American Studies 7000 – Scholarship in American Studies

Fall 2012

Instructor:

Rebecca Hill, PhD

Associate Professor of American Studies

Director, MA in American Studies

Office: Social Science 2015

Email: rhill54@kennesaw.edu

Phone: 770-794-7543

Office hours: by appointment

Course Catalog Description:

This course explores a variety of themes, theoretical influences, and methodological approaches current

in American Studies. Through close reading and discussion of secondary sources, we’ll examine the

various myths about America and the impact of these myths on individuals and the larger society;

explore and interpret the ways in which race, ethnicity, social class, sexuality, religion, and gender shape

American culture; and read and interpret scholarship in the field of American Studies, with attention to

the globalization of American culture. We’ll also become familiar with the basic conceptual building

blocks in the field, and examine the historical development of the field (or discipline!) of American

Studies.

Course Objectives and Description:

This course is designed to introduce you to major concepts and frameworks used in current

American Studies scholarship and their historical antecedents, so that you have a broad

understanding of not only what contemporary scholars are doing, but where their work fits in the

history of the field as a whole. That field has expanded from its own institutional origins to

embrace what has come today to be known as cultural studies, so some of the classic works that

you will read have not traditionally been understood as “American Studies” works, but have

become so influential in contemporary American Studies scholarship that they can be said to

have formed a new canon. The class will go in nearly chronological order based on these

“classics”, creating a history of the field that places it within an international context of cultural

studies scholarship more generally.

Graduate Seminar Philosophy:

This is a graduate seminar requiring intensive reading and discussion. You should bring your

readings with you to class and be prepared to discuss them. It is common for graduate seminars

to be run largely by students themselves, who take responsibility for facilitating the seminar by

turn during the semester. The class will not feature much lecture (if any) and I will consider the

class to be successful when students are doing the majority of the talking.

Both current scholarship in American Studies, and some of the classic works on which it is

based, often use difficult, abstract language, and discuss how culture works, or what culture is at

a level of abstraction, depth, or complexity, that may be unfamiliar to you. Do not despair! I

consider it a good day in class if everyone comes to the table fully aware that they did not

understand some critical aspect of the reading and willing to openly discuss what they found

confusing, perplexing, or even bizarre – so that we can work through sections of the readings

together as a class until we are satisfied that everyone‟s questions are answered. If we start with

questions, we are already on our way to a good class. At times, it may feel to some of you as if

the class is “floundering” or confused. However, despite whatever uncertainty or discomfort that

you may experience, it is part of the process of learning, and is very typical in graduate

education. If I intervene, it does not mean that I think things are going awry, but simply that I

think my own knowledge of the particular subject would be useful to move the discussion

forward.

Some of you will be more familiar with this language and some of the concepts the readings

cover than others. Many of you may wish that you had more “background” about whatever

theory or subject we are reading about. There is no escape from this feeling, particularly in

interdisciplinary scholarship. Because every academic work refers to some other set of previous

works, there is no way to give you the necessary background in one semester. I do strongly

suggest that you pursue background reading on your own, and if you feel it will help, that you

share it with the class. Similarly, since many students in the class have taken other classes where

they may have encountered some concepts or methods that are new to many students in the class,

please make it a practice to share definitions of terms and concepts that you are using if you

learned them outside this class.

Assignments:

Three Review Essays : 30%

During the course of the semester, you will write three short essays (4-6 pp each) responding to

questions which ask you to explain how the contemporary texts have been influenced by, have

used, resisted, or transformed the assigned “classic “or theoretical works. I will distribute

specific questions for these essays during the semester, and you will always have a choice of

writing your own question. For each set of texts, there is a possibility of doing a review essay,

creating a total of six choices. Please sign up for your three review essays (you‟ll see them listed

as #1, #2, etc on the schedule below) by the third week of class. In order to ensure that at least

some students are writing on each topic, only six people can choose any one topic.

Weekly Class Participation 15%: One of the most important elements of a graduate seminar is

the students‟ active participation. You should come to class with the readings and be ready to

discuss them with your class-mates. You need to contribute to the discussion. If you are shy,

please talk to me about this problem. Attendance is required; and you will lose points for missed

classes, early departures and late arrivals. If circumstances require that you miss class or a

portion of it, you need to discuss it with be beforehand, and these should be the exception rather

than the rule.

Seminar Presentations 15% : Each student will be responsible for doing two brief presentations

on the historical context or backgrounds of particular authors or schools of thought in American

Studies. You‟ll need to do this in pairs or groups of three, and I‟ll send around a sign-up sheet on

the first day of class. I recommend doing your seminar presentations around the texts that you

plan to use for your review essays. For the seminar presentation, you must turn in an outline and

a list of works cited using full bibliographic information.

