See History.

Objectives

American Studies takes an interdisciplinary approach to the culture, society, politics, institutions, identities, thoughts, values, and behavior of Americans, in all their variety, and to the critical issues which confront the United States domestically and internationally. Using materials central to the disciplines of American Studies--film, literature, popular and material culture, music, art and architecture, oral history, social and intellectual history--the concentration is designed to provide students with an educated awareness of the way the United States, viewed as a civilization, frames the lives, aspirations, and self-perceptions of its citizens. Typically students who enroll anticipate careers in law, business, public service, communications, education, journalism, museum work, and teaching, at all levels. As the sponsor of the programs in Legal Studies, Film Studies, Journalism, and Environmental Studies, the American Studies concentration aims to provide a broad background to those areas and welcomes students who seek active engagement with the contemporary world through firm grounding in a sound liberal arts education.

How to Become a Concentrator

Normally students declare their concentration in their sophomore year and attempt to complete the three required courses (see below) by the end of the first semester of their junior year, or at the latest, the end of their junior year. Working with a departmental advisor, students are urged to develop a coherent selection of electives tailored to their particular interests and gifts. Because of the close working relationship between the department and its resident programs (Law, Film, Journalism, Environmental Studies) students often offer several courses in joint satisfaction of their concentration (American Studies) and their Program. Students wishing to earn departmental honors must write a senior thesis in a full year course, AMST 99d. Special opportunities are available for supervised internships (AMST 92a,b). Many concentrators gain a valuable cross-cultural perspective on America by studying abroad in their junior year.

Faculty

Culture and thought.

Women's history. Social history.

Law and literature.

Film and culture.

American environmental studies.

Documentary film.

Ethnicity. Immigration history and policy. Family.

Law, social policy, and philosophy.

Environmental studies.

Journalism, society, and politics.

Colonial America and the American West.

Literature and intellectual history.

Modern political and cultural history.

Requirements for Concentration

A. AMST 10a (Foundations of American Civilization). Normally students will take 10a in their sophomore year and no later than the spring term of their junior year. Exceptions should be discussed with the student's advisor.

B. AMST 100a (Classic Texts in the American Culture to 1900). Normally students will take 100a in their sophomore year and no later than in their junior year. Students may take 100a in their senior year only in the most unusual circumstances, with the approval of the department chair.

C. AMST 100b (Twentieth Century American Culture). After completing 100a, students must take 100b, normally in their sophomore or junior year.

D. Six (6) semester courses in American studies, chosen either from within the department or from other departments, with departmental approval.

E. To be eligible for departmental honors, seniors must enroll in AMST 99d (Senior Research) with departmental approval and participate in a year-long honors colloquium. AMST 99d does not satisfy other departmental requirements.

F. Not more than two courses satisfying a second concentration may be offered to complete the American studies concentration.

G. No course, whether required or elective, for which a student receives a grade below C- may be counted toward the concentration.

Courses of Instruction

(1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students

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Interpretations of the meaning of the myths, symbols, values, heroes and rogues, character ideals, identities, masks, games, humor, languages, expressive repertoire, and ideologies that are exhibited in the social, political, economic, and cultural history of the United States. Usually offered every year.

Mr. Cohen

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A hands-on workshop designed to teach basic broadcast newswriting skills, as well as techniques for gathering, producing, and delivering radio and television news. Stresses the importance of accuracy. Issues of objectivity, point of view, and freedom of the press are discussed. Writing assignments will be written on deadline. Usually offered every year.

Staff

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An interdisciplinary overview of major environmental challenges facing humanity, including population growth; food production; limited supplies of energy, water, and other resources; climate change; loss of biodiversity; waste disposal and pollution. Students examine these problems critically and evaluate different ways of thinking about their causes and solutions. Usually offered every year.

Mr. Donahue

Off-campus work experience in conjunction with a reading course with a member of the department. Requires reading and writing assignments drawing and amplifying the internship experience. Only one internship course may be submitted in satisfaction of the department's elective requirements. Usually offered every year.

Staff

Independent readings, research, and writing on a subject of the student's interest, under the direction of a faculty advisor. Usually offered every year.

Staff

See AMST 97a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.

Staff

Seniors who are candidates for degrees with departmental honors should register for this course and, under the direction of a faculty advisor, prepare a thesis. In addition to regular meetings with faculty advisors, seniors will participate in an honors colloquium, a seminar group bringing together the honors candidates and members of the American studies faculty. Usually offered every year.

