American Studies

Program Offerings

Certificate

Offering type

Certificate

The Program in American Studies, administered by the Effron Center for the Study of America, is an interdisciplinary plan of study that prepares students to make intellectual connections in the world through the experiences and place of America in current and historical times. Encompassing a wide range of fields, areas and disciplines, and grounded in the histories and experiences of the diverse peoples and cultures that make up the United States of America, the program explores different conceptual framings of America and the role of the United States in local, global and transnational relationships. By asking a broad range of research questions and engaging with diverse scholarly methods and theories, the program encourages new understandings of issues that profoundly affect contemporary life and scholarship, including questions of migration, diaspora and borders; indigeneity and colonization; globalization, empire and war; capital and culture; language, race and ethnicity; religion; slavery and racialization; gender and sexuality; and ecology and technology.

For more information, please visit the Effron Center website.

Goals for Student Learning

Demonstrate interdisciplinary thinking by integrating knowledge from various disciplines, such as history, sociology, literature, political science, anthropology and cultural studies, to explore and analyze complex issues in American studies.
Analyze and critically evaluate the impact of power structures, such as racism, colonialism and oppression on ethnic and racial communities in the United States, within both national and global contexts.
Understand the importance of ethical research practices and engage in responsible scholarship that respects the rights and dignity of individuals and communities.
Develop a comprehensive understanding of the historical and contemporary experiences of diverse ethnic groups in the United States, including their representation/identity, historical struggles and national contributions.
Develop strong research and analytical skills to investigate and interpret primary and secondary sources related to American studies, including oral histories, literature, art, film and other media.
Demonstrate an awareness of the interconnectedness of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class and other social categories in shaping the experiences of individuals and communities in the United States and around the world.
Foster a critical understanding of social justice and advocacy movements led by different racial and ethnic communities, and the strategies and tactics employed to challenge systems of inequality that promote social change.
Develop effective written and oral communication skills to articulate complex ideas and arguments related to American studies and engage in respectful dialogue and debate around issues of race, ethnicity, politics and power.
Apply theoretical knowledge and critical thinking skills to real-world issues and challenges faced by ethnic and racial communities in the United States, and develop practical solutions that promote equity, justice and inclusivity.
Cultivate self-reflection and empathy, and recognize one's own positionality and biases in relation to different communities and the broader society.
Explore the diversity of identities and experiences within and across ethnic communities, including but not limited to Indigenous, African American, Asian American and Pacific Island, Latino/a/x and Middle Eastern communities in the United States of America.

Admission to the Program

Students from all departments are welcome to enroll. Students may enroll in the American Studies certificate program at any time, including their first year. There are no prerequisites, and courses taken prior to enrollment may count toward the certificate requirements. Students may take the gateway course AMS 101 at any time during their studies, including after enrollment in the certificate program. To enroll in the certificate program, students should complete the online enrollment form on the Effron Center website. Certificate students should plan to meet with the associate director or the program coordinator of the Effron Center for the Study of America before the end of their first year of enrollment to review their plans for fulfilling the certificate requirements.

Program of Study

Students may earn a certificate in American studies by successfully completing the following requirements, consisting of five courses:

AMS 101: Comparative Perspectives on Power, Resistance and Change (formerly America Then and Now)
Three courses in American studies, either originating in the program or cross-listed, and preferably representing disciplinary breadth in the social sciences, arts and humanities. No more than one course taken in fulfillment of the student’s major may be counted toward the certificate.
Advanced Seminar, preferably taken in senior year. With the approval of the associate chair, a student may substitute an advanced seminar with an additional American studies elective to further their scholarship in this field.

Certificate of Proficiency

Students who fulfill all the requirements of the program will receive a certificate in American Studies upon graduation.

Faculty

Director
- Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús

For a full list of faculty members and fellows please visit the department or program website.

