Course Descriptions

Undergraduate Course Offerings Summer 2009

AMS3310-01
The US and Human Rights
Instructor: Daniel Swaisgood

The United States and Human Rights will attempt to incorporate; documentary film, U.S. law, history, etc., and will also utilize articles from a psychological, sociological, socio-economic, cultural and philosophical perspective. Students will learn the overall historical development of human rights in the U.S. beginning with Columbus, the American Revolution, and the Civil War, then move onto current human rights issues such as, human trafficking, healthcare in the U.S., torture, and more.

AMS3310-02
Crime Narrative in American Culture
Instructor- Jeff Bennett

O.J. Simpson's 1994 arrest received more U.S. media coverage than the massacre of 800,000 people in Rwanda, the cease-fires in the former Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland, and the historic Republican takeover of Congress- combined. Currently, network television is host to over a dozen hour-long crime dramas including three Law and Order's and three C.S.I.'s (four if you count that dumb Navy one). The original Law and Order is currently in its nineteenth season, outlasting five presidential administrations and three presidents. The last two films to win the Academy Award for Best Picture were both violent crime-narratives. Strangely enough, all the previous examples have occurred during a period of historically low crime-rates in the United States.

What are possible explanations for this cultural infatuation with the narrative of crime? How does the crime narrative correspond to American society and its cultural needs, fears, and attitudes? This course will examine the public fascination with the narrative of crime and its place within the American cultural identity. We will read texts both fictional and non-fictional, view films and television programs both fictional and non-fictional, study famous cases and the presentation of those cases in the media, and examine both historical and critical scholarly studies.

AMS3810-01
The Modern American Horror Film
Instructor- Jessica Critten

Stephen King writes, “We make up horrors to help us cope with real ones.” The class will consider the American horror film in this vein, as a societal metaphor and an anxious reaction to the effects of change in the cultural and sociological milieu of its production. Horror films are important in the construction of the American ideology because they examine the implications of human behavior, the effect of industry and capitalism, and the struggle to preserve a social and moral order amidst almost constant infighting and confusion. In short, the American horror film most concerns itself with the often-shifting distinction between good and evil.

We will trace the American horror film from its roots in the Gothic and German Expressionist traditions to its standing in Postmodernism today, noting the evolution of the horror film as concurrent with the evolution of the ideals and values of American society. Within this idea, we will also look at the formation of a horror subculture in the form of the “cult” film. The class will examine the figure of the “monster” in its many forms, including (but not limited to) the vampire, zombie, alien and “freak.” Also, we will address horror as it relates to the American Dream, the revenge of the repressed, the distinction between “high” and “low” culture, sexuality, gender, class, race, and social movements. It is important not only to consider the horror film in its historical context, but also through the lens of cultural theory by way of the gaze, Marxism, psychoanalysis, and the uncanny.

Undergraduate Course Offerings Fall 2009

AMS3310-01
The US and Human Rights
Instructor: Daniel Swaisgood

AMS3310-02
Crime Narrative in American Culture
Instructor- Jeff Bennett

AMS3810- Section 1 and 4
Hip Hop in American Culture
Instructor- Greg Mardirosian and Joel Johnson

Hip-hop has become one of the most dominant cultural forces this world has ever seen. Its popularity is globally recognized and it has interacted with musics and cultures worldwide. Over the last three decades, it was born New York City, raised in the United States, and has moved out on its own to explore the world. It has transcended the realm of music and entered the worlds of visual art, cinema, advertising, fashion, politics, and beyond. Its growth has paralleled and interacted with the growth of the internet, and technology and hip-hop have fueled each other along the way, developing a mutually beneficial relationship. Further, it is this relationship with the internet that has enabled Hip-hop to enjoy such widespread popularity, resulting in its situation as a culture capable of uniting the youths of all countries and parts of the world. It has unified a generation to an extent rivaled only by Rock & Roll, and it accomplished this much quicker than Rock & Roll ever did.
The aim of this course is to share in a communal examination of the history and trajectory of this American culture. Work towards this aim will be accompanied by focused looks at how other musical genres and art traditions have impacted hip-hop; the impact hip-hop has made on popular culture and beyond; hip-hop’s spread throughout the United States and beyond, specifically looking at the regionalization issues that have accompanied this spread; the racial, socioeconomic, social status, political, and other identity-related issues surrounding hip-hop and its community; and much more.

AMS3810-02
Modern American Horror Film
Instructor- Jessica Critten

AMS3810-03
America Cinema and the Counterculture
Instructor- Elliott Stegal

This course examines the political, social, and cultural events of the United States in the turbulent decade of the 1960s (and the early 1970s) and its concomitant cinematic revolution. It will explore the civil rights movement, the sexual and women's movements, the war in Vietnam, and the growth of the counterculture as each major cultural event was expressed in cinema.

Spring 2009

AMS3810-01
Underground Music in America, 1980-present
Instructor- Micah Vandegrift

Underground Music in America focuses upon the musical heritage that grew from the Punk traditions in the late seventies. Often overlooked as naïve ignorance and teenage emotionalism, this music has had lasting effects on the ideals of youth and sub-cultures. For example, The “"Do It Yourself"” ethos of those who crafted this music has become a cultural phenomenon inspiring many. The underground nature of this scene utilizes the cultural framework of American character, freedom of speech, class mobility, community, and more to develop and challenge established traditions, artistic and social. Click here for a video introduction to Underground Music in America.

