San José State University
American Studies Program
AMS 1B, American Civilization, sec. 40/41, 50/51, 60/61
Spring 2014
Instructor:
Office Location:
Telephone:
Email:
Office Hours:
Class Days/Time:
Classroom:
GE/SJSU Studies Category:
Prof. Joshua Brahinsky
Prof. Joel Franks
Prof. Scot Guenter
Brahinsky, Clark 412-K
Franks, DMH 238B
Guenter, Clark 420-C
Brahinsky, 408/924-4713
Franks, 408/924-5752
Guenter, 408/924-1366
Brahinsky jbrahins@gmail.com
Franks, joel.franks@sjsu.edu
Guenter, scot.guenter@sjsu.edu
Brahinsky, T 11:00-11:45, Th after class and by appt.
Franks, TTh 10:30-11:30 and by apt.
Guenter, TTh 3:00-5:00 and by appt.
Lecture TTh 12:00-13:15
Seminar TTh 13:30-14:45
Lecture – BBC 004
Seminar – Brahinsky: DMH 226B
Franks: Sweeney 240
Guenter: BBC 126
American Studies 1A/B is a two-semester sequence, six units per
semester, for a total of twelve units. When you successfully
complete both semesters, you will have fulfilled the following:
• Core GE: (12 units) Area C1 Arts, Area C2 Letters, Area D2
Comparative Systems, Area D3 Social Issues.
• American Institutions (all 6 units): U.S. History, U.S.
Constitution, California Government.
Faculty Web Pages
Professor Brahinsky
Professor Franks
http://www.sjsu.edu/people/Joel.Franks
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Professor Guenter
http://www.sjsu.edu/people/scot.guenter/
American Studies at SJSU
http://www.sjsu.edu/americanstudies/
Course information Online
To access announcements or information for this class, consult your seminar instructor
for where it will be posted. It might be found in CANVAS or on your seminar
instructor’s faculty web page.
Course Description
Description from the Course Catalogue: “American culture examined through political, literary, artistic,
economic and social development. American values, ideas and institutions from popular culture as well as
traditional sources. 6 units. Note: Entire sequence satisfies GE Areas C1,2; D2,3; F1,2,3.”
American Civilization I & II (AMS 1A & 1B) provide a thematic and chronological look
at the rich and diverse culture that has developed in what is now the United States, from
the era of the First Americans (American Indians), through constant waves of
immigration from around the world, to the present. In AMS 1A we covered the period
from before European contact up through the Civil War, while AMS 1B will pick up at
that point and bring our cultural analysis up to the present. We will take our definition of
“culture” from cognitive anthropology: culture is a system of knowledge that people use
to do two important things: interpret experience and generate responses. We will study
how varying people and groups responded to, contributed to, and modified life
experiences in the area we know today as the United States, and we will also reflect on
the message and impact of a wide range of cultural artifacts they created and social
practices they followed—art, music, poetry, literature, technology, rituals and ceremonies,
appropriate rules of behavior, etc.
Our goal is to understand the complexities of our past to better evaluate our present and
contribute to our future. American Studies is also interdisciplinary: That means that we
will use the intellectual tools from a broad array of the social sciences, humanities, and
the arts to understand the people of the United States. An important skill we seek to
cultivate is integrative awareness. You, as students, are encouraged to develop what
Professor Gene Wise famously referred to as “connecting minds.” As the semester
progresses, you should be making more and more meaningful connections between
lectures, seminars, readings, course activities and assignments, your heritage, your
current life experience, and your vision for this nation’s future.
American Studies 1B is a course divided into two interwoven components: a lecture that
includes the entire group followed by a smaller group seminar during which you will
discuss and analyze the material presented in lecture and your assigned readings for that
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day. Your seminar instructor will discuss seminar requirements. Attendance at all class
meetings - both lectures and seminars - is required for maximum benefit of the course.
Lectures draw from ideas in your assigned readings but do not duplicate this material, so
you will not be able to find an alternate source for the information that you miss. You
should bring to both lecture and seminar the assigned readings for that day. Do not
hesitate to write in your textbooks, underline interesting passages, or make personal
notations about your ideas as you read. These are your books, and the bookstore will not
penalize you for writing in them.