Courses

AMS 101 - Comparative Perspectives on Power, Resistance and Change (also ASA 101/LAO 101) Fall CD or EC

This course introduces students to methods of American Studies, Asian American Studies, and Latino Studies through discussion of some of the signature ideas, events, and debates in and about America's past and present. It presents students various scholarly approaches to historical and mythic manifestations of America from local, national, and global perspectives and considers the historical and cognitive processes associated with the delineation of America. The course examines a wide range of material and media from the point of view of multiple fields of study. A. Beliso-De Jesús, S. Khan, A. Carruth

AMS 403 - Advanced Seminar in American Studies (also ASA 403/LAO 403/SOC 403) Not offered this year CD or SA

Advanced seminars bring students into spaces of collaborative exploration after pursuing their individual paths of study in American studies, Asian American/diasporic studies, and/or Latino studies. To students culminating programs of study toward one or more of the certificates offered by the Effron Center for the Study of America, advanced seminars offer the important opportunity to integrate their cumulative knowledge. Staff

AMS 404 - Advanced Seminar in American Studies (also ANT 414) Spring CD or SA

AMS 406 - Advanced Seminar (also ASA 406/LAO 406) Fall HA

AAS 228 - Intro Topics in Race and Public Policy (also AMS 227/SPI 228) Not offered this year CD or HA

This topics course explores the complex interplay between political, economic, and cultural forces that shape our understanding of the historic achievements and struggles of African-descended people in the United States and their relation to others around the world. K. Taylor

AAS 372 - Postblack - Contemporary African American Art (also AMS 372/ART 374) Fall CD or LA

As articulated by Thelma Golden, postblack refers to the work of African American artists who emerged in the 1990s with ambitious, irreverent, and sassy work. Postblack suggests the emergence of a generation of artists removed from the long tradition of Black affirmation of the Harlem Renaissance, Black empowerment of the Black Arts movement, and identity politics of the 1980s and early 90s. This seminar involves critical and theoretical readings on multiculturalism, race, identity, and contemporary art, and will provide an opportunity for a deep engagement with the work of African American artists of the past decade. AAS Subfield: AACL, GRE C. Okeke-Agulu

AAS 430 - Advanced Topics in African American Culture & Life (also AMS 388/HIS 226) Fall CD or HA

In this seminar, students encounter the theoretical canon and keywords, which shape the contemporary discipline of African American Studies. Accessing a range of interdisciplinary areas, situated primarily in the United States, students will learn to take a critical posture in examining the patterns and prat order and transform Black subjects and Black life. Staff

CWR 345 - Special Topics in Creative Writing (also AMS 345/GSS 383) Not offered this year LA

Students gain special access to the critical understanding of literature through their involvement in the creative process. Topics include autobiography, prosody, non-fiction, revision and point of view. Students are expected to prepare a manuscript at least every other week. Specific topics and prerequisites will vary. By application. Staff

DAN 321 - Special Topics in Dance History, Criticism, and Aesthetics (also AMS 328) Not offered this year HA or LA

This course focuses on the history, criticism, and aesthetics of dance as a theatrical art form and/or a social practice. Topics might include an examination of dance through personal, aesthetic, religious, social, and/or political lenses. Classes will be augmented by film, videos, music, guest speakers, occasional demonstrations, and studio work. One three-hour seminar. Staff

ENG 259 - Film and Media Studies (also AMS 259) Not offered this year LA

This course offers a survey of the varieties of animation across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries as well as their critical reception. Animation is a ubiquitous form, present across media and in advertising. Many viewers take its components and effects for granted. But the archive of animation fundamentally complicates any easy assumptions about "realism" in the twentieth century; animation, moreover, challenges assumptions about bodies and their functions, exaggerating their features and functions, promoting alternatives to more mundane notions of life and liveliness, and relatedly, to ideas of time, contingency, and experience. M. Huerta, R. Leo

ENG 338 - Topics in 18th-Century Literature (also AMS 348/HIS 318) Not offered this year LA

This course will at different times deal with particular currents of literature and thought in the 18th century, or with individual authors. Two lectures, one preceptorial. R. Richardson

ENG 340 - Topics in American Literature (also AAS 330/AMS 359) Not offered this year LA

An investigation of issues outside the scope of traditional surveys of American literature. Topics may include: definitions of "America," literature of the South, contemporary poetry, New Historicism, America on film, the Harlem Renaissance, the Vietnam War, the sentimental novel, colonial encounters, literature of the Americas, fictions of empire, Jewish American writers. Two lectures, one preceptorial. E. Schor, D. Nord, M. DiBattista