Staff

(100-199) For Both Undergraduate and Graduate Students

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Various visions of America from the earliest colonization through the Civil War are explored. Of special concern will be the ways the individual's inner life is conceived or expressed in relation to the new society and nation-building of the 18th and 19th centuries. Usually offered every year.

Staff

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Explores the common texture of American life--in work, families, social relations, regional settings, and politics. Attention will be paid to the influence of the democratic temper in mediating the competing claims of egalitarianism and individualism. Usually offered every year.

Staff

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Provides an overview of the relationship between nature and culture in North America. We cover Native Americans, the European invasion, the development of a market system of resource extraction and consumption, the impact of industrialization, and environmentalist responses. Current environmental issues are placed in historical context. Usually offered every second year. Last offered in the spring of 2001.

Mr. Donahue

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Focuses on the profound and unique roles women have played in preserving and enhancing the natural environment and protecting human health. Students explore a wide range of environmental issues from the perspective of women and examine how women have been a driving force in key efforts to improve our environment. Also covers the legal and ethical issues embodied in environmental justice concerns. Usually offered every year.

Ms. Goldin

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Students examine the many meanings of the American experience by exploring the sources, subjects, and methodologies used in the practice of American studies. In the classroom and on field trips, students use such resources as fiction and poetry, photography and painting, oral history and music, and architecture and the natural landscape to enlarge their knowledge and understanding of American history and contemporary society. Highly recommended for students intending to write theses and those considering graduate school. Usually offered every second year.

Staff

Learn how to know--and map--the place where you live. Develops skills for community environmental research. Intensive training in the use of GIS mapping software, while investigating ecological, historical, and other natural and cultural aspects of Brandeis, Waltham, and the surrounding environment. Usually offered every second year. Last offered in the spring of 2000.

Mr. Donahue

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Can we make sustainable use of the Eastern Forest of North America while protecting biological diversity and ecological integrity? We explore the forest's ecological development, the impact of human cultures, attitudes toward the forest, and our mixed record of abuse and stewardship. Usually offered every second year. Will be offered in the fall of 2001.

Mr. Donahue

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American food is abundant and cheap. Yet many eat poorly, and some argue our agriculture may be unhealthy and unsustainable. Students explore food issues and the history of American farming, and design a pleasing food system. Usually offered every second year. Last offered in the spring of 2001.

Mr. Donahue

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Explores how motion picture images of the West have reflected and shaped American identities, ideologies, and mythologies. Through a variety of films--silent, "classic," and "revisionist"--and supplementary readings, we examine the intertwined themes of progress, civilization, region, nation, democracy, race, gender, and violence. Usually offered every fourth year. Last offered in the fall of 1997.

Staff

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Traces the decline of classical Hollywood cinema and the impact of motion pictures on American culture in the 1950s, especially Hollywood's representations of the Cold War. Students learn methods of cinematic analysis to conduct cultural historical inquiry. Usually offered every fourth year. Last offered in the spring of 1999.

Mr. Doherty

(Formerly AMST 165b)

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Examines the nature of classical Hollywood cinema and the impact of motion pictures on American culture in the 1940s, especially Hollywood's representations of World War II. Students learn methods of cinematic analysis to conduct cultural historical inquiry. Usually offered every fourth year. Last offered in the spring of 1998.

Mr. Doherty

(Formerly AMST 161b)

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Traces the rise of Hollywood sound cinema and the impact of motion pictures on American culture in the 1930s, especially Hollywood's representations of the Great Depression. Students learn methods of cinematic analysis to conduct cultural historical inquiry. Usually offered every fourth year. Last offered in the spring of 1997.

Mr. Doherty

(Formerly AMST 155b)

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Traces the rise and fall of silent Hollywood cinema and the impact of motion pictures on American culture in the 1920s, especially Hollywood's role in the revolution in morals and manners. Students learn methods of cinematic analysis to conduct cultural historical inquiry. All films are screened with a music score or live piano accompaniment. Usually offered every fourth year. Last offered in the spring of 2000.

Mr. Doherty

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Through various major works, central dilemmas of the American experience will be examined: the ambition to transcend social and individual limitations and the tension between demands of self and the hunger for community. Usually offered every second year. Will be offered in the fall of 2001.

