AMST/HIST 2011: Modern American Cultural HistorySpring 2015

Instructor: Dr. Christina LaroccoEmail: clarocco@gwu.eduMailbox: 2108 G St.Class Meetings: Wed./Fri. 11:10-12, 1957 E St. 213Office Hours: Wed. 1-2, 609 22nd St. 201

Graduate Assistants: Mara DauphinScott Larsonmdauphin@gwu.edusmlarson@email.gwu.edu

Justin MannRahima Schwenkbeckjustinmann5@gmail.comrahima@email.gwu.edu

Course Description:

This course is a survey of American cultural history between the Civil War and the end of the twentieth century. It defines culture broadly, referring to both the ways Americans made sense out of the world and their expressions of these worldviews. Students will read, watch, and listen to cultural products from the past, including film, theater, music, literature, and the visual arts. They will think in new ways about the historical development of the cultural institutions that affect our everyday lives, including consumer culture, religion, and the news media. They will also be exposed to, and will have to grapple with, evolving scholarly approaches to these topics. It is the contention of this course that the importance of culture goes far beyond the enjoyment we receive from it. Rather, culture is inherently political, and cultural products provide us with a window into the politics of the time in which they were produced. The primary focus of this course will thus be on what culture reveals about the politics of race, class, gender, sexuality, and more in a given time.

As we approach these issues, we will focus on a number of themes that will carry us through the semester. First, we will interrogate the concepts of good and bad culture. Is there any way to evaluate culture neutrally, or will determinations of value always reflect the norms and greater material resources of the dominant group? What does this mean for how we approach culture produced by marginalized groups? Next, we will follow evolving approaches to the relationship between cultural production and consumption. Over the course of the twentieth century, cultural theorists advanced an increasingly important role for the audience, from passive receptacles to active creators of meaning. Why did this occur, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of these various interpretations? Finally, we will explore debates about the effects of cultural consumption. While some thinkers and activists have argued that cultural consumption provides merely a false escape from the world, deadens our senses, and precludes political activity, others have insisted that culture has the power to instill a political consciousness in its consumers and incite them to take action in their real lives. In weighing the value of each perspective and tracing their ebb and flow throughout the twentieth century, special attention will be paid to the function of culture in movements for social and political change.

Learning Outcomes:

Students who complete this course will be able to do the following:

1.) Identify major people, themes, and phenomena in modern American cultural history.2.) Analyze competing interpretations of history and undertake their own analyses of primary documents and artifacts.3.) Understand the diversity of Americans experiences and the significance of that diversity in shaping American culture.4.) Write clearly and cogently about secondary sources and primary documents.

Required Books and Readings:

Amiri Baraka, DutchmanKathleen Franz and Susan Smulyan, eds., Major Problems in American Popular Culture Allen Ginsberg, HowlClifford Odets, Waiting for LeftyAnna Deavere Smith, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992

Additional required readings will be available online and through Blackboard. Although not required, students who feel they would benefit from a textbook account of modern American history may wish to consult James Henretta, Americas History, Volume 2: Since 1865.

Grading and Course Requirements:

Class Participation: 20%

Class participation is a large component of your grade in this course. You will not succeed in the course if you do not attend, and participate actively in, your GA-led discussion sections. While you may certainly ask your GA to clarify material covered in lectures, the primary purpose of these sections is to discuss the weeks readings. You must attend these sections having completed all of the required readings. You must also bring the readings themselves. Online readings must be printed out or accessible on a laptop or tablet, depending on the policy set by your GA. Please pay careful attention to the reading schedulebecause discussion sections meet on Tuesdays, each one will be spent discussing readings related to the previous weeks lectures.

