Unless otherwise stated, the permission required for the repetition for credit of specifically designated courses is that of the student's concentration or BGS advisor.
Take me to the Spring Time Schedule
201. American Values. (3). (HU).
This course is designed to explore a set of linked but distinct
core "American Values," those ideas that have acted
as foundational notions and that continue to be reflected in emergent
ideas of what "America" and "Americans" are
about. It does this by examining the various ways Americans of
different races, ethnicities, classes, genders, and religions, living in different time periods and regions, and under specific
historical conditions, have formulated, understood, championed, transformed, and contested these values. Drawing on interdisciplinary
sources and methods and framed by multi-cultural and feminist theoretical approaches, the course will offer students the opportunities
to explore their own relationships to these historically-core
American values and will encourage them to articulate their own
understandings of them through a variety of in-class and take-home
group and individual assignments. As a 200-level survey, it is
intended to offer students a broad-based understanding of the
place of these core values in American society and to help them
understand historical relationships between them, rather than
focusing in depth on any one set of values, only one time period, or only one approach. The materials for the course encompass a
wide range of primary and secondary sources from every period
in American history and from across a number of textual, visual, and audio genres. Course requirements will include attendance
at and participation in lectures and discussion sections, one
group project, one 5-7 page analytical paper, a mixed-format in
class midterm exam, and a take-home-essay final exam. As well, there will be multiple short in-class individual response and group collective writing assignments, and occasional quizzes.
(DuPuis)
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Times, Location, and Availability
204. Themes in American
Culture. (3). (HU). Laboratory fee ($10) required.
May be repeated for credit with permission of concentration advisor.
Section 101 – Main Street U.S.A.: Small-Town America and its Idioms.
Main Street occupies an important place in the national symbolic
order of the United States. In 1920 Sinclair Lewis quipped sarcastically that, "Main Street is the climax of civilization...such our
comfortable tradition and sure faith. Would he not betray himself
an alien cynic who should otherwise portray Main Street, or distress the citizens by speculating whether there may not be other faiths?"
In this we will be faithful cynics by questioning not the importance
of Main Street, but its multivalent meaning in the history, literature, and geography of America. In this course we will examine a number
of different kinds of social texts from a broad cross section
of intellectual traditions, academic disciplines, literary genres, and representational forms. Readings will include Master's
Spoon River Anthology, Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, Main
Street by Sinclair Lewis, Morrison's Sula, as well
as Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres. We will explore the
American historical archive for representations of life in small-town
America of the past and present. Assignments will include at least
on short piece of analytical writing and a loosely defined final
project, the form of which will be decided upon by students in
individual consultation with the instructor. This final project
may be a substantial term paper (10-15 pages), although students
are encouraged to take some creative license when proposing their
particular project. Projects dealing with literature, history, cultural geography, or the visual arts are all strongly encouraged.
(Johnson)
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Times, Location, and Availability
210. Introduction to Ethnic Studies. (3). (SS). May be repeated with permission for a total of six credits.
Martin Luther King, Jr. leading marches in Birmingham; armed
Black Panthers patrolling the streets of Oakland; American Indians
occupying Alcatraz; Asian Americans protesting the Vietnam War;
Chicano students shutting down high schools and colleges. This
course will examine the diverse ways that people of color built
social movements for racial justice in the United States during the Civil Rights Era. Throughout the course, we will explore questions
such as: What were the movements' key ideas, strategies, actions, and demands? How were movements similar to and different from
each other, and how did they evolve? We will also examine how these social movements created oppositional cultures that redefined the meaning of "race" in the U.S. Readings will consist
of personal, historical, and literary accounts. In addition to
readings, we will view and discuss selected videos. Written assignments
will include daily reading responses, a midterm essay exam, and a final paper. (Maeda)
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Times, Location, and Availability
304/Soc. 304. American Immigration. (3). (SS).
See Sociology 304. (Honeycutt)
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Times, Location, and Availability
332/Hist. of Art 332. Art on Trial: American Public Monuments and Political Controversy. (3). (HU).
See History of Art 332.
(Root)
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Times, Location, and Availability
342/Hist. 368/WS 360. History of the Family in the U.S. (3). (SS).