ENG 342 - Indigenous Literature and Culture (also AMS 349) Spring CD or LA

This course will look to understand the current and historical role of Indigenous people as a trope in both Western culture and in American culture more specifically, the material effects of such representations and the longstanding resistance to them among Indigenous people, and work toward developing ways of supporting Indigenous sovereignty and futurity. It will include a cross-disciplinary program of learning that will work closely with the Indigenous holdings in both Firestone Library and the Princeton Art Museum. R. Richardson

ENG 358 - Caribbean Literature and Culture (also AAS 343/AMS 396/LAS 385) CD or LA

The Caribbean is an archipelago made up of islands that both link and separate the Americas - islands that have weathered various waves of colonization, migration, and revolution. How do narratives of the Caribbean represent the collision of political forces and natural environments? Looking to the many abyssal histories of the Caribbean, we will explore questions of indigeneity, colonial contact, iterations of enslavement, and the plantation matrix in literary texts. How do island-writers evoke gender and a poetics of relation that exceeds tourist desire and forceful extraction? Staff

ENG 368 - American Literature: 1930-Present (also AMS 340) Not offered this year LA

A study of modern American writings, from Faulkner to Diaz, that emphasize the interplay between formal experimentation and thematic diversity. Two lectures, one preceptorial. L. Mitchell

ENG 383 - Topics in Women's Writing (also AMS 483/GSS 395) Fall CD or LA

In received tradition there are no women authors writing in English before the very late 17th century, with a very few notable exceptions in the Middle Ages. This course charts the recovery and revaluation of early modern poetry, drama and prose by women. We'll learn how significant it is and enjoyable, as we encounter works that range in subject from the harrowing death of grown-up daughters, highly original philosophy, bold political verse and critiques of slavery. We'll consider all within frameworks provided by contemporary gender and race theory and history. N. Smith

ENG 411 - Major Author(s) (also AMS 411) CD or LA

A close study of the works of one or two authors. May include Austen, Dickinson, Wordsworth, George Eliot, Dickens, Melville, Faulkner, James, Stevens, or Woolf, among others. Two 90-minute seminars. E. Cadava

HIS 270 - Asian American History (also AMS 370/ASA 370) Spring CD or HA

This course introduces students to the multiple and varied experiences of people of Asian heritage in the United States from the 19th century to the present day. It focuses on three major questions: (1) What brought Asians to the United States? (2) How did Asian Americans come to be viewed as a race? (3) How does Asian American experience transform our understanding of U.S. history? Using newspapers, novels, government reports, and films, this course will cover major topics in Asian American history, including Chinese Exclusion, Japanese internment, transnational adoption, and the model minority stereotype. B. Lew-Williams

HIS 374 - History of the American West (also AMS 360) Not offered this year HA

The history of the place we now know as the U. S. West, from European contact to the mid-twentieth century. Primary focus on the struggles over access to land, resources, and power in old and new Wests, with particular attention given to the role of visual and popular culture in shaping the national imagination of the region. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff

HIS 384 - Gender and Sexuality in Modern America (also AMS 424/GSS 384) Not offered this year CD or HA

An examination of changing patterns of manhood and womanhood, with an emphasis on women's experience. Topics include housekeeping, child rearing, birth control, sexuality, work, feminism, and the role of gender in religious and political movements and economic development. Two lectures, one preceptorial. M. Canaday

HIS 388 - Unrest and Renewal in Urban America (also AAS 388/AMS 380/URB 388) Not offered this year CD or HA

From colonial settlement to the present, this course weaves a comprehensive history of American cities. Over centuries, cities have symbolized democratic ideals of "melting pots" and innovation, as well as crises of disorder, decline, crime, and poverty. Urban life has concentrated extremes like rich and poor; racial and ethnic divides; philanthropy and greed; skyscrapers and parks; violence and hope; downtown and suburb. The course examines how cities in U.S. history have brokered revolution, transformation and renewal, focusing on class, race, gender, immigration, capitalism, and the built environment. Two lectures, one preceptorial. A. Isenberg

HIS 389 - Culture Wars: American Cultural History (also AMS 412) Spring HA or LA

This course will serve as an intensive historical survey on the rise of mass popular culture and entertainment from roughly 1800 to 1980 and will investigate the ways multiethnic American popular culture (photography, rock 'n' roll, jazz, sports, film, radio, and other forms of multimedia and expressive culture) was influenced by and shaped the American political landscape, race relations, labor, gender, sexuality, technology, and urbanization. Two lectures, one preceptorial. R. Barnes