Vista Posts 10 %: Each week, you‟ll do a brief vista post about the assigned reading. Sometimes

I will post specific questions for you to answer, along the lines of : “What are your three biggest

questions about these readings?” or “What was the best big idea in this reading?” “What does so

and so mean by the concept X”? to help prepare for the class discussion that week.

Final Paper: 30%

For your final paper or project, choose a text, work of art or small group of such works, historical

event, or other object of analysis and write a brief paper (8-10pp) applying one or two of the

concepts that you encountered in the class. For example, use the theory of “whiteness” to analyze

a local museum exhibit. This is not meant to be a major research paper requiring large amounts

of additional reading, but you should address some of the current scholarship on whatever work

you choose in your paper in order to say why your theory of choice would improve scholarly

understanding of the subject. Your text could be a work of literature, a film, a historical

document, a comic book, etc. that you will read using an American Studies concept covered in

the class. If you write about a historical event, your paper should explain what an American

Studies framework could add to our understanding of it by commenting on a few major

secondary sources. Whatever your topic, make sure to consult with me early on before you

begin work. Everyone must meet with me at least once during the semester to discuss the final

paper. I will be happy to read rough drafts, outlines, etc.

Note on cell-phone use and class conduct generally: Classrooms are a public space and a

social space where everyone is in communication with each other for the entire time spent in

class. If you come in late, please do so quietly. Cell phones should be on silent or vibrate

settings during class, and there should be no text-messaging unless it is absolutely necessary

communication related to family emergencies, transportation, etc. If you must take an important

call during class time, please exit the room discretely to do so. If you are using a laptop in class,

you should not be surfing on the internet. If you would like to look something up related to the

discussion, do not do this on your own using your cell phone or computer. We can use the

common course computer and projector screen to look up answers to your questions so that these

small “research events” are public and part of class time rather than isolated experiences that

take individuals attention away from the conversation. Please be respectful of class time and of

your classmates. In class discussions, we may disagree about many things, but these

disagreements must not become personal attacks. Let us begin with the assumption that everyone

is doing the best that he or she can. (see also KSU statement on Disruption of Campus Life)

Readings: There are two sets of required reading: the books, which are available at the campus

bookstore and on the class vista page. Both types of reading are required for the class.

Books:

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Spread of Nationalism ( 1981)

New York: Verso, 2006

W.E. B. DuBois, Souls of Black Folk (1903) (any edition)

Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler, Keywords for American Cultural Studies New York: New

York University Press, 2007

Hall and Jefferson, Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain, Second

Edition, New York: Routledge, 2006

Melanie McAlister, Epic Encounters: Culture, Media and U.S. Interests in the Middle East Since

1945 (2001) Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005

Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, A New Literary History of America, Cambridge: Belknap of

Harvard University press, 2009

Janice Peck, The Age of Oprah: Cultural Icon for a Neoliberal Era New York: Paradigm

Publishers, 2008

Dylan Rodriguez, Forced Passages: Imprisoned Radical Intellectuals and the U.S. Prison

Regime Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006

David Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class

(1991) New York: Verso, 2007

Edward Said, Orientalism (1979) New York: Vintage, 1994

Readings available online:

Thedore Adorno and Max Horkheimer,”The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass

Deception,” from The Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947) Stanford: Stanford University Press,

2002

Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility,”(1936)

trans. Edmund Jephcott and Harry Zohn, From The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technical

Reproducibility an Other Writings on Media, Cambridge, 2008

______________, “Theses on the Philosophy of History” from Illuminations New York:

Schocken Books, 1969

______________, “Paris: Capital of the 19th

Century,”from Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms and

Autobiographical Writings, New York: Schocken Books, 1978

Lauren Berlant, excerpt, The Queen of America Goes to Washington City: Essays on Sex and

Citizenship, Durham: Duke University Press (1997)

Craig Calhoun, Foreword to Engaging Contradictions: Theory, Politics and Methods of Activist

Scholarship, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008

George Chauncey, “Trade, Wolves, and the Boundaries of Normal Manhood,” from Gay New

York: Gender, Urban Culture and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940, New York:

Basic Books, 1994

Robert J. Corber and Stephen Valocchi, Introduction from Queer Studies: An Interdisciplinary

Reader, Oxford: Blackwell, 2003

Phillip J. Deloria, chapter one, from Playing Indian, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998

Michel Foucault, “The Perverse Implantation,” From The History of Sexuality v. 1, (1978) New

York: Vintage

__________________, “The Gentle Way in Punishment,” from Discipline and Punish (1977)

New York: Vintage

Jurgen Habermas, Excerpt, from The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry

into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991

Judith Halberstam, “What‟s that Smell?,” from In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies,

Subcultural Lives, New York: New York University Press, 2005

Khalil Anthony Johnson Jr, “‟Other Music‟: Race, Music and Assimilation in U.S. History,”

