AMST 302(S) American Studies in Theory

Some of the most heated debates in American Studies have centered on the difficulty in defining its objects of inquiry, its methodologies and its theories. A recurrent concern has been the relation between popular culture and power. This course studies how scholars and theorists at different moments in the history of American Studies have articulated this relation. How has the relation between class and taste been theorized? How do canons and icons function? (Are the Spice Girls mere condiment or do they offer the student of culture something of substance? If so, how should we study them?) Investigating the conditions of cultural production and reception, we will explore what is at stake in the debates over such questions. Topics covered in past years include witch trials, slave insurrections, the performance of Shakespeare in nineteenth-century America, Disneyworld, tattooing, Harlequin romances and drag queen culture . Requirements: active classroom participation, frequent short writing assignments, and a 10- to 12-page final essay. Open only to American Studies majors; normally to be taken in the Junior year but open to Sophomore prospective majors who will be away from campus the following spring semester.

Hour: CLEGHORN