Course information contained within the Bulletin is accurate at the time of publication in July 2024 but is subject to change. For the most up-to-date course information, please refer to the Course Catalog.
AMST 0801. Philadelphia Arts & Culture. 4 Credit Hours.
What and where is the real Philadelphia? How can we get past the clichés to better understand and experience the city's historic and legendary sense of itself? For more than three centuries, Philadelphia's unique identity has been defined and redefined by a prodigious and prolific creative community: painters, sculptors, writers, performers, architects, planners, thinkers, and more. We'll explore Philadelphia's evolving sense of itself through a broad range of examples of creative works from the 17th through the 20th centuries. And through this prism of expression, and the institutions that present and protect it, we'll develop a deep understanding of Philadelphia as one of the nation's most creative cities. NOTE: This course fulfills the Arts (GA) requirement for students under GenEd and Arts (AR) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed American Studies 0901.
Course Attributes: GA
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 0847. American Military Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
You live in a country that possesses the world's strongest military forces. Up through the Vietnam War, Americans viewed military service in wartime as a basic obligation for all adult male citizens - the ultimate test of their patriotism and manhood - but a temporary sacrifice that ceased for most on the return of peace. Today, the American people have outsourced their awesome war-making power to a restricted number of men and women - many of whom consider military service their career. We will explore the distinctive culture that shapes the composition and behavior of America's armed forces and probe how it reflects the strengths and weaknesses of American society. NOTE: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed History 0847.
Course Attributes: GU
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 0848. American Revolutions. 3 Credit Hours.
From the first encounters with Native Americans to the present, a series of pivotal moments have had an enduring influence on American society, culture, and politics. In each class, three modules will focus on three pivotal moments, such as King Philip's War, Nat Turner's Rebellion, the Scopes trial, the Civil Rights movement, the women's movement, the emergence of Elvis Presley, the sexual revolution, the rise of environmentalism, the Reagan Revolution, and 9-11. In each module, students will first place the main subject of the module in context, and then seek to understand how it changed American society. The last week of each module will be devoted to a consideration of how the subject of that module has become part of American collective memory. NOTE: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed any of the following: ANTH 0848 or History 0848.
Course Attributes: GU, SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 0855. Why care about College: Higher Education in American Life. 3 Credit Hours.
You have decided to go to college. But why? What role will college and in particular Temple University play in your life? Reflect on this important question by looking at the relationship between higher education and American society. What do colleges and universities contribute to our lives? They are, of course, places for teaching and learning. They are also research centers, sports and entertainment venues, sources of community pride and profit, major employers, settings for coming-of-age rituals (parties, wild times, courtship, etc.), and institutions that create lifetime identities and loyalties. Learn how higher education is shaped by the larger society and how, in turn, it has shaped that society. Become better prepared for the world in which you have chosen to live for the next few years. NOTE: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed Educational Administration 0855 or English 0855.
Course Attributes: GU
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 0859. The Making of American Society: Melting Pot or Culture Wars?. 3 Credit Hours.
Terrorism, illegal immigration, gay marriage, religious conflict, political in-fighting, corporate corruption, racial animosities, civil liberties assaults, media conglomeration, Wal-Mart goes to China and the rich get richer. America in the 21st Century is a contentious society. How did we get to this place in time? Examine what makes American society distinctive from other advanced industrial democracies as we study the philosophical origins of America, the development of social and economic relationships over time, and the political disputes dominating contemporary American life. The course relies heavily on perspectives from History, Sociology and Political Science to explain the challenges facing contemporary American society. NOTE: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed any of the following: History 0859, PHIL 0859,
POLS 0859, or SOC 0859.
Course Attributes: GU, SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 0862. First Person America. 3 Credit Hours.
Examine the private and public lives of a diverse cast of Americans over a long sweep of the nation's history. Along the way, look at how fundamental conflicts - between the local and the national, freedom and equality, inclusion and exclusion, community and the individual - have driven U.S. history from its very beginnings, how they have shaped these individual lives and how these individuals have molded the debates. Learn to use a range of sources - including autobiographies, biographies, memoirs, personal narratives, profiles, bio-pics, self-portraits, visual and performance pieces - as you investigate these American stories and American tensions. NOTE: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed
AMST 0962.
