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APPROACHES TO
AMERICAN CULTURE
STUDIES
Leiden University
Eerste Semester 2005-2006, Fall 2005, M 3:15-5 p.m.
Prof. dr. Simon J. Bronner
Walt Whitman Distinguished Chair of American Culture Studies
Fulbright Program
Email: sbronner@psu.edu, s.j.bronner@let.leidenuniv.nl
Blackboard course website: http://blackboard.leidenuniv.nl
DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES OF COURSE
This interdisciplinary MA-course aims to introduce a variety of approaches to American cultural
evidence to MA-students in American Studies, especially those who wish to study the history
and culture of the U.S. from a multidisciplinary perspective. By reading a selection of recent
scholarly works on the American cultural experience, students will become familiar with
representative research methods and techniques used by American Studies scholars to uncover
the meaning of America in cultural evidence: social and cultural historical investigation, mythic
analysis, literary and rhetorical criticism, and ethnographic and cross-cultural interpretation.
Studying various forms of cultural expressions—including literature, film, television, music, art,
and architecture—the course focuses on a related set of overarching questions about American
national, regional, and ethnic identities that are at the core of American Studies: How do
Americans define themselves? How have they been defined? How is America defined in relation
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to other countries and its own subcultures? The themes and ideas that emerge in answer to these
questions constitute fundamental inquiries of American Studies: democracy, individualism,
egalitarianism, pastoralism, industrialism, consumerism, cultural diversity, regionalism,
nationalism, and progressivism.
As a result of taking this course, students will be familiar with resources and analytical
approaches in the study of American culture. Aimed at MA-students who wish to specialize in
American history, American literature, or a multidisciplinary track in American Studies, the
course will provide an understanding of historical and recent debates regarding American culture
studies, make student familiar with cultural research methods and interpretative approaches, and
allow them to gain experience in presentation and discussion. MA students from the English
Department who take the course can extend the credit points for the course to 15 by writing an
additional essay in literary culture, especially in regard to uses of folklore in or as literature.
STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE
Since American Culture Studies has had a publicly active orientation to the advancement of
knowledge, the different sections of the class are identified by the actions taken to achieve
intellectual synthesis: locating, identifying, narrating, collecting, materializing, to name a few.
Students will read classic and new works in American Culture Studies and have a background in
the intellectual legacy of American Studies, think about new trends and uses of evidence,
become familiar with technological aids to research, and analyze different media. The course
outline proceeds from an introduction to the scope, tools (including electronic resources), and
historiography of American Culture Studies to (1) historical perspectives (especially mythic
analysis and rhetorical analysis of a variety of texts besides “documents”; prevalent themes in
American eras); (2) perspectives from literature, culture, and the arts (especially the reading
of texts in historical, geographical, regional, and ideological contexts and issues of nationality,
ethnicity, gender, class, and race within cultural production of literature, film, television, and
theater); (3) social science perspectives (especially use of ethnography and cross-cultural
analysis to assess American scenes, groups, and landscapes); and (4) presentations, and (5)
future directions of American Culture Studies.
ESSAY AND PRESENTATION ASSIGNMENTS
The products of the class will be an essay (minimum 12 pages or 6000 words) and presentation
using an approach to American Culture Studies covered in class. The themes and approaches of
the projects are on research and interpretation techniques learned in class. Proposals for the
essay are due on October 10, and the professor will be available to discuss the essay before that
date. The essay is due December 14.
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The presentations of 15 minutes each, and preferably using Powerpoint to illustrate points and
uploaded to your student website on Blackboard, will be made in class in the last two weeks of
class.
The essay and presentation will be outlined in a printed guide and explained in class.
Students are required to confer with the instructor about the topics they choose. They can
communicate directly by phone, office appointment, or electronic mail. The projects are marked
for quality of composition, research, and interpretation.
EXAMPLES OF ESSAYS:
An ethnographic analysis is an observation of an American cultural scene in which symbolic
communication in the form of speech and behavior occurs. Consider the following examples in
scholarship using ethnography to examine American cultural scenes that reveal performances of
gender, race, ethnicity, age, occupation, and locality. It may be possible students to comment on
experience in America or on an adaptation of American culture in the Netherlands. The setting,
participants, and communication should be documented, analyzed, and interpreted.
The rhetorical/mythic analysis uses primary documents publicly stating the views of historic
figures or movements or reporting events or issues to assess the ideas, symbols, and myths
conveyed through key phrases/images and strategies of persuasion. You will interpret texts for
their historical and/or cultural contexts.
The interpretation of a collection of oral/visual/material items or artifacts involves bringing
together representative samples in or across regions, periods, styles, or themes to make
comparisons and interpretations. To address a cultural question or problem, you can collect or
document related sets of folklore, music, graphics, tools, paintings, sculptures, environments, or
houses.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS (Available at Campus Bookstore)
Bronner, Simon J. Folk Nation: Folklore in the Creation of American Tradition. Wilmington,
DE: SR Books, 2002.
