The South in Modern American Politics & Culture
Boyd, T.
AMER 100 – 01, MWF 9:10-10:00
AMER 100 – 02, MWF 10:10-11:00
This course will study the role that the former Confederate states have played in the shaping of contemporary American politics and culture since World War II. In 1945, the South was viewed as a distinct region within America: far more rural, far poorer and with an apparently entrenched system of racial segregation, the South was looked on by many in the rest of the United States as hopelessly backward. In recent years, however, southern politicians and southern cultural traditions have become ever more influential in national affairs. In this course, we will therefore consider how this transformation came about. Using a combination of political speeches, films, music and literature, we will first examine the main pillars of southern culture as it existed up until the 1950s; secondly we will look at the confrontation between the South's traditional culture and the nation during the postwar years and the civil rights movement; finally we will then look at the question "how southernized has American politics and culture become since the 1970s?" Throughout the course, we will be looking at just what it is that causes political and cultural attitudes to change, an issue that remains of great importance for understanding American society.
American Social History Through Dance
Kevra, S.
AMER 100W – 01, MWF 12:10-1:00
Social history examines the lives of everyday people as a means for understanding their history and culture. We may look at material objects, such as cookbooks to understand how a generation fed itself. Or trends in fashion can offer a window into class differences.
In this course, social dance will be our focal point for understanding American identity. Dance trends offer historical moments for understanding issues related to race, gender and class. Adopting a chronological approach, we will set about to answer a range of questions. For instance, how do dance figures in colonial dances bear the mark of the countries from which they originated? And how does their transplantation onto American soil contribute to visible displays of democracy on the dance floor in a move away from the more regimented and symbolic choreography of court dances? How do specific dance crazes reveal responses to political and cultural events and anxieties? What influence has the African American community had on dance in this country?
Our texts in this course will be a combination of historical readings related to dance and others related to broader social issues. We will also look at images of dance, both photographic and moving pictures. Literary works will also help us to understand attitudes towards dance. In addition, to really understand dance, which, after all, is a kinesthetic activity, you have to move, feel the beat, dance the dances. To this end, we will have occasion in and outside of class to try out dances.
Because this is a writing seminar, we will dedicate a number of classes (or portions of classes) looking at how to improve your writing. Topics will range from 1) remedies for wordiness 2) word choice 3) organization 4) getting starting writing a paper 5) how to conduct research 6) punctuation 7) transitions and more. Peer review and on class reflections on writing will figure prominently.
Topics will include:
American Photography
Kreyling, M.
AMER 100W – 02, TR 11:00-12:15
In conjunction with Cheekwood Museum of Art and their exhibition of photographs by William Christenberry, AMST 100W students will explore the makers of American photographs, the “America” out of which they are made (and which they in turn remake), and learn some of the professional discipline of curating photographs.
In addition to the usual classroom lecture and discussion, the class will meet at least once at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts for a look at its current exhibition, “The Best of Photography and Film from the George Eastman House Collection” –closing on 25 January 2009. The curator of photography at the Frist will guide the class through the exhibit and explain how a curator looks at photographic images and composes them for an exhibit. We will also meet at least once at the curators of the Cheekwood Museum of Art in connection with the William Christenberry exhibit later in the spring. As of this draft of the syllabus, a meeting with the artist during the hanging of the show is under discussion.
Because of the special opportunities this spring (2009), AMST 100W will culminate in a collaborative term project: the curating of an exhibition of photographs by Eudora Welty to accompany (actually or virtually is uncertain at this time) the work of Christenberry. Both are southerners and photographers, and Christenberry has make portraits of Welty (who died in 2002). That does not mean that the “W” requirements of the course will not be fulfilled. See below.
Eudora Welty, Collected Stories.
James Agee and Walker Evans, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
John Szarkowski, Photography Until Now.
Alan Trachtenberg, Classic Essays on Photography.
Susan Sontag, On Photography.
I have had best success in helping to develop learning through writing by a schedule that is steady and incremental. Expect at least weekly “bulletin” assignments (100-200 words) interrupted now and then by longer and more complex exercises in developing an argument/interpretation or condensing larger bodies of historical information. (500-1000 words). There will be only one 1000-word essay.
Cultural Conflict in 20th Century America
Boyd, T.
AMER 115F, MWF 1:10-2:00
The idea that there is an ongoing "culture war" in 21st century American politics is firmly established in media coverage of contemporary political debate. Broadly speaking, the term "culture war" has come to mean a politically polarized discussion over a moral or cultural issue in which observers divide into at least two groups, each accusing the other of seeking to impose "un-American" values on the nation. In 2008, such "culture war" issues would include gay marriage, abortion, gun control, stem cell research and a host of other concerns. In such discussions, questions of economic self-interest, often assumed to be the driving force behind an individual person's political behavior, play either a minor or insignificant role in the debate. As a result, there is also a continuing discussion within American society as to whether these "culture wars" are an important and substantial part of political discourse, or a distraction from what people's "real concerns" ought to be.
This course will consider three major instances from the 20th Century where the politics and rhetoric of "culture war" were particularly evident. By considering how these instances came about, how they were seen by the participants on both sides and how they have been remembered in popular culture, it will be possible to better understand the roots and nature of today's politically charged cultural debates. The three instances in question are the Scopes Trial of 1925, the Kinsey Reports of the 1940s and 1950s and the debate over Gun Control in the 1990s. To understand these three case studies, this course will look at not just historical accounts of each, but also the ways they were viewed by observers at the time as well as how the issues raised in each were subsequently portrayed in film, music and popular culture since then. There will be one paper due on each of the three topics, as well as work with primary sources related to them in the Vanderbilt Library.
Graduate Workshop in American Studies: U.S. Civil Rights Discourse Since 1970
Beasley, V.
AMER 300, M 12:30 – 3:00
The rhetoric of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s is well-known.
What happened after 1970?
This course asks what happened to civil rights discourse in the United States after the civil rights movement itself became history. What became of the language, imagery and arguments of the movement? Did they continue to appear in public policy debates or mass mediated representations of the quest for social justice? Or did they disappear, to be replaced by something else altogether? Does the term “civil rights” even mean the same thing in 2008 as it did in 1968?
Drawing upon secondary sources and scholarship from multiple disciplines, students will work with a series of primary texts—from presidential rhetoric and Congressional debates to televised coverage of social movements and activists’ speeches—that represent a longitudinal sampling of civil rights discourse over the last 40 years. Some of these texts will address U.S. race relations as a civil rights imperative, while others will feature advocacy for legislation concerning women’s rights, access for people with disabilities, and gay marriage.
Ultimately, students will choose to focus on one central question, one historic moment, and one set of texts within their own independent research projects. Throughout the semester, we will discuss a variety of methodological challenges within American Studies in general and interpretive research more specifically.
American Studies Spring Conference, April 17-18, 2009
Questions of Legacy: Making Sense of the 2008 Campaign
Given that the seminar will progress chronologically, it makes sense to end the course by asking about the impact of civil rights discourse on contemporary U.S. electoral politics. On April 17 -18, the American Studies program will hold a mini-conference featuring invited scholars addressing this question through their analyses of the 2008 presidential campaign.
Confirmed speakers include:
Prof. James A. Aune, Communication, Texas A&M University
Prof. Tasha Dubriwny, Women’s Studies and Communication, Texas A&M University
Prof. Keith Gilyard, English, Pennsylvania State University
Prof. Martin Medhurst, Communication, Baylor University