Course Attributes: GU
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 0901. Honors: Philadelphia Arts and Culture. 4 Credit Hours.
What and where is the real Philadelphia? How can we get past the clichés to better understand and experience the city's historic and legendary sense of itself? For more than three centuries, Philadelphia's unique identity has been defined and redefined by a prodigious and prolific creative community: painters, sculptors, writers, performers, architects, planners, thinkers, and more. We'll explore Philadelphia's evolving sense of itself through a broad range of examples of creative works from the 17th through the 20th centuries. And through this prism of expression, and the institutions that present and protect it, we'll develop a deep understanding of Philadelphia as one of the nation's most creative cities. NOTE: This course fulfills the Arts (GA) requirement for students under GenEd and Arts (AR) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed American Studies 0801.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: GA, HO
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 0962. Honors: First Person America. 3 Credit Hours.
Examine the private and public lives of a diverse cast of Americans over a long sweep of the nation's history. Along the way, look at how fundamental conflicts - between the local and the national, freedom and equality, inclusion and exclusion, community and the individual - have driven U.S. history from its very beginnings, how they have shaped these individual lives and how these individuals have molded the debates. Learn to use a range of sources - including autobiographies, biographies, memoirs, personal narratives, profiles, bio-pics, self-portraits, visual and performance pieces - as you investigate these American stories and American tensions. (This is an Honors course.) NOTE: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed
AMST 0862.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: GU, HO
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 1042. Work in America. 3 Credit Hours.
A broad discussion of work in the United States, which takes a historical look at worker-management relationships, the organization of workplaces, the experiences of ordinary workers, and the experiences of different groups of people (e.g., ethnic minorities) in the workplace. The course will provide students with a perspective on major historical and cultural developments in the U.S. from the late 19th century to the present, using primary documents, literature, and secondary readings on the nature of work in America. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy the university Core American Culture (AC) requirement. Although it may be usable towards graduation as a major requirement or university elective, it cannot be used to satisfy any of the university GenEd requirements. See your advisor for further information.
Course Attributes: AC
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 1901. Honors American Lives. 3 Credit Hours.
This course is an introduction to American Studies through the study of autobiographical writings--life stories--that give us insight into American values, conditions, aspirations, and conflicts. By looking closely at these American lives, students will meet people of various periods and backgrounds and become familiar with the way history has shaped lives, and the way individuals have both created and resisted the forces of change. The conflicting images and realities of American society will be explored. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy the university Core American Culture (AC) requirement. Although it may be usable towards graduation as a major requirement or university elective, it cannot be used to satisfy any of the university GenEd requirements. See your advisor for further information.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: AC, HO
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2001. Tourism in America. 3 Credit Hours.
A booming multinational industry, tourism is a powerful medium of transnational encounter. There is hardly a place on earth not part of the recreational geography of tourism. In practical terms, tourism is seen as an engine of economic growth both in the cities and in the countryside. While it moves people from one place to another, tourism produces itself with ever-greater complexity. This course will undertake an analysis of tourist productions, including tourist discourse, settings, events, experiences, and artifacts. An exemplary case of cultural invention and commodification, tourism is implicated in the histories of pilgrimage, travel, colonialism, and ethnography, retracing their trips and replicating their discourse, As a result, tourism offers some of the richest material for exploring the semiosis of cultural production on a global scale. In this course, therefore, we will pay special attention to the political economy of tourism as seen through a close analysis of actual sites.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2003. The American Sexual Past. 3 Credit Hours.
This course will explore the history of sexuality in America. The purpose of this course is to familiarize the student with important historical events/periods in the development of sexuality in the United States and major themes and issues in the American cultural history of sex and sexuality. Its purpose is to survey the ways in which sexuality has changed and shifted over the course of colonial and American history. It will also connect sexuality to the social, political, and economic realities that helped to shape it in different eras. The focus of the course will consist of major themes that illuminate aspects of sexuality in colonial and American culture and history. These may include, but are not limited to: censorship, family and sex, marriage and sex, female sexuality, male sexuality, homosexuality, birth control, bisexuality, the state use of sterilization, transgender/transsexual sexuality, sex workers, sexually transmitted infections, and sex in the media and arts. The approach taken in the class will cut across racial, class, gender, transgender, and ethnic boundaries. In order to better understand our own society, it is necessary to be aware of events that shaped the world as we know it today.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2011. The Arts in America. 3 Credit Hours.
This course will examine the place of the arts in contemporary America, with an emphasis on the politics of culture. We will take a broad view of "art," encompassing popular arts, high arts, and what's in between. And we will look at some examples of how artists and writers have functioned within the contemporary art environment, and within a popular culture and material environment that undermines distinctions between reality and fantasy and between past and present (e.g., Disneyland). Representative figures will be examined from various art forms (literature, music, architecture, painting, photography) within an interdisciplinary context.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2012. American Things: Introduction to Material Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
The things we produce are fraught with cultural meaning, from the household object to the building to the automobile. This course explores the meanings of things through a historical examination of objects, both handmade and manufactured. The way things have served as repositories of meaning, and as expressions of social class, gender, and ethnicity, will be explored through discussion and observation.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2021. Philadelphia Neighborhoods. 3 Credit Hours.
Students will be introduced to the development of the city of Philadelphia as seen from a neighborhood perspective. From Colonial times to the present, neighborhood and community are the primary means by which the city's residents experienced the growth and change of the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Using archival resources over the World Wide Web, as well as the rich historical legacy of the region's museums, students will explore the development of the city's neighborhoods.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2022. Museums and American Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
The museum holds itself to the preserver of cultural memory, yet museums as we know them are a 19th century invention. Their function as shapers of cultural practice and national identity will be explored through this course, which takes us up to the present, when museums have reached out to represent communities that were previously excluded from the elite culture of museums. How museums work as classifiers of knowledge, how they represent culture, as commodity and experience, will also form part of the course. Cross-Listed with
ANTH 2022. Students may only receive credit for one of the following course numbers:
ANTH 2022 or
AMST 2022.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2031. Radicalism in the United States. 3 Credit Hours.
A study of issues and traditions in the history of radical thought and behavior. Emphasizing the 20th century, the course focuses on major social contexts and ideologies such as anarchism, militant unionism, socialism, and communism, each of which has had a long and vibrant history in the U.S.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2041. Technology and American Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the way American values have shaped technology and how technology has shaped American life, placing contemporary problems in a historical perspective. Materials are drawn from social history, literature, visual arts, film, advertising, and polemical prose. May also include working with collections at the Franklin Institute.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2051. American Places: Home, City, Region. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the importance of place in determining the character of American culture. A variety of materials, visual and textual, are used to examine the way our lives are shaped by the home, the design of the city, and the suburban and regional areas beyond the city. The extent to which places hold their identities in the face of mass culture and megalopolis is also explored.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2052. The Class Experience in America. 3 Credit Hours.
This course surveys the enduring importance of class in the United States as well as the enduring myth of American classlessness. We will start with the myths themselves, where they came from and how they were constructed. From there, we will examine theories of social class (in some ways attempts to explain why the myths weren't true) and efforts to objectively measure poverty, inequality, and the distribution of wealth. At the outset, we will also examine social mobility patterns and how these objective categories of class are related to race, region, sex, and gender. We will then spend time looking at how class is lived and how it is represented in the larger culture. We will explore how social class shapes the daily lives of ordinary Americans in cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural hinterlands through such things as housing, community, work, leisure activities, shopping tastes, dress, diet, language, education, and family. We will examine how class has been represented, reproduced, and contested, in literature, art, music, film, television, and the broader popular culture.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2061. American Music. 3 Credit Hours.
This class is designed as a survey course that looks at the cultural, historical, technological, industrial, artistic, and mythic attributes of American Music, primarily from after the Civil War until the present. The 20th century is highlighted, with special emphasis on the period from the 'Tin Pan Alley' era to today. Definitions of 'American' music and 'Popular' music will be discussed and analyzed. Movie musicals, soundies, concert films, and videos will be studied as well as audio recordings. Attention will be paid to socio-historical ramifications of American popular music as a cultural force and cultural expression.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2065. Global America. 3 Credit Hours.