See History 368. (Morantz-Sanchez)
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Times, Location, and Availability
345. American Politics and Society. (3). (SS).
As 2000 looms, U.S. voter participation is at an all-time low
and political cynicism abounds. Yet, understood as the distribution
and exercise of power, politics in fact permeates our private
lives as well as our public institutions. Seminar participants
will read an extensive course pack of history, social science, and current events. We'll first consider the apparent political
"malaise." Subsequent weeks will probe the political
dimensions of such issues as poverty and welfare, immigration
and affirmative action, homelessness and urban development. We'll
also consider how "private" concerns such as health, marriage, and parenthood become politically contentious. The course
requires meaty written responses to each week's assigned readings
and a longer take-home essay exam. Students will lead some discussions.
(Ackermann)
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Times, Location, and Availability
383. Junior Honors Reading and Thesis. Junior standing and grade point average of at least 3.0. (2). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).
Reading of selected works on American Culture. Conferences, written reports, and term papers.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
388. Field Study. Sophomore standing. (1-4). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no credit. (EXPERIENTIAL). May be repeated for credit with permission.
Field experience in organizations, institutions, and service
agencies under such University of Michigan programs as the Washington
and New York Internship Program and Project Community. Students
must make individual arrangements with these programs.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
389. Reading Course in American Culture. Permission of instructor. (1-4). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for credit with permission.
An independent study course available to undergraduates who
are interested in designing a reading list for the purpose of
exploring new areas in the field of American studies. Each student
makes individual arrangements with a faculty member in the student's
area of interest.
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Times, Location, and Availability
489. Senior Essay. Senior concentrators and Amer. Cult. 350. (3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).
This course is designed for concentrators who desire a more
directed research experience with individual faculty at the end
of their undergraduate career. It allows a senior concentrator
in American Culture the opportunity to write a research paper
under the direction of a particular faculty member.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
493. Honors Readings and Thesis. Senior standing and a grade point average of at least 3.5 in Honors concentration. (1-3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for a total of six credits.
Independent interdisciplinary study supervised by two or more
tutors leading to an original paper. This is a two-term course
with 3 hours of credit each term; a grade is not posted until the end of the second term.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
Take me to the Summer Time Schedule
100. What is an American?
(3). (SS).
In this lecture/discussion course, we will investigate key episodes
of this perennially contentious debate. One hundred years ago, for example, politicians and social activists strove to "Americanize" the "new immigrants" from southern and eastern Europe, often while ignoring the second-class (at best) status of Native
Americans, Mexican-Americans, and African-Americans already present
and rationalizing the near-total exclusion of Asians. Today, we
struggle over a common definition of national identity since programs
affecting millions of people, Americans or not, depend on it.
Course readings will emphasize autobiographical narratives, both
contemporary and historical, by Americans who claim – or disown
- such an identity; we will also study legal documents, popular
magazine articles, songs, photographs, and films, as well as critical
works exploring the values at stake in this controversy. Assignments
will include two short (2-3) page reaction papers, a midterm exam, and a 5-7 page term paper. (Daligga)
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Times, Location, and Availability
206. Themes in American
Culture. (3). (SS). May be repeated for credit with
permission of concentration advisor.
Section 201 – Are Cities Obsolete?: Detroit and the Politics of
History and Culture. Detroit is notorious for its image as
an urban disaster. Words like "tragedy" and "decline"
have come to characterize the city in the national imagination
while near-by towns and suburbs have worked to distance themselves
from their neighbor. How does a city assume such a powerful national
persona and what are the consequences of this kind of characterization?
Clearly, Detroit is a far more complicated place than this image
of urban decay would have us believe. Residents consistently contest the meanings of the city, some by simply living their multi-faceted
lives inside of its borders and others through public art, music, community organizations and blatant acts of defiance. Detroit
is home to over a million people and to a unique political culture.
In this class, we will examine this political culture, paying
careful attention to its historical roots. We will read sociological, historical, anthropological, fictional and poetic accounts of the city, and will watch movies and documentaries about Detroit.
This class will provide students with an interdisciplinary study
of Detroit and of urban space more generally. (Miller)
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Times, Location, and Availability
240/WS 240. Introduction
to Women's Studies. (3). (HU). (R&E).
See Women's Studies 240.