Hunter, James Davison. Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America. New York: Basic
Books, 1991.
Kammen, Michael. American Culture, American Tastes: Social Change and the 20th Century.
New York: Perseus, 1999.
Stewart, Edward C., and Milton J. Bennett. American Cultural Patterns: A Cross-Cultural
Perspective, 1991.
Cullen, Jim. The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2003.
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DIGITAL TEXTS AND WEBSITES
American Studies Association, Programs for Annual Meetings. Http://www.theasa.net
Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History.”
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/TURNER/chapter1.html
Simon J. Bronner, “Reading Consumer Culture” in Consuming Visions (1989)—on
Blackboard
Simon J. Bronner, “Material Culture” in American Folklore: An Encyclopedia (1996)—on
Blackboard
Henry Nash Smith, “Can American Studies Develop a Method”—on Blackboard
http://www.georgetown.edu/crossroads/ (American Studies Crossroads Site including
American Studies Association)
http://e.usia.gov/education/amstudy/ (USIA site for Study of the United States)
http://www.umdl.umich.edu/moa/ ( Making of America Website with on-line texts)
http://xroads.virginia.edu/ (American Studies Hypertext Collection from U of Virginia)
http://www.census.gov (United State Census)
http://www.loc.gov (Library of Congress, including American Folklife Center, American
Memory Project, Thomas for legislative records, On-line Exhibitions)
http://www.si.edu (Smithsonian Institution exhibitions and resources, Office of Folklife
Programs)
www.moviedatabase.com (searchable database for movies 1890 to present)
www.xnet.com/~djk/main_page.shtml (television episode guides)
COURSE OUTLINE AND SCHEDULE
I. Introduction
II. Historical Perspectives
III. Perspectives from Literature, Culture, and the Arts
IV. Social Science Perspectives
V. Presentations
VI. Future Directions of American Studies
Note that there are no classes during school holidays October 3 and October 24
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I. Introduction: Scope, Tools, and Historiography of American
Culture Studies
Meeting 1: September 5
INTRODUCTION TO COURSE
Introductory class with aim of defining American Culture Studies as a
questioning and locating of the American Experience and analysis of the role of
cultural expression in symbolic persuasion and identity formation. Explanation of
course requirements, course website, and assignments.
A. IMPORTANCE OF RESOURCES--PRINT, ELECTRONIC, HUMAN
1. The terminology of American culture studies: civilization, folk and
popular culture(s), experience
2. The methods of American culture studies as hybridized approaches
3. theories, trends, and “styles” of studying American cultural experience
4. importance of presentation--in writing, oral presentation, exhibition,
web.
B. GOALS OF AMERICAN STUDIES
1. The goals of American cultural studies beyond interdisciplinarity:
questioning the American experience nationally and internationally
2. locating America(cultural formation and adaptation in North America,
along the nation’s movable borders, and abroad)
3. reforming America.
Meeting 2: September 12
C. CONCEPTUALIZING AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES: HISTORY AND PRACTICE
We will discuss the emergence of the American Studies movement from the 1930s
and the formation of the first generation of American culture studies scholars to the
present. From this historiography, we will chart the goals and practices of American
Culture Studies as they have changed over time. American Culture Studies scholars often
refer to its "style" with reference to its distinctive rhetoric and trends. We will discuss
that style and how it has changed since the founding of the American Culture Studies
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movement.
READING: Handouts:
Simon Bronner, “Theories of the American Experience”
Richard Dorson, “The Birth of American Studies.”
Henry Nash Smith, “Can American Studies Develop a Method?”
D. THE ESSAY AND PRESENTATION IN AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES
We will go over some effective strategies for writing a cogent paper in American Culture
Studies using one of the approaches discussed in the class. We will compare these strategies for
writing with oral presentation, and the use of Powerpoint to enhance presentations in American
Culture Studies.
II. Historical Perspectives
Meeting 3: September 19
A. NARRATING HISTORY: DOCUMENTARY APPROACHES AND
RHETORICAL/MYTHIC ANALYSIS
We will discuss the documentary/chronological emphasis in historical studies and the
interdisciplinary construction of rhetorical/mythic analysis drawing on historical and literary
studies. A question asked in American Culture Studies has been "what distinguishes the
American experience?" A way to answer that question has been to identify symbols, images, and
"myths" or themes characterizing American ideas and conditions. We will focus on the themes
most often mentioned in discussions of distinctive American experiences: the Puritan founding
experience, democracy and liberty, and the movable frontier.
READING:
Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,”
53-76. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/TURNER/chapter1.html
Meeting 4: September 26
B. MODERNIZING AMERICA
In this class, students will critically apply the approach of symbols, images, and myths of
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early America to an understanding of modernizing America after industrialization,
especially the idea of the “American Dream.” We will look at theories of modernization,
new class theory, and the idea of cultural hegemony as ways to explain the apparent
acceptance by the masses of commercial culture.