This distance-learning course is designed to help students examine the United States' role in the modern, industrial, and then, post-industrial world. At the same time, we will look at how the larger world shaped the United States and individual citizens. We will do this through a topics based approach. Each week, moving in roughly chronological order, we will explore a discreet and revealing interaction between the United States - whether this side of the equation is represented by the government, corporate leaders, or culture brokers - and another part of the world - and this side might be other nations, groups of people, or intellectual concepts. Not only will students encounter a broad range of contacts on a wide front, but they will also be asked to write and think about each of these topics and moments from a broad and wide range of different vantage points.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2071. Immigrant Experiences in America. 3 Credit Hours.
A study of major issues concerning immigrant experience in the U.S., such as legislation regarding immigration, anti-immigrant social and political movements, immigrant efforts to assimilate (or to resist assimilation, or to accommodate to one degree or another). Students will be provided with basic history of the subject. They will also read accounts of life in the U.S. by immigrants and fiction about immigrant experiences. Most of the course will stress 20th century immigration.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2072. Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia. 3 Credit Hours.
Puerto Ricans constitute the second largest Hispanic group in the country. This course examines the specific community of Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia and its relationship with other racial and ethnic groups and the social, political, and economic situation of Puerto Ricans in the city. Note: This course is equivalent to
LAS 2072; students may receive credit for either
AMST 2072 or
LAS 2072.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2098. Reading Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
As an introduction to the methods and scope of American Studies, Reading Culture will present an in-depth, interdisciplinary look at either a defined period in the American past, or a specific social or political movement or moment. Subjects could include, for example, the 1920s, the American Civil War era, the Civil Rights movement, McCarthyism, or the AIDS epidemic in the US. Our purpose will be to explore how culture in its many forms and manifestations shaped how people lived their daily lives and created meaning in a specific moment or set of circumstances. How was culture formed by the context, and how was the context created by cultural production? Particular emphasis will be placed on looking at the relationship, and even the disconnect, between different kinds of culture - knowledge production and education, visual culture, including art, photography, and film, music, landscapes, and built environments. In order to do that, we will learn how to read, broadly construe, and understand how different cultural forms convey messages and how distinct ways of seeing and hearing relate to other cultural forms. Through discussion, research, and writing, class members will investigate these varied dimensions of culture. They will learn to understand them in their broader social, aesthetic, ethical, and political contexts. In addition, this class, as an introduction, will prepare students to take more advanced courses in American Studies. This is also a writing-intensive class, so students will be engaged in extensive and varied writing (and rewriting) assignments and projects that will help them to hone these crucial skills.
Course Attributes: WI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
Pre-requisites: Minimum grade of C- in (CLA 2096 or any AMST course numbered 2000 to 4999)
AMST 2107. Asian American Experiences. 3 Credit Hours.
An introduction to the varied historical and contemporary experiences of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, South, and Southeast Asian immigrants and their descendants in the United States. Explores economic, social, political, and cultural developments, beginning with the arrival of the Chinese in the 1830s and ending with the experiences of Asian-American immigrants and their communities today. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy the university Core Studies in Race (RS) requirement. Although it may be usable towards graduation as a major requirement or university elective, it cannot be used to satisfy any of the university GenEd requirements. See your advisor for further information. Note: This course is cross-listed with Asian Studies 2107, History 2107, and Sociology 3223. Students may only receive credit for one of these courses:
ASST 2107,
AMST 2107,
HIST 2107, or
SOC 3223.
Course Attributes: RS
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2108. Growing Up in America. 3 Credit Hours.
This course will examine the changing perception and experience of growing up in the United States from colonial times to the present, assuming that childhood and adolescence are social constructions that change over time. The course will explore the emergence of childhood and adolescence as distinct stages in the life cycle, the evolving role of the family in the process of growing up, and the increasing importance of social institutions other than the family in the lives of the young. Particular attention will be paid to the difference between growing up rich or poor, black or white, male or female, and rural or urban. Finally, it will consider the reciprocal relationship between popular culture and the lives of young Americans.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2120. Topics in American Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
A special topics course, used for materials and approaches to American Studies that are either experimental in nature or not yet a regular part of the curriculum. NOTE: Course content varies and students can obtain a description of the current version at the American Studies office.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
AMST 2217. The Vietnam War. 3 Credit Hours.