Course Goals and Student Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this entire AMS 1A/1B sequence, students will be able to:
Area C1 Arts
1. recognize aesthetic qualities and processes that characterize works of the human
intellect and imagination;
2. respond to works of art both analytically (in writing) and affectively (in writing or
through other forms of personal and artistic expression); and
3. write clearly and effectively.
Area C2 Letters
1. recognize how significant works illuminate enduring human concerns;
2. respond to such works by writing both research-based critical analyses and personal
responses; and
3. write clearly and effectively.
Area D2 Comparative Systems and Area D3 Social Issues
Students shall be able to identify and analyze the social dimension of society as a context
for human life, the processes of social change and social continuity, the role of human
agency in those social processes, and the forces that engender social cohesion and
fragmentation. Students will be able to:
1. place contemporary developments in cultural, historical, environmental, and spatial
contexts;
2. identify the dynamics of ethnic, cultural, gender/sexual, age-based, class, regional,
national, transnational, and global identities and the similarities, differences, linkages,
and interactions between them; and
3. evaluate social science information, draw on different points of view, and formulate
applications appropriate to contemporary social issues.
American Institutions
To fulfill the requirements for U.S. History, students should consider the principal events,
developments, ideas, politics, and international relations in all the territories now in the
United States from the beginnings of this society until the present. While considering
these trends, students should be asked to analyze certain themes including: earliest
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inhabitants, colonization, the American Revolution and the early Republic, territorial
expansion, economic development, Civil War and Reconstruction, foreign relations,
Populism, Progressivism, the New Deal, wars and conflicts of the 20th century, the Fair
Deal, the Great Society, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement, mobilization of
minorities, new feminism, and modern times. Included within the study of these themes
should be a consideration of women and gender relations from the colonial period to the
present; the history and experience of racial and ethnic minorities; emigration to the
United States and the experiences of these immigrants to this country; and patterns of
race and class relations from the period of European colonization to the present.
U.S. Constitution and California Government
Students should study how political decisions are made, their consequences for
individuals and society, and how individuals and groups may affect the decision-making
process. As students study the meaning and content of the democratic process as it has
evolved in the United States and California, at a minimum, they should recognize:
• the foundations of the political system, including the evolution of the philosophies of
the U.S. and California constitutions, political culture, separation of powers, bureaucracy,
federalism, and relations among various levels of government. Students should also
analyze the evolving institutions of government, including a study of the powers of the
President, Congress, and the Judiciary;
• the links between the people and government, including participation and voting,
political parties, interest groups, and public opinion and socialization. Students should
also analyze the rights and obligations of citizens, the tension between various freedoms
of expression and due process and the maintenance of order, and the efforts to end racial
and gender discrimination in both the public and private sectors of society; and
• the operations of California government, including the similarities and differences
between the California and U.S. Constitutions, the relationship between state and local
government in California, the basic issues of California politics, and a careful assessment
of the impact of demographic changes on the history and politics of the state and the
nation.
AMS 1B Course-Specific Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of American Studies 1B students shall be able to:
1.
discuss the contributions of racial/ethnic minorities, women, and immigrants to
California and the geographic region known as the United States
2.
recognize the political foundation of our federal and state constitutions and be
able to explain the relationship between citizens and their government institutions
3.
analyze and understand the historical context of literature, art, music, and poetry
from the period of Reconstruction to the present
4.
evaluate the implications of shifts in urbanization, labor, politics, international
relations, cultural movements, and technology in the United States from the
period of Reconstruction to the present
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These outcomes will be assessed by a range of different methods, including but not
limited to two mid-term exams and a final; two different out of class paper assignments;
seminar journals, quizzes, group exercises, and other participatory activities.
Required Texts/Readings
Textbooks
Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume 2, Shorter 8th ed. (2013)
Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! An American History, Vol. 2. Seagull Fourth Edition
(2013) or Seagull Third Edition (2012) acceptable
Other Readings
Other online links and PDFs will be listed in the Course Readings List distributed along
with this syllabus on the first day and might be posted in Canvas and/or on Faculty Web
Pages. See your seminar instructor for specific directions here.
Library Liaison
Our library liaison for this course is Peggy Cabrera. She is a kind and talented reference
librarian who is based in King Library but can also sometimes be found working at the
Library’s outreach help site located in the Student Success Center on the first floor of
Clark Hall. Her e-mail address is Peggy.Cabrera@sjsu.edu and her campus phone
number is 408-808-2034.