AMS3810-02
Hip-Hop in American Culture
Instructor- Gregg Mardirosian

AMS3310-01 and 02
Crime Narrative in American Culture
Instructor- Jeff Bennett

AMS3310-03
The American Horror Film
Instructor- Jessica Critten

Fall 2008

(updated on a rolling basis)

AMS 3310-02:American Women Between the World Wars: Are We in Kansas Anymore
Instructor: Margaret E. Wright-Cleveland
DIF 310

Between World War I and World War II, America met Scarlett and Melanie, Dorothy and the Wicked Witch, Catherine, Bessie Smith, and Rosie the Riveter. American women gained the right to vote, learned to build jets and fly them, and played professional baseball. By reading novels and magazines of the period; examining artwork, advertisements, and music; and considering industry statistics and contemporary responses to women's achievements, students will gain a more complete understanding of women's lives during the first half of the 20th Century. But, be forewarned: as women's lives are defined, so are men's. The interaction with images and expectations of women in the past will instigate comment on definitions of maleness in the past as well. Understanding history's use of images will enable students to more fully examine and critique the images and expectations of women and men they find in their own world, seeing both how such images helped shape who we are today and how we have diverged from their examples.

AMS 3310-01 & 03: Crime Narratives and the American Cultural Identity
Instructor: Jeff Bennett

AMS 3810-01: Underground Music in America, 1980-present
Instructor: Micah Vandegrift

AMS 3810-02: The Modern American Haunting
Instructor: Jackie Attaway

This course will discuss the idea of "the haunt" in modern American culture, seek to identify aspects of "ghostliness" within literary texts and folk music, and explore what "haunting" represents in reference to the invisible histories of oppressed Americans (i.e., women, African-Americans, children, and the poor). Focusing on the emerging musical genre called "New Weird America" and American avant-garde literature, this class will explore questions concerning the importance of haunting in modern American art, literature, music, and film. We will discuss socio-political interpretations of "the haunt" and how such interpretations apply to the concepts of self and American identity. Common themes for the course are: existence between life and death, being haunted by the past (sins of the father), tragedy and mass trauma, invisible histories, loss, the problematic nature of history, voice of subaltern, spectrality and time, and an inheritance of violence. Some subjects we will explore in reference to these themes include: nostalgia, the uncanny, memory, sensation and perception, the oppressive.

Undergraduate Course Offerings Summer B 2008

AMS3310-01

Personalized Religion: The Search for Spiritual Satisfaction in American Popular Culture

Summer B: MTWR 11am-12:45pm

Mara Ginnane

In the twentieth century, the American spirit of religious rebellion initiated by the country's Protestant founders has reached a new extreme. Typified by the “seeker” culture of “open-minded” spiritual searching, personalized religiosity exemplifies the deeply spiritual nature of the American pursuit of happiness. Intensifying in the 1920s, American distrust of institutions forced religious sentiment onto previously secular domains as traditional religions began to be increasingly altered, appropriated, and complicated by individual interpretation. This class will examine popular perception of this phenomenon through novels, critical essays, film, and music. We will use Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises to frame the problem of religion in modern America and proceed to explore topics such as Terry Tempest Williams' experience of Mormonism and eco-feminism, Leslie Marmon Silko's presentation of Native American spirituality, American appropriation of Eastern religions, popular Catholicism in America, and New Age spirituality.

AMS3310-02

“The American Dream”

Summer B: MTWR 1-2:45pm

Jason M. Gibson

This course addresses the historical and cultural renderings of the “American Dream.” Particular emphasis is placed on the way in which the “American Dream” has evolved over time in response to major historical events such as war, economic hardship, economic boom, and cultural revolution. The course dialectic is rooted in the following questions: How is the Dream constructed? Is the Dream achievable? Who has access to the Dream? Who is excluded from the Dream? Does the Dream have currency in a post 9/11 world? Through a variety of genres and media such as the novel, news (print and television), nonfiction, television/film, and the fine and performing arts the course will attempt to provide answers to these questions demonstrating the centrality of the “American Dream” to the greater American identity. Representative texts include F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925), Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970), and Sherman Alexi’s Tonto & Lone Ranger Fist-Fight in Heaven (1993).

AMS3810-01

Underground Music in America, 1980-present

Summer B: MTWR 11am-12:45pm

Micah Vandegrift

Underground Music in America focuses upon the musical heritage that grew from the Punk traditions in the late seventies. Often overlooked as naïve ignorance and teenage emotionalism, this music has had lasting effects on the ideals of youth and sub-cultures. For example, The “Do It Yourself” ethos of those who crafted this music has become a cultural phenomenon inspiring many. The underground nature of this scene utilizes the cultural framework of American character, freedom of speech, class mobility, community, and more to develop and challenge established traditions, artistic and social.

AMS 3810-02

The Modern American Haunting

Summer B: MTWR 9:30-10:45am

Jackie Attaway

This course will discuss the idea of “the haunt” in modern American culture. Focusing on the emerging music genre called “New Weird America” and American avant-garde literature; this class will provoke questions concerning the aspects of haunting in American art, literature, music, and film. Course themes include: existence between life and death; being “haunted by the past”; cognition, spectrality, and time; inheritance of violence.