An attempt to probe one of the most significant and controversial episodes of American history. Beginning with the history of Vietnam since the 19th century, including the preceding Indochina Wars, this course will explore the impact of the Vietnam War of the '60s and '70s on the domestic and international scenes, together with its multiple legacies to later American culture. Will make use of television and film from the period. Note: This course is cross-listed with Asian Studies 2217 and History 2217. Students may only receive credit once for these courses:
AMST 2217,
ASST 2217, or
HIST 2217.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2742. Work in America. 1 Credit Hour.
Work - labor - stands at the very center of the American story. The nation was settled by people looking for work. That was true in the past and it is true today. This class, then, examines work and the meaning of work from Jamestown to the advent of McWorld. How has work changed over time? How have perceptions of laborers shifted over the last 300 hundred years? Students will explore labor-management relations, the organization of work, the experience of ordinary workers, and the lives of different groups of workers - millhands, immigrant farm laborers, clerical workers, and fast food employees. In the end, this course will use primary and secondary sources to provide students with a broad historical and cultural understanding of the nature of work and the American experience. NOTE: Offered at Temple University Japan only.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2818. American Icons. 3 Credit Hours.
The Statue of Liberty. Lincoln. Barbie. Route 66. Disneyland. Elvis. Ali. These are all American Icons. This course will explore iconic images of America as a way to understand the central myths, promises, and ideas behind the nation - ideas about freedom, individuality, democracy, mobility, second chances, masculinity and femininity, race and class. Each unit will focus on an individual icon, its origins, what it represented, and how this representation has changed over time and place. The course will invite a critical analysis of these icons and their economic and cultural impact in a global context.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2900. Honors Topics in American Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
A special topics course, used for materials and approaches to American Studies that are either experimental in nature or not yet a regular part of the curriculum. NOTE: Course content varies and students can obtain a description of the current version at the American Studies office.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: HO
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
AMST 2901. Honors Quest for the American Dream. 3 Credit Hours.
This class examines the quest for the American dream among the many populations of America by looking at its consequences for the Native American, for the African American, and for the immigrant Chinese, Italians, and Puerto Ricans. Members of all these ethnic groups will be interviewed to try to understand their perspectives.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: HO
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2941. Honors Technology and American Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the way American values have shaped technology and how technology has shaped American life, placing contemporary problems in a historical perspective. Materials are drawn from social history, literature, visual arts, film, advertising, and polemical prose. May also include working with collections at the Franklin Institute. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy the university Core Science & Technology Second Level (SB) requirement.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: HO, SB
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 2951. Honors American Places: Home, City, Region. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the importance of place in determining the character of American culture. A variety of materials, visual and textual, are used to examine the way our lives are shaped by the home, the design of the city, and the suburban and regional areas beyond the city. The extent to which places hold their identities in the face of mass culture and megalopolis is also explored.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: HO
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3006. The American Woman: Visions and Revisions. 3 Credit Hours.
An examination of images and roles of women in American culture. Using fiction, poetry, and autobiography, we develop an understanding of stereotypes and myths and we relate these images to the real-life experiences of American women. The readings include all classes and many ethnic groups, and focus primarily on the 20th century. NOTE: Students will receive credit only once for either AMST 3096,
AMST 3006, GSWS 3096, or
GSWS 3006.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3011. Photography in America. 3 Credit Hours.
An overview of the history of photography in America from its beginning in the 1840s to the present, emphasizing its relation to society and the arts. The course will cover both documentary and aesthetic movements, including such figures as Brady, Muybridge, Riis, Hine, Evans, Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Duane Michals, Cindy Sherman, etc. The cultural meaning of the Civil War, of westward expansion, of the Great Depression, of the Civil Rights movement, will be studied in relation to photography. Slides and readings on photography and American culture and on how the camera affects our seeing and thinking.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3012. Film and American Society. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the way visual media (film, video, television) have in various ways recorded or documented the social and historical "reality" of American life. A number of issues will be explored: What is the place of documentary within American society, as information and as entertainment? And why are we so attracted to it? How close to "reality" can visual media come? How does documentary compare with non-documentary film in its effort to represent American culture and history?
