Fall 2020 - Cloned

AMST UN3930

Mark Lilla

Monday, 12:10-2:00

Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America is considered a classic study on the United States. But more fundamentally it is an analysis of the democratic human type (l’homme démocratique) with his or her distinctive passions, fears, aspirations, prejudices, and self-image. In this seminar we will focus on Tocqueville’s psychology and the light it might shed on American culture. Instructor's permission required. Email Prof. Lilla ([email protected]) by Aug. 15 explaining how course fits into your studies.

AMST UN3930

Rebecca Kobrin

Tuesday, 2:10-4:00

For the past century and a half, New York City has been the gateway city to millions of immigrants to the United States.  This course will compare immigrants’ encounter with New York at the dawn of the 20th century with contemporary encounters of immigrants.  How have these newcomers shaped New York and what issues, organizations, and debates have shaped immigrants’ experiences of New York City?  As a service learning course, each student will be required to work 20-25 hours over the course of the semester at organizations such as the Riverside Language Center, Catholic Charities or St. Mary’s Church. No preregistration, join waitlist and attend first class.

AMST UN3930

Benjamin Rosenberg

Monday, 6:10-8:00

As Tocqueville observed, “scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.” As a consequence, the Supreme Court of the United States has been at the center of many of the most significant developments in American history.  It has played significant roles in, for example, (1) the creation of the young republic and the achievement of a balance between states and the federal government, (2) race relations including the institution of slavery, (3) the rights of workers, (4) civil rights, and (5) elections.  This seminar will explore the Supreme Court’s role in American society by examining its decisions on key issues throughout its history. No preregistration, join waitlist and attend first class.

AMST UN3930

James Shapiro

Tuesday, 10:10-12:00

The course explores the place of Shakespeare in American literary and political culture from the Revolution to the present. We will explore the ways in which American poets, novelists, presidents, essayists, polemicists, and humorists over the past two hundred years have turned to Shakespeare, time and again, in addressing such divisive issues as race, immigration, gender, and national identity. In this sense, the complex story of Shakespeare in America offers an alternative version of our nation’s past. Readings include works by Washington Irving, John Adams, Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Mary Preston, Walt Whitman, Jane Addams, Henry James, Isaac Asimov, Mary McCarthy, and Adrienne Rich. Familiarity with Shakespeare’s major plays is expected. Email Professor Shapiro (js73) with your major, class, and statement of interest by May 15.

AMST UN3930

Roosevelt Montás

Wednesday 2:10-4:00

Pre-Civil War debates about the abolition of slavery were also debates about the nature of the American nation and the place of race in the construction of American citizenship.  This seminar will consider the lives and works of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln in the larger context of an emerging American nation.  The course will focus largely on the contrasting ways in which they approached the national crises of the 1850’s and, in the case of Douglass, the complexities of post-emancipation politics.  We will also consider the relevance of each thinker to cotemporary debates about American identity.  The seminar will focus exclusively on primary texts. No preregistration, join waitlist and attend first class.

AMST UN3930

Caroline Miller

Wednesday, 12:10-2:00

The 2020 presidential election offers a prime opportunity to examine, in real time, the role the press plays in the American political process and how dramatically that role has changed in the digital era. We'll look back at some classic pieces of 20th century political reporting and commentary, from Theodore White to Hunter Thompson, and compare them to coverage of the current battle for the presidency. How have the death of newspapers, the rise of social media and the explosion of hyper-partisan news sources disrupted the discourse? And what happens to the decisions voters make when the fact base is under assault and journalists are branded enemies of the people? No preregistration, join waitlist and attend first class.

AMST UN3930

Craig D. Blinderman, Robert Pollack

Thursday, 4:10-6:00

This seminar is designed to provide opportunities for readings and reflections on the experience of volunteer service work in the At Your Service program at Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center. Students will learn how to critically reflect on their experiences at the health care center in the context of questions raised in the texts read in the seminar. Shared experiences and reflections on texts and interactions at TCC will enhance the critical reflection of all students engaged in the course. Students will experience what it means to be a long-term or short-term patient in a nursing home and will provide assistance and support, whether emotional or recreational, or by simply serving as the person consistently there for someone during chronic illness or at the end of their life.  At the core of this framework is the patient; however, it is important to think about the impact this will have on the student as well. Students will develop skills necessary to critically reflect on the significance of emotional care as a medical practitioner, as well as form a deeper understanding of the role of palliative care and comfort care in a life cycle of care. At least one prior semester of volunteer work in a clinical setting relevant to the syllabus is recommended, but not required. Application required, due June 1. ***If medical forms cannot be completed at this time, please still download and complete the FIRST 3 PAGES, and email them to Skylar Fetter ([email protected]).

AMST UN3930

Richard R. John and Matt Stoller

Monday, 4:10-6:00

Google. Billionaires. Inequality. Slavery. All men are created equal. This seminar will examine the evolving meaning, character, and significance of inequality in the United States from the Enlightenment to the present. For social theorists as diverse as Alexis de Tocqueville and Hannah Arendt, the equality of social conditions was a defining American trait. Yet slavery was not abolished until the Civil War, and the distribution of wealth is today is highly skewed. Our organizing theme is the relationship between “inequality” and “justice.” The course is conceived on the model of Contemporary Civilization (CC)—that is, we will focus exclusively on primary texts, the order of readings will be roughly chronological, and the class will be discussion-driven. Among the topics we will consider will be slavery, universal male suffrage, women’s rights, antimonopoly, and neoliberalism.  Authors include Paine, Tocqueville, George, Du Bois, Brandeis, Arendt, MacKinnon, Piketty, and Stiglitz. Attention will be paid to the role of inequality as a public issue in the 2020 presidential election. No preregistration, join waitlist and attend first class.

AMST UN3930

Hilary Hallett

Wednesday, 10:10-12:00

This seminar explores the history of American gender through the history of the American film industry from the first features in the 1910s through the crumbling of the Hollywood Studio System and Production Code in 1968.  The industry’s movies and stars offer important sites to examine transformations associated with the development of modern sex roles and racial attitudes over the half-century comprising Hollywood’s Studio Era.  During this period, much of the controversy sparked by the industry stemmed from its depictions of new ideals of womanhood, manhood, and sexuality.  Moreover, in this era, Hollywood targeted specific audiences and movies were not afforded the protection of free speech. This made films and movie stars peculiarly reflective of, and vulnerable to, broader societal fantasies and fears about changes involving gender roles, sexuality, and racial attitudes. We will use motion pictures and movie stars as primary sources and consider how the changing institutional history of film production connected to the images it sold.  Students will write one short paper and a paper proposal in preparation for a short research-based essay on a topic relating to how some aspect of film history reflected a particular problem in gender history. No preregistration, join waitlist and attend first class.

AMST UN3920

Casey N. Blake

Required for American Studies students who intend to do a senior research project in the spring. Each student will be assigned a supervisor in the fall. A full draft of the thesis will be due in December. Those drafts will be reviewed by the student's supervisor and faculty. Students will then enroll in a senior thesis seminar for the spring and turn in a final draft of the thesis in March.