AMST3223: Theories and Methods of American Studies
Fall 2010
Professor Stacy Takacs
Email: stacy.takacs@okstate.edu
Phone: 918-594-8331
Office: MCB2221
Office Hours: Mondays, Tuesdays & Fridays 2:00-4:00 or by appointment
OSU American Studies Website – For program requirements, course options, news & events
http://amst.okstate.edu/index.php
Also, catch us on Facebook. Search for “American Studies Oklahoma State University.” All
“fans” are encouraged to post to the site.
Course Description
This course surveys the history, theory, and methods of the field of inquiry known as American
Studies. Unlike your other American Studies courses, this one requires you to think consciously
about the ways you undertake the analysis of cultural and social phenomena. We will address
such questions as: What is American Studies? What is its history? What is the proper subject
matter of American Studies? How should we look at or engage with that subject matter? What
methods of analysis might help us understand this thing called "America" or "American culture
and society?" How do these methods enable us to turn mere "information" into meaningful
"knowledge?" Finally, what could or should we do with this knowledge once we have it? The
course will be reading and writing intensive and will require a significant amount of time for both
preparation and assignments. You will have a lot of flexibility, however, to examine subjects of
particular interest to you and to put the theories and methods we discuss into practice.
Evaluation for the course will be based on participation, a series of response papers, and a large
research project (to be posted on a course wiki site).
By the end of the course, you should be able to:







Recognize and recall key authors, ideas, methods, and movements in the American
Studies field over its history.
Ask compelling questions about American culture, questions that go well beyond the “who,
what, where” of reportage into the “how, why and what for” of critical thinking.
Analyze primary source materials to determine their messages in relation to a particular
historical context.
Read and evaluate secondary source materials to determine their messages and merits.
Negotiate differing academic opinions, and carve out an intellectual space for yourself in
academic debates about a subject.
Utilize the library and its electronic databases to aid in research.
Integrate and cite source materials using proper technique according to the Modern
Language Association’s (MLA) Style Manual or the Chicago Manual of Style.
2
Required Texts



Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick
Curtis Marez, Drug Wars
A selection of readings available in the “Readings” section of the Desire2Learn (D2L)
website <https://oc.okstate.edu>. You may read these on-line, or download and print the
essays so that you can make notes and comments in the margins as you read.
Course Policies and Requirements
Attendance and Participation: Students are expected to attend every class and participate
actively in class discussions. Participation will count for 10% of your course grade (100 points)
and requires more than just showing up to class.
Excessive absence may result in a failing grade for the course, and more than one
unexcused absence is excessive! Absences will be excused only for dire illness and family
emergency, both of which must be substantiated by documentation (a Dr's note, a funeral
notice, etc.). For each absence over one, you will be docked 10 points from your
participation grade; you will also forfeit the right to earn any extra credit.
Active participation means:





You will have read the materials and completed any writing assignments, including online assignments, before you arrive in class.
You will bring the day’s reading materials with you to class so that you may refer to
them.
You will engage with and respond to your peers during both large and small group
discussions and during on-line assignments.
You will listen attentively to every speaker and respond respectfully to the ideas of
others. You will NOT phone, text, or surf the internet while in class.
You will exhibit a deliberate effort to apply, extend, and challenge concepts we discuss
in class. Ask questions, make comparisons, and share your observations in every
class.
Online Discussion: To enhance your comprehension of the assigned reading materials, I will
post discussion questions on the D2L each week that there are readings due. You will be required
to respond to AT LEAST 10 of these discussion prompts over the course of the semester. Your
responses should be brief (100+ words) but critical and analytical. That is, they should do more
than summarize the material; they should demonstrate that you have thought about the readings
in themselves and in relation to other course texts, contexts, and ideas. You will have 11
opportunities to complete your 10 postings (i.e. you may skip one assignment without penalty).
Each posting will be worth a possible 10 pts (100 total), and together they will comprise 10% of
your grade.
Short Essays: You will write FOUR 2-3 page essays, which ask you to demonstrate the new
analytical skills you will be cultivating in the class. For example, you might be asked to find and
analyze an advertisement to determine how it constructs notions of gender or race. You will use
course readings to provide a theoretical framework for your analysis, but you should not need to
do outside research to complete these essays. Occasionally, I will ask you to post your essays on
3
the course “wiki” (see below for details about that), but more often than not you will submit hard
copies of the essays to me in class. You will have five chances to complete these four
assignments (i.e. you may skip one essay topic without penalty). Details can be found in the
“Assignments” section of D2L. Deadlines are listed on the Schedule of Readings. No late
response papers will be accepted. Each response will be worth 100 points (400 points total).
Wikimedia Project on "America": Members of the class will contribute to a "wikipedia" site
devoted to American Studies topics. The "wiki" can be found at http://americanwiki.pbwiki.com,
and the password is our course number (amst3223, all lower case letters). The goal of the project
is to produce a reliable database on American Studies issues and topics that represents the
“collective intelligence” of our program at OSU and can be shared with students in AMST courses
at other universities. You will contribute (at least) one substantial new entry to the AmericanWiki
project on a topic of your choosing relevant to the study of "America." You will propose a topic and
compile an annotated bibliography of 7-10 sources related to that subject, including at least ONE
of the theoretical or critical readings that have been the focus of the course (100 pts). You will
produce a written draft of your wiki content and meet with me to discuss it (50 pts), and you will
share your knowledge and resources with your classmates via an oral presentation (50 pts). The
final version of the project will be worth 200 points or 20% of your grade and will be graded on the
quality of the research and analysis, the user-friendliness of the organizational structure, and the
clarity of the prose. Instructions will be posted in the "Assignments" section of D2L. See the Grade
Breakdown for the value assigned to each phase of the project and consult the Schedule of
Readings for Due Dates.
Academic Honesty: All work you turn in for this class must be your own work. Incidents of
plagiarism—including failure to cite your sources properly—will result in a failing grade for the
assignment. Any more egregious violation (turning in someone else's paper as your own, or
copying content from the internet, for example) will result in a failing grade for the course.
Consult OSU’s Office of Academic Affairs for more information on the University's new, more
stringent Academic Integrity policy.
Grade Breakdown
Participation
Online Exercises
Short Essays
Wiki Project
 Topic Proposal & Annotated Bibliography
 Written Draft of Wiki Entry
 Oral Presentation & Wiki Collaboration
 Final Version
Total
10% (100 points)
10% (100 points)
40% (400 points; 100 per assignment)
10% (100 points)
5% (50 points)
5% (50 points)
20% (200 points)
100%
4
Course Schedule