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3021. Historic Preservation in Philadelphia. 3 Credit Hours.
This course uses Philadelphia as a case study to show how history can be read from the fabric of a city and why and how we go about preserving these buildings and structures. We will trace Philadelphia history from the counting houses and markets of the Colonial period through the factories of the 19th century, up to the automobile-oriented architecture of today. Students will become familiar with the battles to save our built history with the use of tax credits, easements, and the historic registers. NOTE: The class may include several walking tours of Philadelphia.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3022. Architecture, Urban Design, and American Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
An exploration of ways U.S. cities have been physically shaped over the past 100 years, paying special attention to the leading movements and theories concerning the growth and design of urban space. Readings are from topics such as: Olmsted and the park movement; the city beautiful movement; the modern city and the skyscraper; Lewis Mumford and the garden city movement; the organic city of Jane Jacobs; the postmodern city of Robert Venturi; the dystopian city. In addition to studying the literature of cities, the class explores Philadelphia as a case study, with students developing techniques of observation and analysis, in an effort to understand the city of Philadelphia within the broader framework of thinking about American cities.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3031. Political Protest and Culture in the '60s. 3 Credit Hours.
Many see the 1960s as a time America fell apart - drugs, sex, anti-Americanism, and the loss of the work ethic. Yet the '60s produced the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-Vietnam War Movement, a revolution in music, Vatican II, and the Counterculture. Martin Luther King, the Kennedys, Marilyn Monroe, and the astronauts - fame and untimely death. What was it like when America still had hope? How did it change us as a society and not change us? Why are so many still so angry about all that or miss it?
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3032. Literature and Political Change. 3 Credit Hours.
A study of significant works of fiction, poetry and non-fiction that voice concerns of the alienated and the dispossessed with emphasis on the struggle against conformity and for social and economic justice from the Great Depression to the election of Ronald Reagan. Some research required. NOTE: Equivalent to English 2114 (0152).
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3033. Courtroom in American Society. 3 Credit Hours.
This course will examine the relationship between our legal system and American society. Does the law shape social mores or is it merely a reflection of them? What role should the court play in protecting individual rights? We will study the evolution of American jurisprudence in the area of abortion, affirmative action, freedom of expression, separation of church and state, and examine emerging areas of legal debate including the right to same sex marriage, the legalization of prostitution and the constitutionality of Megan's law.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3041. Contemporary Trends in the American Workplace. 3 Credit Hours.
This course will focus on the development of new work arrangements, the attitudes of employees toward their jobs or careers, work expectations and rewards, and issues having to do with the meanings of work in the lives of individuals. "Contemporary trends" is intended to provide students with a clear perspective on what they can expect in their years at work.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3051. American Frontiers. 3 Credit Hours.
Reexamined from the perspective of the late 20th century, the American frontier becomes contested terrain between diverse groups of settlers and natives. With a geographic focus on America west of the Mississippi, this course looks at elements that were used to construct the myth of the frontier and the many elements that were left out. It incorporates Euro-American women, and persons of Latin American heritage, Asians, African Americans, and especially Native Americans into the story of the frontier of the 19th century and the west of the 20th.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3061. Media and American Popular Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
This course will explore the role of media in the development of American popular culture, with particular emphasis on the cultural transformations brought about by mass media after 1880. Historical analysis will demonstrate the profound shift in media roles within the past century; from media expressions of popular culture before 1889, to media as generators of popular culture after that point. A by-product of this analysis will be the formulation of a critical definition of mass media in terms of a specific relationship between the media and the audience.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3071. African American Experiences. 3 Credit Hours.