Mr. Whitfield

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Explores gender distinctions as a key element in the organization of professions, analyzing the connections among sex roles, occupational structure, and American social life. Topics include work culture(s) compatible with sexual harassment, pay equity, the "mommy" and "daddy" tracks, and dual-career families. Among the professions examined are law, medicine, teaching, social work, nursing, journalism, business, and the clergy. Usually offered every second year.

Ms. Antler

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A course for students with some preliminary background in film studies, providing a forum not only to see and to interpret films but to master the ways films are seen and interpreted. Classic Hollywood cinema will be examined. Usually offered every second year.

Mr. Doherty

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Surveys the experiences of American Jewish women in work, politics, religion, family life, the arts, and American culture generally over the last 100 years, examining how the dual heritage of female and Jewish "otherness" shaped their often conflicted identities. Usually offered every second year.

Ms. Antler

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A historical and cultural survey of the female experience in the United States with emphasis on issues of education, work, domestic ideology, sexuality, male-female relations, race, class, politics, war, the media, feminism, and antifeminism. Usually offered every second year.

Ms. Antler

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Ideas and behavior relating to love and marriage are used as lenses to view broader social patterns such as family organization, generational conflict, and the creation of professional and national identity. Usually offered every second year.

Ms. Antler

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Combining two disciplines in an unusual way, the course aims to put history on the stage, creating a history of the present tense through the public witnessing of theater. After a study of the traditions and techniques of documentary drama, the class will construct its own documentary drama based on a particular episode in our national life. Usually offered every second year.

Ms. Antler

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An interdisciplinary course with three main lines of discussion and investigation: an aesthetic inquiry into the meaning of television style and genre; a historical consideration of the medium and its role in American life; and a technological study of televisual communication. Usually offered every second year.

Mr. Doherty

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This course on moving image reportage will trace the history of news on screen from the silent cinema to the age of cable. Motion picture documentaries, newsreels, screen magazines, network news reports, televised events, and broadcast journalism will be the occasion for an inquiry into journalistic practice in the media of film and television. Usually offered every second year.

Mr. Doherty

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This course will analyze and assess United States media coverage of major international events, personalities, and perspectives. The course is designed to introduce students to the international events over the past three decades as they have been interpreted by American journalists and media instructors and to challenge students to evaluate the limitations and biases of this reportage. Usually offered every second year.

Staff

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The course is designed to introduce students to U.S. history as it has been recorded by photojournalists and to challenge students to evaluate the limitations and biases of this history in images. The course will analyze the major personalities, policies, institutions, and the technological advances in photojournalism since the mid-19th century, and will examine these within the context of historical changes in American society, government, and the media itself. Usually offered every second year.

Staff

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Examines what journalists have done, how their enterprise has in fact conformed with their ideals, and what some of the consequences have been for the republic historically and in contemporary terms. Usually offered every year.

Mr. Whitfield

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Introduces students to the practice of news reporting for print media and links theory and history to the working craft of journalism. Trains students in the fundamentals of newsgathering and writing and provides an opportunity to practice those skills in conditions simulating a newsroom. A concern for ethics, balance, and accuracy is stressed in all assignments. Usually offered every year.

Staff

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An examination of the news media's relationship to demographic and cultural change, and of how journalistic ideologies influence the coverage of women and various ethnic and cultural groups. Usually offered every second year.

Staff

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An examination of the political, economic, social, and familial adaptation of Asian-Americans to American society from the mid-19th century to the present. Patterns of acculturation will be analyzed in relation to many factors in American society in addition to the composition, size, skills, and cultural values of the newcomers and their progeny. Usually offered every year.

Mr. Fuchs

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Survey of Native American history and culture with focus on the social, political, and economic changes experienced by Native Americans as a result of their interactions with European explorers, traders, and colonists. Special one-time offering. Was offered in the spring of 2001.

Mr.Robison

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Explores how American culture and society--as investigated through novels, plays, poetry, photography, painting, television, and film--mediate wartime experiences. The concentration will be on the American "art of war" from the Civil War to the present. Usually offered every second year.

Staff

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Examines how visionaries, novelists, historians, social scientists, and futurologists have imagined and predicted America's future and what those adumbrations tell us about our life today, tomorrow, and yesterday when the predictions were made. Usually offered every second year.

Mr. Cohen

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Characteristics and consequences of family life seen in biological, cross-cultural, and historical perspectives. Also, an analysis of the impact of American culture on Irish, Italian, Jewish, Asian, and African-American families. Usually offered every second year.