Do all assigned reading before you come to class and be prepared to discuss with questions
or comments in mind.
Selections starred with an asterisk can be found in the “Readings” section of D2L.
Selections that are hyperlinks (bright blue and underlined) can be found by clicking on the link
or typing the URL into an online search engine, like Google.
Introduction: What is American Studies?
8/23
In-Class Viewing: Tiffany Deason on American Studies
Method: *What is a Primary Source?” (D2L)
Analyzing Primary Sources
<http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/psources/analyze.html>
Early American Studies: The Myth-Symbol School
8/30
Theory
*Gene Wise, “Paradigm Dramas (pp. 166-185)
*Henry Nash Smith, "Symbol and Idea in Virgin Land"
Example
*Henry Nash Smith, Selection from Virgin Land
9/6
LABOR DAY—NO CLASS
Method: *Analyzing Visual Imagery
Making Sense of Documentary Photography
<http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/photos/>
Analyzing Photographs
<http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/sia/photo.htm>
DUE: Response #1 (analyze an image of your choice)
Defining Culture
9/13
Theory
*Raymond Williams, “Culture”
*Clifford Geertz, “Common Sense as a Cultural System”
*Jay Mechling, “Some [New] Elementary Axioms for an American Cultur[al] Studies”
Example: *Lawrence Levine, “The Folklore of Industrial Society”
Method: ”Making Sense of American Popular Song”
5
<http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/songs/>
In-Class Viewing: Stuart Hall Representations
Introducing Gender, Race, & Class into the Study of “America”
9/20
Theory: Gender
*Judith Lorber, “The Social Construction of Gender”
*Drucilla Cornell, “Gender in America”
Example
*Gail Bederman, “Remaking Manhood Through Race and Civilization”
Method: “Making Sense of Advertisements”
<http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/ads/>
DUE: Response #2 (analyze representations of gender in an ad)
9/27
Theory: Race
*Michael Omi and Howard Winant, “Racial Formations”
Example
*George Lipsitz, “The Possessive Investment in Whiteness”
Primary Source
Richard Wright, “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch”
<http://newdeal.feri.org/fwp/fwp03.htm>
Method: *Making Sense of Numbers <http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/numbers/>
In-Class Viewing: Race: The Power of an Illusion (excerpts)
10/4
Theory: Class
*Stephen McNamee and Robert Miller, “The American Dream: Origins and Prospects”
*Gregory Mantsios, "Class in America: Myths and Realities"
*Rilla Askew, “The Smokescreen of Race in America”
Watch: Roger & Me, Capitalism, A Love Story or American Casino
Method: *Analyzing Films (D2L)
Making Sense of Film: Questions to Ask”
<http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/film/question2.html>
10/11 Primary sources:
Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick
Mark Twain, “Poor, Little Stephen Girard” <http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4935/>
Method: *Interpretation; *Understanding Fiction (D2L)
DUE: Response #3 (analyze a scene from Roger & Me or Capitalism)
6
10/18 Conducting Library Research
DUE: Response #4 (analyze the assigned literary texts)
America as Imagined Community: Defining the Symbolic Boundaries of the Nation
10/25 Theory
*Benedict Anderson, “Nation as Imagined Community”
*Samuel Huntington, “The American Creed and National Identity”
*David Campbell, “Imagining America”
Primary Sources
*Christopher Columbus, “Journal”
*Handsome Lake, “How America Was Discovered”
*John Winthrop, “Modell of Christian Charity”
11/1
Example
*Matthew Frye Jacobson, “Accents of Menace”
Primary Sources
Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus”
<http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/liberty/lazarus.html>
Thomas Bailey Aldrich, “The Unguarded Gates” (online)
<http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/LIBERTY/aldrich.html>
*Ralph Linton, "The 100 Percent American"
DUE TODAY: Topic Proposal and Annotated Bibliography
The Critique of American Imperialism
11/8
Theory
*Amy Kaplan, “Left Alone With America”
Example
*Amy Kaplan, “Homeland Insecurities: Some Reflections on Language and Space”
Primary Sources
*George W. Bush, “West Point Graduation Speech”
*Max Boot, “Doctrine of the Big Enchilada”
*Joseph Nye, “Ill Suited to Empire”
The Transnational Turn in American Studies
11/15 Theory
*Janice Radway, “What’s in a Name?”
Example
Curtis Marez, Drug Wars, “Introduction”
7
DUE: Response Paper #5 (analysis of political rhetoric)
11/22 Curtis Marez, Drug Wars, Chapters 3-5
11/29 Oral Presentations and Wikirevisions
DUE: Written Draft of Wiki Content
12/6
Oral Presentations and Wikirevisions
12/13 Due: Final Entries for "americanwiki" (no class)