A survey of historical, social, political, and cultural developments in African American experience in the U.S. Topics include: enslavement, the Civil War and Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Garveyism, the great migration, depression and labor unions, the New Deal and the WPA, African-American involvement in the nation's wars, Civil Rights, Black Power, black arts movement, and Black Panthers. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy the university Core Studies in Race (RS) requirement. Although it may be usable towards graduation as a major requirement or university elective, it cannot be used to satisfy any of the university GenEd requirements. See your advisor for further information.
Course Attributes: RS
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3074. Introduction to Asian American Literature. 3 Credit Hours.
Asian American literature will be considered from the perspective of the social, political, and economic experiences of Asian Americans. Prose, poetry, fiction, and plays will be read from an interdisciplinary perspective, through examinations of writers such as Sui Sin Far, Carlos Bulosan, Toshio Mori, Mary Paik Lee, Frank Chin, Bharati Mukherjee, Maxine Hung Kingston, Amy Tan, and Sara Suleri.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3075. Literature of American Slavery. 3 Credit Hours.
What kinds of arguments did people use to attack - and support - slavery, and what difference did those literatures make? This course examines the intersection of persuasive writing and the institution of slavery from 1680 to the Civil War, with a special focus on the antebellum period, when the problem of slavery came to occupy a central role in American politics and American literature. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy the university Core Studies in Race (RS) requirement. Although it may be usable towards graduation as a major requirement or university elective, it cannot be used to satisfy any of the university GenEd requirements. See your advisor for further information.
Course Attributes: RS
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3082. Independent Study. 1 to 4 Credit Hour.
The student devises a program for independent study with his advisor and an instructor. Designed for those students whose research interests are not met in any established course. NOTE: Special authorization required for all students. Interested students should first consult with the Director of American Studies.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
AMST 3089. Field Work in American Studies. 1 to 4 Credit Hour.
The Field Study internship offers students the opportunity to relate academic interests to a variety of cultural and civic institutions in the Philadelphia area. Individual readings and a final report or research paper provide a perspective on American culture. NOTE: Each three credits earned normally requires ten hours of work per week (during the summer sessions the number of hours is doubled) under faculty and institutional supervision. Interested students should first consult with the Director of American Studies.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
AMST 3101. Latino Identity in the United States. 3 Credit Hours.
Latino Identity in the U.S. is a general survey of the cultural-historical experiences of Latinos in the United States from pre-colonization to the present with concentration on the time period of the civil rights movement to the present. The course will explore the impact of Latinos in U.S. cultural-history and artistic expressions, across all disciplines; specifically on how this impact has reflected itself in the development of Latino identity formation and how Latinos fit within race/ethnic/gender cultural politics in the United States. Note: This course is equivalent to
LAS 3101; students may receive credit for either
AMST 3101 or
LAS 3101.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 3120. Topics in American Culture. 3 Credit Hours.
A special topics course, used for presenting material and approaches to American Studies that are either experimental in nature or not yet a regular part of the curriculum. NOTE: Course content varies and students can obtain a description of the current version at the American Studies office.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
AMST 3931. Honors Political Protest and Culture in the 60's. 3 Credit Hours.
Many see the 1960s as a time America fell apart - drugs, sex, anti-Americanism, and the loss of the work ethic. Yet the '60s produced the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-Vietnam War Movement, a revolution in music, Vatican II, and the Counterculture. Martin Luther King, the Kennedys, Marilyn Monroe, and the astronauts - fame and untimely death. What was it like when America still had hope? How did it change us as a society? And not change us? Why are so many still so angry about all that or miss it!
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: HO
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 4097. Senior Seminar in American Studies. 3 Credit Hours.
The capstone class required of all American Studies majors. Open to others with permission of the Director of American Studies. Students write a major paper. Should be taken in the Fall of the senior year. NOTE: This is a Capstone writing course. Special authorization required for all students. Interested students should first consult with the Director of American Studies.
Course Attributes: WI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AMST 4098. Senior Independent Study. 1 to 4 Credit Hour.
Students who, because of special circumstances, are unable to take 4097 (formerly W393) in the Fall of senior year may fulfill the Capstone requirement through an independent study. The senior essay will be written on a topic or theme related to the student's program of study. NOTE: American Studies majors only. Special authorization required for all students. Interested students should first consult with the Director of American Studies.
Course Attributes: WI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