Classroom Protocol
Class Civility: To create and preserve a classroom atmosphere that optimizes teaching
and learning, all participants share a responsibility in creating a civil and non-disruptive
forum. Students are expected to conduct themselves at all times in this classroom in a
manner that does not disrupt teaching or learning. You are responsible for everything
covered in class whether you are there or not, and are encouraged to give your class
attendance and participation the same level of respect and responsibility you would bring
to any professional workplace as an adult: that means treating everyone you work with
here in a courteous manner, arriving to class punctually, and coming prepared to deal
with the assigned materials or activities of the day.
Electronic device policy: Use of any electronic devices (such as laptop computers,
mobile phones, pagers, PDAs, MP3 players, etc.) is not allowed during lectures or
seminars. The only exceptions to this policy are when computer use is specifically
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authorized by your instructors, and when students who are registered with the Disability
Resources Center use devices recommended by the DRC.
Dropping and Adding
Students are responsible for understanding the policies and procedures about add/drop,
grade forgiveness, etc. Refer to the current semester’s Catalog Policies section at
http://info.sjsu.edu/static/catalog/policies.html. Add/drop deadlines can be found on the
current academic calendar web page at http://www.sjsu.edu/provost/Academic_Calendars/.
The Late Drop Policy is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/aars/policies/latedrops/policy/.
Students should be aware of the current deadlines and penalties for dropping classes.
Information about the latest changes and news is available at the Advising Hub at
http://www.sjsu.edu/advising/.
Assignments and Grading Policy
GRADING BREAKDOWN:
First midterm
Second midterm
Cultural Identity paper (Paper #1)
Steinbeck paper (Paper #2)
Journals
Seminar grade (includes quizzes)
California Government project
Final
15 %
15 %
10 %
10 %
10 %
15 %
10 %
15 %
All exams will be bluebook and will be given in two sequential parts: an IDs, quotes,
short essay response component in the lecture period immediately followed by an essay
component in the seminar period. They will require you to demonstrate and integrate
your knowledge across several of the GE categories. You are expected to bring your own
and enough bluebooks on exam days.
The first paper will ask you to assess and evaluate the cultural identity of an American
different from yourself, combining Letters, Comparative Cultures, and Social Issues
categories, and will be approximately 5-7 pages in length. The second paper will require
integrating critical review of a theatrical performance with analysis of economic
inequality in our nation, combining Arts, U.S. History, and Social Issue categories, and
will also be approximately 5-7 pages in length. You will learn more details about a series
of quizzes on the Foner material in your respective seminars. There will be journal
assignments connected to the seminar readings, and these, too, will be discussed in
greater detail by your seminar instructor. There will also be a Geography Awareness
Project and a California Government Project which cover components in American
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Institutions and Social Issues. The seminar grade will be based, collectively and
cumulatively, on class participation in seminar, which includes not only the quality of
your seminar discussion responses but also all quizzes, group activities, and various
classroom activities covered there. See your seminar instructor for any further
elaboration or more specifics on penalties for late or missed work, extra credit options.
To complete the second paper, you must attend a dramatic performance of “The Grapes
of Wrath” in the University Theatre on campus. Performances are scheduled April 11,
13, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19, and a limited number of free tickets are often made available
on a first come first serve basis for the prompt and inquisitive through Associated
Students in the period prior to the show date. This is the 75th anniversary of the
publication of The Grapes of Wrath; given SJSU’s special relationship with Steinbeck,
SJSU Opera will also perform it on May 9 and 11.
GRADING SCALE
Our grading scale is as follows:
A+
B+
C+
D+
F
=
=
=
=
=
98-100
88-89
78-79
68-69
59 and below
A
B
C
D
=
=
=
=
92-97
82-87
72-77
62-67
ABCD-
=
=
=
=
90-91
80-81
70-71
60-61
Nota Bene: Not turning in an assignment at all counts zero, while a submitted
assignment that failed could still count up to 59 points. Therefore, it is always important
and in your best interest to submit all assignments.