Discussions will not work without each persons committed participation. I realize that some of you may be uncomfortable speaking in a group setting. It is your responsibility to see the instructor or GA if you need help in this area. Declining to participate is unfair to both you and the rest of the class. It is unfair to you because your grade will suffer and because your time in class will be less enjoyable and rewarding. It is unfair to the rest of the class because you will be depriving them of your insights. In order to facilitate participation, you will post a brief reading response to Blackboard at least twenty-four hours before your discussion section meets. In it, you will identify one aspect of the weeks readings that you would like to discuss and include two or three sentences describing why.

If you do not attend your discussion section, you cannot participate and thus will receive a zero. If you show up and do not interfere with other students learning, you will receive a D. If you participate with any relevant comment, you will receive a C. Solid participation will earn a B for the day, and excellent participation will earn an A.

Rapid Writing: 5%

At the end of each lecture, you will complete a rapid writing assignment in which you identify both the main point of the lecture and one question you have about the material it covered. Rapid writing will be used to take attendance, and frequently asked questions will be addressed at the beginning of the next lecture.

Paper #1: 15%

Paper #2: 15%

You will write two papers over the course of the semester. The first is due on Friday, February 13, and the second is due on Friday, April 3. You will receive more information on these assignments well in advance of the due dates.

Midterm: 20%

Final Exam: 25%

You will take two exams over the course of the semester. They will consist of a combination of key terms and essay questions. A study guide will be distributed prior to each exam. The midterm exam will be on Friday, February 27. The final exam date will be announced at mid-semester.

Classroom Decorum and Course Expectations:

Attendance: Attendance will be taken in both lectures and discussion sections. If you experience an illness or family emergency that prevents you from attending class, you must alert the instructor or GA in writing. You must make a reasonable attempt to do so ahead of time. Please note that you are still responsible for all of the information covered in classes you have missed.

Religious Holidays: If you celebrate any religious holidays that conflict with any requirements of the course, please see the instructor or GA during the first two weeks of class. We will make sure that you can both meet the course requirements and practice your faith fully.

Technology: Cell phones, laptops, tablets, and other electronic devices are allowed in lecture for academic purposes only. GAs may establish their own policies for discussion sections. Students who wish to have access to their cell phones for childcare issues or other family situations must discuss the situation with the instructor or GA.

Writing Assignments: Assignments are to be completed in paragraph form using a standard font, font size, and margin size. GAs may set their own policies for accepting papers in hard copy or online. For every day that an assignment is late, one letter grade will be deducted from your grade on that assignment. Assignments more than three days late will not be graded. Extension requests will be considered on an individual basis and only before the assignment is due. Do not ask for an extension once a due date has already passed.

Academic Integrity: GW does not tolerate academic dishonesty of any kind. It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty and to familiarize yourself with the schools policies pertaining to academic dishonesty and its consequences. Questions related to academic dishonesty must be addressed before the assignment in question is turned in. For more information on this very serious offense, see the Code of Academic Integrity.

Disability Support Services: Students with documented disabilities can have their needs determined by DSS. If you require any alterations or services, you must bring the instructor or GA a copy of your DSS form by Wednesday, January 28. Alterations will only be made for students who have gone through DSS. For more information, see the DSS site.

Course Schedule

Week One

Wednesday, January 14: Introduction; Cultural Practices of Death and Remembrance

Friday, January 16: Reconstruction and the Culture of Jim Crow

Week Two

Discussion (Tues., 1/20):

Reading: MP pp. 28-30, 32-33, 36-46; Ambrose Bierce, "What I Saw of Shiloh"

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, January 21: MISSED CLASS

Friday, January 23: Middle-Class Anxiety and the End of the Frontier

Week Three

Discussion (Tues., 1/27):

Reading: MP pp. 92-94, 100-114; Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History [Blackboard]; Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life [Blackboard]

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, January 28: Work Culture and Working-Class Culture

Friday, January 30: Suffrage and Feminism

Week Four

Discussion (Tues., 2/3):

Reading: MP pp. 126-30, 137-44; Frederick Winslow Taylor, Scientific Management [Blackboard]; Excerpt from Kathy Peiss, Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York [Blackboard]; Margaret Sanger, The Birth Control Review, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1-16; Emma Goldman "Anarchy and the Sex Question"

