American culture and cultural change, with attention to the multicultural basis of American society and emphasis on the need for multiple methods of analysis. The course will consistently draw on the arts, material culture, and various fields affecting cultural production and meaning. Those areas include literature, film, history, architecture, history of art, religion, music, engineering, environmental studies, anthropology, politics, economics, law, and medicine. This course may include discussion sections depending on available funding. Some versions of this course need four in-class contact hours because of the extensive use of media.

This course will introduce students to the interdisciplinary field of American Studies, taking “Food” as its central theme. We will explore the social history, political economy and "aesthetics" of eating and cooking in America. Specific topics will include the development and importance of New World agriculture, the design of shopping and eating spaces, eco history, the objects we use in the kitchen, the use of food as a metaphor in literature and in popular culture, food service workers, ethnic foods, food advertising, food photography, fast food, the “slow” food movement, and food biographies. We will also consider the specific food culture of Berkeley, and explore the rise of the so-called Berkeley "gourmet ghetto." Course Goals: This course is meant to enable you to think and do research as an interdisciplinary scholar, specifically to give you the tools to do readings of a literary text, a painting, a common object, a film, a space. You will also learn the basics of conducting an interview, drawing a floorplan, recording and analyzing behaviors. You will practice historical research—gathering and evaluating evidence--as well as practice the skills involved in finding a thesis and arguing it persuasively.

Credit Restrictions

Students will receive no credit for American Studies 10 after completing American Studies 10AC. A deficient grade in American Studies 10 may be removed by taking American Studies 10AC.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills