American Studies (AMST)

This interdisciplinary course will highlight the student's role in interrogating the cultural and political function of representations of America in literature, history, philosophy, religion, popular culture, music and art. Students will gain an understanding of why definitions of American identity matter and learn about the contemporary debates that inform the discipline of American Studies today. Questions about the changing role of national studies in the face of globalization are central. This course may be used for general education credit.

Immigrants today come to America from many countries, but because scholarly research had tended to concentrate on only a few of the largest nationality groups, the full range of immigrant experience has yet to be explored and documented. In this cross-disciplinary course, we will give special attention to two groups, Mexicans and Vietnamese, about whom much has been written, as examples of the varying ways that immigrants come to the U.S. and adapt to living here while maintaining important ties to their homelands and cultures. We will also consider the consequences of immigration for both the first and second generations of immigrants as well as for the communities that receive them, including the Central Shenandoah Valley.