哥伦比亚大学

American Studies is a field defined not only by the critical questions it asks but by the interdisciplinary methods it uses to answer those questions. In considering the United States as a cultural, ideological, geographical and historical formation, students of American Studies examine how cultural configurations of and within the nation-state operate as social forces, contested archives of change, loci of power and resistance, and sites historical meaning and memory. How ideologies and arrangements in the U.S. are amplified, altered, challenged or contested? American Studies seeks to address these questions by critically examining how ideas and assumptions about the U.S. have been constituted through a range of competing, corroborating and resistant discourses.

Overview

As an American Studies major, you will have the opportunity to take courses in American history, literature and other related disciplines. In addition to the junior colloquium, you will work with your adviser to devise a five-course concentration organized around a topic (for example: immigration, migration and ethnicity) and a historical period (for example: 1800-Present). This five-course cluster will serve as the intellectual foundation of your year-long senior thesis.

Requirements for the Major (12 courses)

1. Foundations in American Studies: AMST BC 1001 - "What is American Studies?" Majors are encouraged to complete this course before their sophomore year.

2. Foundations in American History (3 courses): Students must take one historically-focused course on the United States in each of the following time periods: pre-1800, 1800-1900, and 1900-Present. Courses can be drawn from a variety of disciplines including, but not limited to, Africana Studies, Art History, English, French, History, Music, Political Science, Sociology, Spanish & Latin American Cultures, Theatre, Urban Studies ,and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Each student must approve her concentration courses with her American Studies major advisor.

3. Junior Colloquium: AMST BC 3401, "Cultural Approaches to the Past." This course offers an introduction to theoretical approaches of American Studies, as well as methods and materials used in the interdisciplinary study of American cultures and society. Offered only in the fall. Students studying abroad in the fall of their junior year will be expected to take the colloquium in the fall of their senior year.

4. Specialized Concentration: These five courses, determined in consultation with your American Studies advisor, must cover at least two of the historical periods specified above (see [2]). Students will choose one of the following concentrations:

• Gender and Sexuality
• Race and Ethnicity
• Class
• Food
• Media and Popular Culture
• Disability
• Political Theory and Culture
• Labor, Production, and Consumption
• Transnational America
• Natural and Built Environment
• Family and Kinship
• Religion, Spirituality and Belief
• Visual and Performing Arts
• Concentration proposed by petition to the Director