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Times, Location, and Availability
301. Topics in American
Culture. (1-3). (Excl). May be repeated for credit
with permission.
Section 201 – Hollywood Renaissance: American Cinema, 1967-1977.
(3 credits). Hollywood Renaissance focuses on the "New
American Cinema" which emerged in the late 1960s in the context
of the Civil Rights Movement, Women's Liberation, Anti-War protests
and an emergent counter-culture. A primary pedagogical goal of the course is to challenge students to make historical arguments
about popular cultural texts. The syllabus integrates discussion
of cinematic technique, film theory, the film industry, and historical
contextualization in approaching this popular cultural medium.
This is an interdisciplinary course in which students will be
asked to engage with approaches to American culture drawn from
film studies, gender studies, African-American studies, and history.
Readings include primary and secondary sources. Course themes
include: the myth of the West; American notions of "freedom";
violence in cinema; masculinity; religious iconography; gender theory; gender and "gaze" theory; ideology and star
images/acting styles; documentary-style cinema; heroism; rock
music and the new cinema; the "carnivalesque"; and spector
identification. (Brent)
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Times, Location, and Availability
304/Soc. 304. American
Immigration. (3). (SS).
See Sociology 304. (Dickerson)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
309. Learning through
Community Practice. Permission of instructor. (1-4).
(Excl). (EXPERIENTIAL).
Section 001 – Farmworker Outreach. (3 credits). For Summer
Term, 1998, this section is offered jointly with Psychology
305.202. (Nerenberg)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
383. Junior Honors Reading
and Thesis. Junior standing and grade point average
of at least 3.0. (2). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).
Reading of selected works on American Culture. Conferences, written
reports, and term papers.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
388. Field Study. Sophomore
standing. (1-4). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no credit. (EXPERIENTIAL).
May be repeated for credit with permission.
Field experience in organizations, institutions, and service agencies
under such University of Michigan programs as the Washington and New York Internship Program and Project Community. Students must
make individual arrangements with these programs.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
389. Reading Course
in American Culture. Permission of instructor. (1-4).
(Excl). (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for credit with permission.
An independent study course available to undergraduates who are
interested in designing a reading list for the purpose of exploring
new areas in the field of American studies. Each student makes
individual arrangements with a faculty member in the student's
area of interest.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
489. Senior Essay. Senior
concentrators and Amer. Cult. 350. (3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).
This course is designed for concentrators who desire a more directed
research experience with individual faculty at the end of their
undergraduate career. It allows a senior concentrator in American
Culture the opportunity to write a research paper under the direction
of a particular faculty member.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
493. Honors Readings
and Thesis. Senior standing and a grade point average
of at least 3.5 in Honors concentration. (1-3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).
May be repeated for a total of six credits.
Independent interdisciplinary study supervised by two or more
tutors leading to an original paper. This is a two-term course
with 3 hours of credit each term; a grade is not posted until the end of the second term.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
Take me to the Spring/Summer Time Schedule
383. Junior Honors Reading
and Thesis. Junior standing and grade point average
of at least 3.0. (3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).
Reading of selected works on American Culture. Conferences, written
reports, and term papers.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
388. Field Study. Sophomore
standing. (1-4). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no credit. (EXPERIENTIAL).
May be repeated for credit with permission.
Field experience in organizations, institutions, and service agencies
under such University of Michigan programs as the Washington and New York Internship Program and Project Community. Students must
make individual arrangements with these programs.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
389. Reading Course in
American Culture. Permission of instructor. (1-4).
(Excl). (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for credit with permission.
An independent study course available to undergraduates who are
interested in designing a reading list for the purpose of exploring
new areas in the field of American studies. Each student makes
individual arrangements with a faculty member in the student's
area of interest.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
489. Senior Essay. Senior
concentrators and Amer. Cult. 350. (3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).
This course is designed for concentrators who desire a more directed
research experience with individual faculty at the end of their
undergraduate career. It allows a senior concentrator in American
Culture the opportunity to write a research paper under the direction
of a particular faculty member.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
493. Honors Readings
and Thesis. Senior standing and a grade point average
of at least 3.5 in Honors concentration. (1-3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).
May be repeated for a total of six credits.
Independent interdisciplinary study supervised by two or more
tutors leading to an original paper. A grade is not posted until the end of the second term.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
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