HIS 393 - Race, Drugs, and Drug Policy in America (also AAS 393/AMS 423/SPI 389) Not offered this year HA

From "Chinese opium" to Oxycontin, and from cocaine and "crack" to BiDil, drug controversies reflect enduring debates about the role of medicine, the law, the policing of ethnic identity, and racial difference. This course explores the history of controversial substances (prescription medicines, over-the-counter products, black market substances, psychoactive drugs), and how, from cigarettes to alcohol and opium, they become vehicles for heated debates over immigration, identity, cultural and biological difference, criminal character, the line between legality and illegality, and the boundaries of the normal and the pathological. K. Wailoo

HIS 459 - The History of Incarceration in the U.S. (also AAS 459/AMS 459/GSS 459) Not offered this year HA

The prison is a growth industry in the U.S.; it is also a central institution in U.S. political and social life, shaping our experience of race, class, gender, sexuality, citizenship, and political possibility. This course explores the history of incarceration over the course of more than two centuries. It tracks the emergence of the penitentiary in the early national period and investigates mass incarceration of the late 20th century. Topics include the relationship between the penitentiary and slavery; the prisoners' rights movement; Japanese internment; immigration detention; and the privatization and globalization of prisons. Staff

MUS 260 - Music Traditions in North America (also AMS 261) Not offered this year LA

This course will delve into the many historical themes, social issues, and musical aspects that arise from surveying and comparing the diverse musical traditions of Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. Staff

POL 344 - Race and Politics in the United States (also AAS 344/AMS 244) Fall CD or SA

This course focuses upon the evolution, nature, and role of black politics within the American Political System, in the post- civil rights era. The concern is with black people as actors and creators and initiators in the political process. Specifically, this course will examine various political controversies that surround the role of race in American society. These controversies or issues, affect public opinion, political institutions, political behavior, and salient public policy debates. Thus this course will assess and evaluate the contemporary influence of race in each of these domains while also exploring their historical antecedents. L. Stephens-Dougan

REL 257 - Religion and Film (also AMS 397) Not offered this year HA

This course explores how the religious is depicted and engaged, even implicitly, in feature films. Movies selected are considered significant with respect to director, script, music, cinematography, impact in film history, influence in wider culture, etc., aside from any religious dimensions but then also because of how, why, and in what ways something is conveyed about religion -- critically or affirmatively (or both). The first portion of the course will examine the presentation of specific religions. The second portion will explore religious concepts such as love, evil, fate, justice, heroes, [extraordinary] power, freedom, etc. G. Sparks

REL 271 - 'Cult' Controversies in America (also AMS 341) Fall HA

In this course we examine a variety of new religious movements that tested the boundaries of acceptable religion at various moments in American history. We pay particular attention to government and media constructions of the religious mainstream and margin, to the politics of labels such as "cult" and "sect," to race, gender, and sexuality within new religions, and to the role of American law in constructing categories and shaping religious expressions. We also consider what draws people to new religions and examine the distinctive beliefs, practices, and social organizations of groups labeled by outsiders as "cults." J. Weisenfeld

REL 360 - Women, Gender, and American Religion (also AMS 369/GSS 360) Not offered this year SA

An exploration of women's roles and experiences, and constructions of gender in diverse settings within North American religion. The seminar will examine women, gender, and religious leadership in varied religious contexts, such as Puritanism, evangelicalism, Catholicism, Judaism, African American Protestantism, native traditions, and American Islam. Emphasis on the dilemmas faced by women in religious institutions as well as the creative approaches to shaping religious and social opportunities in light of shifting ideas about religion, gender, and authority. One three-hour seminar. J. Weisenfeld

REL 377 - Race and Religion in America (also AAS 376/AMS 378) Not offered this year CD or SA

In this seminar we examine how the modern constructed categories of "race" and "religion" have interacted in American history and culture. We explore how religious beliefs and practices have shaped ideas about race and how American racialization has shaped religious experience. We consider the impact of religion and race on notions of what it means to be American and how these have changed over time. Topics include race and biblical interpretation; religion and racial slavery; religion, race, and science; popular culture representations; race, religion, and politics; and religious resistance to racial hierarchy. J. Weisenfeld