AMS 100 Topics and Outcomes with Will Bishop

Topics

The term "topic" is maybe a little tricky. Or perhaps I'm just a bit dumb. In any case the things I have chosen here aren't all necessarily topics in the sense that we cover them as two week unit. In some cases, these are items that appear and reappear throughout the semester. But I guess I see them as central "topics" because they guide the direction and content of the course. (Of course, Pete's selections are major topics in my class. I picked different topics on purpose.) Here goes:

-social construction

This, for me, is sort of required background knowledge to discuss the issues of race, class, gender, and difference or "otherness" in general

-power (I focus on the concept and analytical framework of hegemony, other concepts and framework are certainly valid)

Again, this topic is pertinent to our favorite topics, but I feel touching on a little bit of theory and abstraction is good experience for young students and gives them a little taste of what we do as American studies scholars.

-American history

If we are going to "read," analyze, and discuss specific texts, I feel it is important to make sure students have a basic knowledge of U.S. cultural history, the context in which the texts were created and received. Students should have most of this knowledge from high school American history, but we all know how that goes. Also, I find that taken a specific social and cultural approach to history is helpful for students who have mostly only had "straight history" thus far.

Learning Outcomes

Social Construction:

-develop an understanding of the notion that social expectations and behaviors frequently the product of culture rather than "nature" or "biology"

-demonstrate the ability to identify, analyze, and discuss examples of social construction in a variety of cultural texts

Power:

-acquire a working vocabulary or terms relating to Gramsci's concept of hegemony

-demonstrate the ability to apply the "hegemony" framework to variety of historical situations and texts

American history:

-demonstrate a basic understanding of the major social and cultural changes and trends in the United States from 1865 to the present

-acquire a working vocabulary of historical terminology used to describe and discuss said social and cultural changes and trends

-demonstrate the ability to contextualize a variety of cultural texts in this acquired historical knowledge