IMPORTANT SCHEDULE DATES:
Thursday, January 23
Assign Geography Awareness Project
Tuesday, February 4
Assign Cultural Identity Paper
Tuesday, February 18
Geography Awareness Project due
Thursday, February 25
EXAM ONE (First Midterm)
Thursday, March 6
Cultural Identity Paper due
Tuesday, March 11
Assign California Government Project
Thursday, March 20
California Government Project due
March 24 – March 31
SPRING BREAK
Thursday, April 3
EXAM TWO (Second Midterm)
Thursday, April 10
Assign Steinbeck and Economic Inequality Paper
Thursday, May 8
Steinbeck and Economic Inequality Paper due
Tuesday, May 13
Last day of instruction
Wednesday, May 19
FINAL EXAM
FINAL EXAM will be held in Lecture Hall, Monday, May 15, 9:45-12:00 noon
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Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will spend, for each
unit of credit, a minimum of forty-five hours over the length of the course (normally
3 hours per unit per week with one of the hours used for lecture) for instruction or
preparation/studying or course related activities including but not limited to
internships, labs, clinical practica. Other course structures will have equivalent
workload expectations as described in this syllabus—and since this is a 6 credit class,
expect twice as much work time as you would for a 3 credit class.
University Policies
Academic integrity
Your commitment as a student to learning is evidenced by your enrollment at San Jose
State University. The University’s Academic Integrity policy, located at
http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/S07-2.htm, requires you to be honest in all your academic
course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the office of
Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The Student Conduct and Ethical
Development website is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/studentconduct/.
Instances of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Cheating on exams or plagiarism
(presenting the work of another as your own, or the use of another person’s ideas without
giving proper credit) will result in a failing grade and sanctions by the University. For
this class, all assignments are to be completed by the individual student unless otherwise
specified. If you would like to include your assignment or any material you have
submitted, or plan to submit for another class, please note that SJSU’s Academic
Integrity Policy S07-2 requires approval of instructors.
Campus Policy in Compliance with the American Disabilities Act
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, or if you need
to make special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an
appointment with me as soon as possible, or see me during office hours. Presidential
Directive 97-03 at http://www.sjsu.edu/president/docs/directives/PD_1997-03.pdf
requires that students with disabilities requesting accommodations must register with the
Disability Resource Center (DRC) at http://www.drc.sjsu.edu/ to establish a record of
their disability.
Student Technology Resources
Computer labs for student use are available in the Academic Success Center
(http://www.at.sjsu.edu/asc/) located on the 1st floor of Clark Hall and in the Associated
Students Lab on the 2nd floor of the Student Union. Additional computer labs may be
available in your department/college. Computers are also available in the Martin Luther
King Library.
A wide variety of audio-visual equipment is available for student checkout from Media
Services located in IRC 112. These items include DV and HD digital camcorders; digital
still cameras; video, slide and overhead projectors; DVD, CD, and audiotape players;
sound systems, wireless microphones, projection screens and monitors.
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SJSU Peer Connections
The Learning Assistance Resource Center (LARC) and the Peer Mentor Program have
merged to become Peer Connections. Peer Connections is the new campus-wide resource
for mentoring and tutoring. Our staff is here to inspire students to develop their potential
as independent learners while they learn to successfully navigate through their university
experience. Students are encouraged to take advantage of our services which include
course-content based tutoring, enhanced study and time management skills, more
effective critical thinking strategies, decision making and problem-solving abilities, and
campus resource referrals.
In addition to offering small group, individual, and drop-in tutoring for a number of
undergraduate courses, consultation with mentors is available on a drop-in or by
appointment basis. Workshops are offered on a wide variety of topics including
preparing for the Writing Skills Test (WST), improving your learning and memory,
alleviating procrastination, surviving your first semester at SJSU, and other related topics.
A computer lab and study space are also available for student use in Room 600 of Student
Services Center (SSC).
Peer Connections is located in three locations: SSC, Room 600 (10th Street Garage on
the corner of 10th and San Fernando Street), at the 1st floor entrance of Clark Hall, and in
the Living Learning Center (LLC) in Campus Village Housing Building B. Visit Peer
Connections website at http://peerconnections.sjsu.edu for more information.
SJSU Writing Center
The SJSU Writing Center is located in Suite 126 in Clark Hall. It is staffed by
professional instructors and upper-division or graduate-level writing specialists from each
of the seven SJSU colleges. Our writing specialists have met a rigorous GPA
requirement, and they are well trained to assist all students at all levels within all
disciplines to become better writers. The Writing Center staff can be found at
http://www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter/about/staff/.
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