Mr. Fuchs

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Designed to elucidate how the United States--as a promise, as a dream, as a cultural projection--has interacted with the rest of the world (but primarily with Europe). Focuses less on the flow of people than on the flow of ideas, less on the instruments of foreign policy than on the institutions that have promoted visions of democracy, individual autonomy, power, and abundance. Usually offered every year.

Mr. Whitfield

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An examination of the economic, political, and ideological factors underlying immigration policy in U.S. history, especially since 1965. Analysis of contemporary immigration, refugee and asylum issues, and of problems of immigrant acculturation today. Usually offered every year.

Staff

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Analysis of alleged changes in the character structure, social usages, governing myths and ideas, artistic sensibility, and major institutions of America during the 1960s. What were the principal causes and occasions for the change? Usually offered every second year. Will be offered in the fall of 2001.

Mr. Cohen

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Consideration of the experience of Native Americans, Euro-Americans, African-Americans, Latino-Americans, and Asian-Americans and distinctive patterns of racial and ethnic American pluralism and unity. Usually offered every year.

Mr. Fuchs

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Consideration of the "paranoid style" in America's political and popular culture and in recent American literature. Topics include allegations of "conspiracy" in connection with the Sacco and Vanzetti, Hiss, and Rosenberg cases; anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism; Watergate and Irangate. Usually offered every second year. Will be offered in the fall of 2001.

Mr. Cohen

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Studies of the use of terror and violence by citizens and governments in the domestic history of the United States. What are the occasions and causes of violence? How is it imagined, portrayed, and explained in literature? Is there anything peculiarly American about violence in America? Usually offered every second year.

Mr. Cohen

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Examines major themes in the history of American education, including changing ideas about children, childrearing, and adolescence; development of schools; the politics of education; education and individual life history. Usually offered every second year.

Ms. Antler

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How organized sports have reflected changes in the American cultural, social, and economic scene, and how they have reflected and shaped the moral codes, personal values, character, style, myths, attachments, sense of work and play, fantasy, and reality of fans and athletes. Usually offered every second year. Will be offered in the fall of 2001.

Mr. Cohen

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The seminar addresses American political culture from the end of World War II until the revival of liberal movements and radical criticism. Attention will be paid to the specter of totalitarianism, the "end of ideology," McCarthyism, and the crisis of civil liberties, and the strains on the pluralistic consensus in an era of anti-communism. Usually offered every year.

Mr. Whitfield

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Introduces a significant international ethics or social justice theme and prepares students to integrate academic and community work during an internship. Special attention is given to comparative issues between the United States and other nations and regions. Usually offered every year.

Mr. Terris and Staff

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Confrontations of public interest and personal rights across three episodes in American cultural history: post-Civil War race relations, progressive-era economic regulation, and contemporary civil liberties, especially sexual and reproductive privacy. Critical legal decisions examined in social and political context. Usually offered every second year. Will be offered in the fall of 2001.

Mr.Gaskins

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Brandeis's legal career serves as model and guide for exploring the ideals and anxieties of American legal culture across the 20th century. Focus on how legal values evolve in response to new technologies, corporate capitalism, and threats to personal liberty. Usually offered every second year.

Mr. Gaskins

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Uses the Brandeis campus as model laboratory for applied environmental study, research, and implementation of environmentally beneficial initiatives. Students analyze the environmental impact of human activities within the existing legal, political, and social structure; learn basic research strategies for auditing and assessing the effect of these activities; and contribute to the overall understanding of the environmental impact of the Brandeis community on its surroundings. Usually offered every year.

Ms. Goldin

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The training of students in audiovisual production to explore aspects of American urban society. Production format will include video, slide, tape, and audio. Students should be prepared to create a documentary during this course. Usually offered every year.

Mr. Felt

Cross-Listed Courses

American Health Care

Advertising and the Media

Political Packaging in America

The Media and Public Policy

Literary Journalism: The Art of Feature Writing

Introduction to Law

American Health Care: Law and Policy

Sex Discrimination and the Law

Law and Social Welfare: Citizen Rights and Government Responsibilities

Marriage, Divorce, and Parenthood

Law and Letters in American Culture

Law, Technology, and Innovation

Environmental Law and Policy

Libel and Defamation, Privacy and Publicity

Foundations of American Pragmatism