American Studies

American Studies

204 Greenlaw Hall, CB# 3520
(919) 962-5481

First Session, 2023

AMST 110 Introduction to the Cultures and Histories of Native North America (3)

An interdisciplinary introduction to Native American history and studies. The course uses history, literature, art, and cultural studies to study the Native American experience. Also offered as HIST 110.

AMST 211 Approaches to Southern Studies: The Literary and Cultural Worlds of the American South (3)

An examination of Southern cultural identity, literary imagination, and sense of place with an emphasis on the fiction, folklore, foodways, art, architecture, music, and material culture of the American South.

AMST 220 On the Question of the Animal: Contemporary Animal Studies (3)

MAYMESTER. This course is an introduction to “animal studies,” through animal rights, animal welfare, food studies, and the human/animal distinction in philosophical inquiry. We will read work from dog and horse trainers and explore the history of the American racetrack. This course builds a moral and ethical reasoning skill set.

AMST 256 Anti-’50s: Voices of a Counter Decade (3) ***Canceled***

MAYMESTER. We remember the 1950s as a period of relative tranquility, happiness, optimism, and contentment. This course will consider a handful of countertexts: voices from literature, politics, and mass culture of the 1950s that for one or another reason found life in the postwar world repressive, empty, frightening, or insane and predicted the social and cultural revolutions that marked the decade that followed.

AMST 278 Crimes and Punishments (3)

MAYMESTER. This course explores the social history and culture of crime, deviant behavior, and punishment in America between the pre-revolutionary period and today. It traces the history of longstanding institutions; examines elements of American history from a criminal justice perspective; and seeks historical origins and continuities for contemporary problems.

Second Session, 2023

AMST 110 (HIST 110) Introduction to the Cultures and Histories of Native North America (3)

An interdisciplinary introduction to Native American history and studies. The course uses history, literature, art, and cultural studies to study the Native American experience. Remote-Asynchronous

AMST 211 Approaches to Southern Studies: The Literary and Cultural Worlds of the American South (3)

An examination of Southern cultural identity, literary imagination, and sense of place with an emphasis on the fiction, folklore, foodways, art, architecture, music, and material culture of the American South. Meets in person for two and a half hours, three days per week in the afternoon.

AMST 283 American Home (3)

Examines themes in the history and design of the most intimate and most public of objects – the house. Residences, from tract house mansions to apartment buildings, are powerful statements about how we see our society and how circumstances and choice lead us to house ourselves. Previously offered as AMST 466. Meets remotely for one and a half hours, five days per week in the morning.