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, February 4: Progressive Culture and Thought

Friday, February 6: Race Men and Women

Week Five

Discussion (Tues., 2/10):

Reading: George Creel, How We Advertised America, pp. 84-98, 166-83; Langston Hughes, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain [Blackboard]; James Weldon Johnson, Harlem: The Culture Capital [Blackboard]; Film: 100% American

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, February 11: Modernism and Modernity

Friday, February 13: 1920s Culture Wars

Assignment due Fri, 2/13: Paper #1

Week Six

Discussion (Tues., 2/17):

Reading: MP pp. 169-82; Excerpts from Jeffrey P. Moran, ed., The Scopes Trial: A Brief History with Documents [Blackboard]; Film: The Sheik

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, February 18: The New Deal Cultural Apparatus

Friday, February 20: The Proletarian Moment

Week Seven

Discussion (Tues., 2/24):

Reading: Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty

Be prepared to discuss Ben Shahn, The Meaning of Social Security (View at the Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Ave. SW)

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, February 25: Review Session

Friday, February 27: Midterm Exam

Week Eight

Discussion (Tues., 3/3):

No discussion sections this week

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, March 4: The Culture of Anti-Fascism

Friday, March 6: Massification and McCarthyism

Week Nine SPRING BREAK

Week Ten

Discussion (Tues., 3/17):

Reading: Norman Rockwell, Four Freedoms; Ayn Rand, "Screen Guide for Americans"; Film: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, March 18: The Cold War Family and the Affluent Society

Friday, March 20: Sexual Revolutionaries in a Conservative Age

Week Eleven

Discussion (Tues., 3/24):

Reading: MP pp. 333-39, 348-50; Richard Nixon, What Freedom Means to Us [Blackboard]; excerpt from Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era [Blackboard]; excerpt from James Gilbert, Men in the Middle: Searching for Masculinity in the 1950s [Blackboard]

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, March 25: Youth Culture and Counterculture

Friday, March 27: The Black Freedom Movement in Culture and the Media

Week Twelve

Discussion (Tues., 3/31):

Reading: MP pp. 307-308; 388-407; Ginsberg, Howl; Amiri Baraka, Dutchman

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, April 1: Performing Vietnam War Protests

Friday, April 3: The Culture of Postmodernity

Assignment due Fri., 4/3: Paper #2

Week Thirteen

Discussion (Tues., 4/7):

Reading: Tim OBrien, "How to Tell a True War Story"; Songs: Barry McGuire, Eve of Destruction, Barry Sadler, Ballad of the Green Berets, Country Joe and the Fish, I-Feel-Like-Im-Fixin-to-Die Rag, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fortunate Son [see YouTube for videos and Blackboard for lyrics]; Film: Apocalypse Now

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, April 8: Second-Wave Feminism and the Rights Revolution

Friday, April 10: Culture in Crisis in the 1970s

Week Fourteen

Discussion (Tues., 4/14):

Reading: Daniel Horowitz, Rethinking Betty Friedan and the Feminine Mystique: Labor Union Radicalism and Feminism in Cold War America, American Quarterly 40 (March 1996): 1-42; Jefferson Cowie and Lauren Boehm, Dead Mans Town: Born in the U.S.A., Social History, and Working-Class Identity, American Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 2 (June 2006): 353-378

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, April 15: Backlash and Conservatism

Friday, April 17: Culture Wars Revisited

Week Fifteen

Discussion (Tues., 4/21):

Reading: Excerpts from Ronald Story and Bruce Laurie, eds., The Rise of Conservatism: A Brief History with Documents [Blackboard]; Smith, Twilight

Lecture Topics:

Wednesday, April 22: Epilogue: 9/11 and American Culture

Friday, April 24: Review Session

Final Exam Date and Time TBD