Course Offerings
The Program
To earn the M.A. degree in American Studies, a student must complete 33 credits with a minimum Quality Point Average of 3.00. The curriculum has three major components:
I. Required Courses: 9 Credits
- AS 401 Introduction to American Studies: The Interdisciplinary Method
- AS 402 American Historiography: A Survey of Seminal American Historical Texts
- AS 403 Issues in Contemporary American Studies
II. Elective Courses: 21 Credits
In consultation with a faculty advisor, each student will design an individualized program of study, usually seven courses from a list of 53 offered over a three-year cycle.
III. AS 404 Independent Capstone Project: 3 Credits
In collaboration with a faculty advisor, each student will choose a topic and provide a prospectus and bibliography which must then be approved by a faculty committee. The student will then write an independent research paper under the supervision of an appropriate faculty member. While this is the normal mode of fulfilling the capstone requirement, alternative proposals will be considered (e.g. new curriculum design or appropriate creative projects).
Courses available as electives include:
American Studies
- AS 401 Introduction to American Studies
- AS 402 American Historiography
- AS 403 Issues in Contemporary American Studies
- AS 404 Independent Capstone Project
- AS 415 Civil Liberties
- AS 416 Civil Liberties II: Criminal Justice
- AS 420 Feminist Theory and Gender Studies
- AS 421 Working Women in the US: 1865 - Present
- AS 427 The Irish in American Film
- AS 444 American Master Artists and their Times
- AS 450 The Supreme Court in the 1960's
- AS 461 The American Civil War
- AS 481 Visions of Italy and America in Film
- AS 488 The Frontier in American Culture
- AS 483 America in the 1930's
- AS 493 The Italian-American Experience
History
- HI 437 American Prophetic Tradition
- HI 439 The Tumultuous Twentieth Century: Key Issues in U.S. Political and Social History
- HI 441 Examining the 1960s: History and Legacy
- HI 442 Immigration, Ethnicity, and Race in U.S. History
- HI 448 Social Movements in America: The Sixties
- HI 451 Crises and Turning Points in U.S. Foreign Relations: 1776-2004
- HI 452 Peace Movements in U.S. History
- HI 456 History of the Cold War
- HI 459 Working in America: A Social History
- HI 479 Islam in America
- HI 481 The Arab-American Experience
Literature
- EN 447 Poetry in America
- EN 486 Native American Literature
- EN 487 Modern American Novel
- EN 488 Award-Winning American Novels
- EN 490 The Contemporary American Memoir
Philosophy
- PH 483 Ethical Theories in American
- PH 484 American Pragmatism
- PH 494 Transcendentalism as Philosophy
- PH 495 Philosophy in 19th-Century America
Politics
- PO 433 United States Foreign Policy
- PO 461 The American Presidency
- PO 465 Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Public Opinion
- PO 467 Politics in Film
- PO 468 Politics of Mass Popular Culture
Religious Studies
- RS 442 Jews and Judaism in America
Sociology & Anthropology
- SO 412 Contemporary American Society
- SO 461 American Class Structure
- SO 463 Urban/Suburban Sociology
- SO 464 Contemporary Urban Society
- SO 465 Urban Sociology: New York City
- SO 468 The Body and American Culture
Visual and Performing Arts
- MU 401 History of Jazz
- MU 402 History of Rock
- MU 414 Gershwin, Ellington, Copland
- TA 420 American Drama and Society
- TA 452 The Arts in America: 1950 to the Present
- TA 453 American Popular Entertainments and Social History
Many of these are new courses designed specifically for this program or redesigned and upgraded to the graduate level. In choosing a program, the students may elect a maximum of three upper division undergraduate courses. In these three courses, a graduate-level paper will be required. Other courses and are expected to be at the graduate level.
English
- EN 339 African-American Literature and Culture: 1900 to 1940
- EN 341 Early African-American Literature
- EN 342 Voices and Visions: Five American Poets
- EN 348 Contemporary Women Writers of Color
- EN 371 African-American Women's Writing
- EN 380 Colonial American Literature
- EN 381 American Romanticism
- EN 382 American Literature: 1865 to 1920
- EN 383 American Literature: 1920 to 1950
- EN 384 American Literature: 1950 to the Present
- EN 386 Native American Literature
- EN 387 The American Novel
- EN 389 Literature and Religion: The American Experience
- EN 391 Myth in American Literature
History
- HI 331 Era of the American Revolution: 1763 to 1800
- HI 342 Immigration, Ethnicity, and Race in U.S. History
- HI 348 Social Movements in 20th Century U.S. History
- HI 356 History of the Cold War
- HI 362 The Frontier: Man, Nature, and the American Land
- HI 397 Special Topics: Social Movements in the 19th Century States
- HI 397 Special Topics: Civil War and Reconstruction
- HI 397 Special Topics: U.S. Society, Politics, and Industry: 1877 to 1900
- HI 397 Special Topics: Black Religious History
- HI 397 Special Topics: American Agricultural History: 1800 to 1950
Politics
- PO 346 Seminar on Vietnam
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