This course is designed primarily to allow faculty to develop focused interdisciplinary courses which address specific issues, themes, or problems in American society. Topics vary from semester to semester. Students should consult the department's webpage for current offerings before the start of the semester.

The field of American Studies takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of US culture in all its forms. From music to architecture, literature to advertising, American Studies has broken down the distinctions between art and politics, labor and leisure, fine arts and popular culture. Throughout its history, American Studies has pushed the boundaries of academic inquiry by placing questions of race, class, gender and sexuality, power and resistance into the center of our inquiry, pressing what was once the margins of American life into the center of this dynamic and radical field. Yet, as the founder of Cultural Studies Raymond Williams reminds us, culture is one of the most complex words in the English language, encompassing a range of meanings from the anthropological to the biological to the aesthetic. Therefore, in this course we will take up the question of culture and theories of culture within Cultural Studies and American Studies by reading both classical works and new directions in cultural theory. Readings include works by Karl Marx, Walter Benjamin, Antonio Gramsci, Stuart Hall and Sadiya Hartman.

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