 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
  | |
 | |
 | |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Course Offered Spring 2008 Please find below a list of the courses offered in Spring 2007 and that are required to complete a minor in American Studies. All AMST courses carry humanities credit except AMST 265/266 and AMST 298. American Studies Courses:
AMST 215 Introduction to American
Studies This course is required of all students completing the minor. Begins with the question: “What is America?" and concludes with an examination of recent US encounters with the Middle East. Examines evolving national narratives claiming the USA as an exception among nations. Highlights the encounters that have shaped the cultures of the United States. AMST 220 Shock of
Modernity in America Examines modernity by taking the US as an example. Between 1820 and 1860, an eruption of commercial capitalism, industry, urbanization and technological change led to wrenching social and cultural change. Americans created new religions and perfectionist movements at a time of surging nationalism and territorial expansion. Considers similarities moments such as the 1960s and contemporary Lebanon. AMST 275D Sp.
Tp. in American Humanities: New York City in the 1970s This course will familiarize students with a significant turning point in the historical geography of New York City. The fiscal crisis of 1975, and the recovery from which, in particular, left a lasting mark on not only the city's institutions, people, and spaces, but also those of the rest of the world. Students will come to understand how New York in the 1970s experienced and propelled the neoliberalization of politics, the internationalization of economies, the gentrification and devaluation of neighborhoods, the connections between space and race in urban settings, and the emergence of new "cultural" responses (such as hip hop, disco, and the SoHo art scene) to these changes. AMST 275F Marx
in America: A Critique of Capital and American
Capitalism This course will examine
the extent to which we can use the ideas of Karl Marx to
better understand contemporary and historical American
political economy. In particular, we will closely read
Marx’s Capital, Volume One in order to critically
analyze key components of American capitalism and in turn
America’s role in the global economy. Particular attention
will be given to the ways in which the logic of capitalism
figures into America’s interventions in the Middle East.
Throughout the semester we will seek to answer the following
questions: How did Marx understand capitalism? How can we
apply Marx’s thinking to contemporary capitalism? What is
so American about capitalism? What is so capitalistic about
America? How does capitalism relate to American
imperialism? Should we seek to challenge capitalism and/or
America’s version of it? If so, what can we learn from
Marx? In the late 1800s, Lebanese and Syrians began to make the long journey by boat to North and South America, looking for a better life. Some came back home, bringing new ideas and new habits with them. Many stayed, building new lives as Syrian-Argentines or Lebanese-Brazilians, as Lebanese-Americans or Syrian-Canadians. This course will use memoirs, old newspapers, old phonograph records and old photographs to develop a sense of what life was like for first, second and third generation Lebanese and Syrian immigrants, 1890-1990. It will look at how people adapted - what elements of their new lives they adopted, and what elements of their old life (food, language, music) they kept.
|
||