American Quarterly v 65, n.2 (March 2011), 191-201

Kanta Kochlar-Lindgren, “What Happens if You Put American Disability Studies at the Center,”

American Quarterly v 61, n 2 (June 2009) pp. 395-404

Gunter Lenz, “Periodization and American Studies” Encyclopedia of American Studies online,

Project of the ASA, http://eas-ref.press.jhu.edu/

Leo Marx, “The Garden,” from The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal

in America, New York: Oxford University Press, 1964

Joel Pfister, “Getting Personal and Getting Personnel: U.S. Capitalism as a System of Emotional

Reproduction,” American Quarterly, v. 60, n. 4 (December 2008), 1135-1142

Richard Slotkin, chapter 4 “Regeneration Through Violence” from The Fatal Environment: The

Myth of the Frontier in the Age of Industrialization 1800-1890, New York: Atheneum, 1985

Henry Nash Smith, „The Western Hero,” from Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and

Myth, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1950

Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” edited excerpt

from the American Studies Xroads web-project.

Amy Wilkins, “From Geek to Freak,” in Wannabes, Goths and Christians: The Boundaries of

Sex, Style and Status, University of Chicago Press, 2008

General Policies

Grading:

A=90-100; B=80-89. C=70-79, D=60-69, F=0-59

Late Policy:

All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day that they appear on the syllabus. I

will mark down late work 1/3 of a grade per day of lateness (A to A-, B+, B, B-, etc)

Email: Please check your Kennesaw student email account. I will use this address to send

course-related emails during the semester.

Meetings:

Please be available for meetings with me during the semester. You will need to meet with me to

discuss your final paper, and we may need to arrange meetings to discuss other work,

presentations, progress, or other matters related to the course.

Georgia View/Vista:

Many of the readings for the course are on the class page in Georgia View/Vista. I will make

announcements of important events, any course changes, or cancellations on the course home

page, so please check it before coming to class. We will also use Georgia View/Vista for

discussion of readings prior to class.

KSU‟s Statement on Academic Integrity:

Every KSU student is responsible for upholding the provisions of the Student Code of Conduct, as

published in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs. Section II of the Student Code of Conduct

addresses the University’s policy on academic honesty, including provisions regarding plagiarism and

cheating, unauthorized access to University materials, misrepresentation/falsification of University

records or academic work, malicious removal, retention, or destruction of library materials,

malicious/intentional misuse of computer facilities and/or services, and misuse of student identification

cards. Incidents of alleged academic misconduct will be handled through the established procedures of

the University Judiciary Program, which includes either an “informal” resolution by a faculty member,

resulting in a grade adjustment, or a formal hearing procedure, which may subject a student to the Code

of Conduct’s minimum one semester suspension requirement.

KSU‟s Statement on Disruption of Campus Life:

It is the purpose of the institution to provide a campus environment which encourages academic

accomplishment, personal growth, and a spirit of understanding and cooperation. An important

part of maintaining such an environment is the commitment to protect the health and safety

of every member of the campus community. Belligerent, abusive, profane, threatening and/or

inappropriate behavior on the part of students is a violation of the Kennesaw State University

Student Conduct Regulations. Students who are found guilty of such misconduct may be subject

to immediate dismissal from the institution. In addition, these violations of state law may also be

subject to criminal action beyond the University disciplinary process.

Statement on Accommodation for Students with Disabilities:

Any student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments is requested to notify

the instructor as early in the semester as possible. Verification from KSU disAbled Student

Support Services is required. All discussions will remain confidential

Schedule:

First day 8/21: - Please read the following before the first class meeting:

Gunter Lenz, “Periodization in American Studies”

William Appleman Williams, on book reviews from The Contours of American History

Review essays from American Quarterly: on “Other Music”; “Emotion and Capitalism”; “What

Happens if You Put Disability Studies at the Center?”

Keywords: America, Culture, Empire

Marcus and Sollors: Introduction

Week Two 8/28: Race and American Identity (1890s-1900s)

W.E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, the forethought, chapters 1-2, 4-5,7-10,13-14

Frederick Jackson Turner, (excerpt) “The Significance of the Frontier”

Marcus and Sollors: Posnock, “Henry James in America”; Treuer, “The Pose that Truth Must

Assume”; Smith “The Azusa Street Revival”

Keywords: Nation, Race, Slavery

Seminar Presentation 1: Historical background DuBois and Turner, ideas about race in the

early 20th century

Week three 9/4: Whiteness (1990s – present)

Roediger, Wages of Whiteness introduction – chapter five

Keywords: Capitalism, Property, White

Seminar Presentation 2: the “New” Labor History & Marxist history

Week four 9/11: Whiteness (1990s-present)