READING:
Cullen, The American Dream
Bronner, “Reading Consumer Culture”
III. Perspectives from Literature, Culture, and the Arts
Meeting 5: October 10
A. COLLECTING AND OBSERVING TRADITION: FOLK CULTURE AND
ETHNOGRAPHY
How do we describe American tradition and culture, particularly to get at issues of values
in communication and performance? Areas of anthropology, folklore and
folklife, and sociology have contributed field collecting and ethnographic techniques
that we will apply to American Culture Studies. After discussing the idea of the “cultural
scene” to describe native and “primitive” groups, we will discuss the use of ethnography
to describe complex industrialized societies. Then we will examine the historic “search
for American tradition” in folklore and folklife, and critically view the issues coming out
of “dialogues” in historical periods about tradition
READING:
Bronner, Folk Nation
Meeting 6: October 17
B. DISCERNING AMERICA: THE RISE OF POPULAR CULTURE AND
NATIONAL TASTES IN THE UNITED STATES
What is American about American popular culture, which has been exported around the
globe? To answer the question, we will look at the development of popular culture in the
twentieth century--particularly in music, literature, and film—to get at the issue of how
“tastes” are aestheticized, determined, and spread. We will discuss analytical approaches
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to American popular culture, particularly “expressive culture.” How can we apply the
interpretative possibilities of “representational” study to expressive forms? How do we
take into account the implications of these forms in “performance” with audiences,
writers, directors, and promoters? These questions are framed in emerging theories of
consumer and commercial culture. Popular culture arguably is America’s largest export;
how do we analyze it as it is adapted abroad in addition to the ways it is produced and
consumed in the United States?
READING:
Kammen, American Culture, American Tastes
Proposals for Essay Due
Meeting 7: October 31
E. MATERIALIZING AMERICA: MATERIAL CULTURE, FOODWAYS,
LANDSCAPE, ART AND ARCHITECTURE
In this class, we will discuss artifacts as evidence and analytical approaches
toward them using cultural collection, cultural geography, and ethnography. How is this
evidence distinctive or supplementary? Are there theoretical changes in American Studies
suggested by incorporation of “material culture”? Using the Web, we will examine other
artifacts and ways to mount a material “cultural collection.”
READING:
Bronner, “Material Culture”
IV. Social Science Perspectives
Meeting 8: November 7
A. DIVIDING AMERICA: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE WARS
We will discuss the prevalent idea of American “culture wars” representing a division of
moral worldviews. This idea grew out of sociological perspectives on family, education,
and law, and has been applied to many politicized social issues since the late twentieth
century. We examine the assumptions of this analysis, and discuss contemporary
examples that invite such an analysis.
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READING:
Hunter, Culture Wars
Meeting 9: November 14
B. RELATIVIZING AMERICA: COMPARATIVE SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Statistical comparisons and ethnography can be used to provide a comparative crosscultural perspective on America. In addition, social science provides relativistic
approaches of American viewed through international eyes and for interpreting American
culture as it is adapted in international settings (e.g., Japan’s Disneyworld, Israeli rap
music).
READING:
Stewart and Bennett, American Cultural Patterns
V. Presentations
Meeting 10: November 21
PRESENTING AMERICA
Student Presentations
Meeting 11: November 28
PRESENTING AMERICA
Student Presentations
VI. Applications and Future Directions of American Culture Studies
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Meeting 12: December 5
A. USING AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES
We examine examples on the Web of American Culture Studies engaged in:
1. Education and Scholarship
2. Government, Historical and Arts Administration, and Cultural Resources Management
3. Museums, Archives, Parks, and Heritage Institutions
4. Community Programming
5. Documentary Film and Journalism
6. Information Services and Heritage Enterprises
SOURCES:
Websites listing jobs for Crossroads, H-Net, Folkline, Organization of American
Historians, Museum Resource Board
Newsletters for American Museum Association, American Studies Association,
American Association for State and Local History, National Council for Public History
B. THE LOCAL AND GLOBAL FUTURES OF AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES
SOURCES:
ASA Conference Programs
Websites for H-AMSTDY, H-NET, FOLKLINE, MUSEUM RESOURCE BOARD
December 14
Essay Due
N.B. Schedule Subject to Change.
ATTENDANCE, PARTICIPATION, ACADEMIC INTEGRITY, AND
DISABILITIES
Regarding attendance, a student should attend every class for which the student is scheduled
and should be held responsible for all work covered in the courses taken. Students who in the
judgment of the instructor have become deficient scholastically, may run the risk of receiving a
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failing grade or receiving a lower grade than the student might have secured had the student been
in regular attendance. Students are expected to participate in class in a respectful manner to their
classmates.
“Academic integrity” is the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception.
Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating of
information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized
possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without
informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students. The instructor
can fail a student for major infractions.
Students with disabilities should identify themselves and provide documentation of disabilities
to the instructor. In such cases, the instructor will make arrangements for the students to
complete the requirements of the class.
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