201 Theory and Practice in American Studies II 3 s.h.
Prerequisite: American studies graduate standing or consent of instructor.
 
045:230 Seminar: Performing Arts in American Culture 3 s.h.
American theater, dance, music, and performance.
 
045:242 African American Cultural and Literary Criticism 1900-Present 3 s.h.
Diverse range of African American cultural and literary criticism from 1900 to the present; the new negro; racial integration; race, gender, and sexuality; Black public intellectuals. Same as 008:242.
 
045:250 Seminar: Topics in American Studies 3 s.h.
American cultural history; urbanization, mass media, pluralism, assimilation. Repeatable.
 
045:258 Seminar: Technology and American Culture 3 s.h.
 
045:293 Seminar in American Visual Culture 3 s.h.
Visual expression, its relation to cultural history. Repeatable.
 
045:299 American Studies Proseminar 1-2 s.h.
Intensive reading on American cultural analysis topics; may include screenings, field trips, guest speakers, special events. Repeatable.
 
045:300 American Film and American Culture 3 s.h.
Relationships between film and culture as developed in a particular approach, period, subject. Same as 048:300.
 
045:320 Independent Study arr.
Repeatable. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
 
045:350 Material Culture Internship 0-5 s.h.
Independent work in the field or in a field school, curating or interpreting material culture. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
 
045:400 Masters Preparation 0-3 s.h.
Writing for M.A. exam. Prerequisites: American studies nonthesis M.A. candidacy and consent of instructor.
 
045:450 M.A. Thesis 0-6 s.h.
Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
 
045:500 American Studies Position Paper 3 s.h.
Writing for the Ph.D. comprehensive exam. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
 
045:600 Ph.D. Thesis arr.
Repeatable. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
 
Copyright 2009 The University of Iowa. All rights reserved.
Updated November 2009