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The American Studies Major
The major consists of a minimum of 36 credits at the 200 and 300 levels. Students must elect AMS 205 and eight other courses at the 200 level distributed among at least four academic departments or major programs. Three courses at the 300 level must also be chosen. Independent work may be substituted in some cases. Majors should consult with the program director for guidelines for writing and computer proficiency in the American studies major.
Course Descriptions
AMS 205. Issues in American Studies (3)
This foundation course introduces students to both the historical and the theoretical dimensions of American studies. The course will emphasize the variety of projects being done in the field, including those that examine questions of nationhood and national identity, ethnography, gender, and popular culture. The course focuses on the characteristics that these projects share, including the commitment to interdisciplinarity, study of the connections and disconnections between elite and popular forms, and the examination of the role of the intellectual in cultural practice.
AMS 210. American Places With Wilderness Places (3) (GEN. ED. #11)
Almost no one today disputes the importance of preserving wild tracts of land. While there’s disagreement about the size, location and uses of wilderness areas, it’s hard to imagine anyone arguing that we should open every acre in America to development. This shared conviction that there’s something valuable about wilderness is of fairly recent origin. For example, the very mountains that we celebrate for their majestic beauty were once viewed as “ugly protuberances” that defaced the natural landscape. This course will examine America’s changing perceptions of wild landscapes, from the early settlers, who viewed the “howling wilderness” as the devil’s den, to our own view of wilderness areas as places of recreation. This examination of how writers, visual artists, philosophers, and early environmentalists changed America’s attitudes towards wild landscape offers a striking case study in how our relationship to nature is shaped by culture.
AMS 290. Internship (3-4)
Department
AMS 299. Independent Work (3-4)
Department.
100- AND 200-Level Courses
Students must select eight of the following courses, including at least one from each key theme and distributed among at least four academic departments or major programs. Three 300-level courses are also required.
| I. Power and Responsibility | |
| EC 227 | Business and Government |
| ED 215 | Issues in Education |
| HIS 110 | American Society and Culture: 1607-1876 |
| HIS/PCE/SOC 262 | Native Americans: Then and Now |
| PCE 148 | Nonviolence in America |
| PSC 202 | Contemporary Political Thought |
| PSC 251 | Morality and Power in 20th-Century American Foreign Policy |
| PSC 270 | American Constitutional Law |
| PSC 271 | Civil Rights in the American Constitutional System |
| SOC 221 | Courtship, Marriage, and Family |
| SOC 228 | Social Problems |
| SOC 245 | Wealth, Power, and Prestige |
| SOC 250 | Criminal Justice |
| WS 100 | Confronting Inequality |
| WS 225 | Women and Sexuality |
| WS 240 | Women, War, and Peace |
| WS 260/PSC 260 | Women and the Law |
| II. Identity | |
| ENG 249 | The Legacy of Slavery |
| ENG 275 | Literature of the Harlem Renaissance |
| HIS 234 | England and Colonial America |
| HIS 235 | American Revolution |
| HIS 255 | Architectural Space and the American Family Experience |
| HIS 260 | Civil War and Reconstruction |
| HIS 269 | Women in India and the United States |
| MUS 109 | History of Jazz |
| PSC 205 | American Political Thought |
| PSC 242 | Public Opinion, Propaganda, and the Mass Media |
| PSC 243 | The American Political System |
| RLG 238 | Religion and Race in America |
| SOC 220 | Race and Ethnic Relations |
| SOC 260 | Deviance and Social Control |
| WS 230 | Contemporary Feminisms |
| III. The Natural and Human-Made Environment | |
| ART 278 | European and American Architecture, 1750-1900 |
| HIS 271 | Baltimore as Town and City |
| HP 290 | Practicum in Historic Preservation |
| PSC 285 | Environmentalism: The Political Dimension |
| WS 265 | Reproductive Technologies: Law, Ethics, and Public Policy |
| IV. Cultural and Social Expression | |
| ART 284 | Fine Art in America |
| COM 213 | Making Sense of Popular Culture |
| COM 219 | History of Television and Radio |
| COM 234 | Critical Analysis of Journalism |
| COM 237 | Media Criticism |
| DAN 131/231 | Choregraphie Antique |
| DAN 250 | Twentieth-Century American Dance |
| DAN 255 | American Dance Traditions |
| ED 210 | Development of Education in the United States |
| ENG 250 | American Literature I |
| ENG 254 | American Literature II |
| ENG 255 | The Modern American Novel |
| ENG 276 | Modern Poetry |
| ENG 277 | Contemporary American Poets |
| HIS 242 | From Puritan Diaries to Oprah’s Book Club: Readers and Writers in American History |
| THE 211 | History of American Theater and Drama |
| SOC 271 | Protest! Legacy of the Sixties |
300-Level Courses
Three 300-level courses are required, in addition to AMS 205 and 200-level courses.
| I. Power and Responsibility | |
| COM 342 | Communication Law and Regulation |
| PSC 316 | Seminar in Scope and Method in Political Science |
| PSC 342 | Seminar in Presidential Politics |
| PSC 343 | Seminar in Congressional Politics |
| II. Identity | |
| PSC 322 | American Philosophy |
| III. The Natural and Human-Made Environment | |
| HP 320/ART 347 | Seminar in Historic Preservation |
| IV. Cultural and Social Expression | |
| COM 340 | Media, Politics, and Civic Engagement |
| COM 342 | Communication Law and Regulation |
| HIS 305 | The Personal Narrative in American History and Culture |
| HIS 338 | Seminar in Modern European and American History |
| ENG 371 | Seminar in American Literature |
| ENG 372 | Seminar in African-American Literature |