Roediger, Wages of Whiteness chapter 6-conclusion

Deloria, chapter one from Playing Indian

Marcus and Sollors; Lhamon, “Rogue Blackness,” Reed, “Mark Twain‟s Hairball”; Early,

“Tarzan Begins His Reign”; Porter, “Margaret Mitchell and William Faulkner”

Keywords: Indian

* Review Essay #1

Seminar Presentation #3 – Deloria background and Native American Studies

Week five 9/18: Myth and Symbol in American Studies (1940s-1950s; Present)

Henry Nash Smith, “The Western Hero” from The Virgin Land

Leo Marx, “The Garden” from Machine in the Garden

Richard Slotkin, “Regeneration Through Violence”

Keywords: Myth and Symbol

From Marcus and Sollors: Polito, “A Judgment of Art”; Doss, “No Way Like the American

Way”, Bramen,“An Insolent Style”

Seminar Presentation #4 : The Myth and Symbol School in American Studies

Review essay #2

Week Six: 9/25 Mass Society and Modernity – the Frankfurt School and Media Criticism

(1930s – 1960s)

Benjamin, “Theses on the Philosophy of History” from Illuminations

__________”The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility”

_________,, “Paris the Capital of the 19th

Century,” from Reflections

Adorno and Horkheimer, “The Culture Industry” from The Dialectic of Enlightenment

In Marcus and Sollors, “Chaplinesque‟‟; Keyser, “Girls Who Wear Glasses”; Miller, “Artists and

Writers Mobilize”

Seminar Presentation #5 : The Frankfurt School and Mass Culture

Week seven 10/2: Analysis influenced by the Frankfurt School (1960s-present)

Habermas, excerpt, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere 103-140

Berlant, The Queen of American Goes to Washington City introduction and chapter one

Peck, The Age of Oprah chapters 1-4

Keywords: Public, Liberalism

Marcus and Sollors: Tolkin, „Alcoholics Anonymous”

Seminar Presentation # 6: Habermas background; The Notions of Public and Private Spheres

Review Essay #3

Week eight 10/9: From the Frankfurt School to British Cultural Studies (1970s-1980s)

Peck, The Age of Oprah, chapters 5-end

Resistance Through Rituals, xxxiii-73,139-144

Marcus and Sollors: Hamilton, “Jelly Roll Morton,” Hsu,“Wild Style”

Seminar Presentation #7: Stuart Hall and the Birmingham Center for Cultural Studies

Week nine 10/16: British Cultural Studies and the Ethnographic Turn

Resistance Through Rituals, pp. 80-138, 147-188; 195-102.

Halberstam, “What‟s that Smell?” from In a Queer Time and Place

Wilkins, “From Geek to Freak” from Wannabes, Goths and Christians

Review Essay #4

Week Ten: 10/23 Foucault, Sexuality and Post-Modernism (1960s France, 1980s US,

current)

Foucault, “The Perverse Implantation,” from The History of Sexuality v. 1

Chauncey, chapter three from Gay New York

Corber and Valocchi, introduction to Queer Studies: An Interdisciplinary Reader

Keywords: Gender, Queer

Marcus and Sollors, “A Generation in Miniature”‟ Billy Wilder‟s “Some Like It Hot”

Seminar Presentation # 8 : Gay Liberation, Queer Studies and Michel Foucault

Week Eleven 10/30 : Foucault and Prison Studies (1970s – current)

Foucault, “The Gentle Way in Punishment,” Discipline and Punish

Dylan Rodriquez, Forced Passages, introduction- chapter two

Keywords: State, War

Seminar Presentation #9: Foucault and Critical Prison Studies

Week Twelve 11/6: Prison Studies and Engaged Scholarship (current)

Calhoun, foreword, Engaging Contradictions

Dylan Rodriguez, Forced Passages, chapters 3-end

Marcus and Sollors, “New Orleans is Lost in the Flood”

Seminar Presentation # 10: Engaged Scholarship

Review Essay #5

Week Thirteen 11/13: The Nation and Empire

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities chapters 1-4

Said, Orientalism, preface – chapter 1

Keywords: Globalization, West

Seminar Presentation #11: Background Said and Anderson

Week Fourteen: 11/20

Anderson, Imagined Communities chapters 5-9

Said, Orientalism, Chapters 2 & 3

Seminar Presentation #12: Post-Nationalism

Week Fifteen: 11/27

Said, Afterward

McAlister, Epic Encounters, preface - chapter 3

Seminar Presentation #13: Transnationalism

Week Sixteen: 12/4

McAlister McAlister, Epic Encounters, chapter 4-end

Marcus and Sollors, “C.L.R James”; “The First Asian Americans”; “The Eye of Vietnam”

“Phillip Roth”

Review Essay # 6

December 11th: Final Paper Due