American Studies (AMST-GA)

AMST-GA 2100  Tpcs in Critical Theory:  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
Topics course in Critical Theory offered by core faculty member.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes  
AMST-GA 2301  Colloq in Amer Studies:  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
A colloquium in American Studies taught by a core faculty member.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes  
AMST-GA 2304  Seminar:  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
A seminar in American Studies taught by a core faculty member.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes  
AMST-GA 2305  Feminist/Queer Theories  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
This course seeks to provide students with a critical vocabulary through which to theorize sexuality in an intersectional and transnational frame. We will do so by reading recent work within queer and/or critical race studies that situates sexual practices, desires, and subjectivities as constitutive of formations of race, gender, nation, indigeneity, globalization and diaspora. We will focus in particular on key thematics that currently animate some of the most innovative work in field of queer studies today: indigeneity, empire, and diaspora; state violence and sexual/racial citizenship; aesthetics, visuality, and alternative archives.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes  
AMST-GA 2306  Dissertation Proposal Writing  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered Spring  
The dissertation proposal workshop is restricted to doctoral students and only taken upon successful completion of at least one field exam in preparation for defending their dissertation proposal.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: No  
AMST-GA 2309  American Studies Exam Preparation  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
Restricted to doctoral students taking their first or second field exam.
Grading: GSAS Pass/Fail  
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes  
AMST-GA 2329  Work, Labor, and Power  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
This seminar is an examination of changing attitudes toward work and labor, and it is designed to give students an overview of labor history and the sociology of work. The course covers patterns of agrarian, industrial, and post-industrial production, gendered and racialized segmentation of labor, and the record of worker organization. Its historical scope runs from colonial/Indigenous agriculture to the digital labor landscape of today, and the overarching framework is one in which work is utilized as a medium of power (and counter-power) in society. Primary readings are the central learning material, but students are encouraged to make connections to real life events and experiences in today’s world of work.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: No  
AMST-GA 2331  The Commodity  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
You can buy one, sell one, borrow one, trade one, or become one. This course uses ethnography, social theory, and literature to analyze the commodity as we explore the proposition that the twenty-first century is a time of heightened commodity production. As we examine the ways people become like objects—and vice versa—we will pay special attention to the way commodification proceeds in urban contexts.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: No  
AMST-GA 2901  Topics  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
Topics course in American Studies offered by a core faculty member.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes  
AMST-GA 3212  Topics in Urban Studies:  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
Topics course in Urban Studies offered by core faculty member.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: No  
AMST-GA 3213  Topics:  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
Topics course in American Studies offered by core faculty member.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes  
AMST-GA 3301  American Studies Seminar  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered Fall  
Introductory analysis of topics central to the six fields offered by the program.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: No  
AMST-GA 3302  Sem American Studies  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
A seminar in American Studies taught by a core faculty member.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes  
AMST-GA 3303  Strategies for Social and Cultural Analysis  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered Spring term of odd numbered years  
This course examines the practice and theory of research methods that are commonly used in social and cultural analysis. Through an experiential approach to a variety of methods, we will consider not only how research is conducted, but also how particular methods generate knowledge about social life. Rather than seeking a singular method through which we can fully ‘know’ the social world, we will concentrate on the unique perspectives that different methodologies contribute. In order to gain a comparative perspective on a variety of methods, the course is organized as an exploration of some features of the modern landscape of work. The readings span the era of industrialization and the transition to post-industrial employment.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: No  
AMST-GA 3309  Reading in American Studies  (1-4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
Restricted ordinarily to matriculated doctoral candidates. Independent study.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes  
AMST-GA 3310  SCA Pro-Seminar: The Art of Research  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered Spring  
This course circles around the questions, (1) what is critique and (2) what can critical writing be and do? Over the course of the semester, we will read a wide range of texts that self-consciously ask how to write about what we are thinking and writing about while we are thinking and writing. Our readings will be drawn from a number of disciplines and interdisciplines, but we will also range beyond the university “proper” to engage -- and also practice -- more public forms of communicating scholarly research. This workshop-style class offers students a chance to reflect on the kinds of critical writing that speaks to them and also affords a chance to develop their own writerly voices in tandem with their research interests.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes  
AMST-GA 3701  Topics:  (4 Credits)  
Typically offered occasionally  
Topics course in American Studies offered by core faculty member.
Grading: GSAS Graded  
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes