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• Special Programs

• Program Description
• Course Descriptions
• American Studies web site

American Studies Course Descriptions

100 RACE, CLASS, AND SEXUALITY IN U.S. FEMINISMS (Same as Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies 100)

This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to a variety of feminist analyses of United States history and contemporary sociopolitical life, figured around the relationship of gender to race, class, sexuality, ability, colonialism, and nationalism. Through analytical reading, writing, and discussion, the course aims to develop an understanding of gender as a tool to organize society on the basis of difference and power and as a performative practice, which is also a mode of agency and activism for positive social change. Materials from history, literature, sociology, anthropology, and film are included. Spring semester. (4 credits)

 

101 EXPLORATIONS OF RACE AND RACISM

The main objectives of this introductory course are: to explore the historical construction of racial categories in the United States; to understand the systemic impact of racism on contemporary social processes; to consider popular views about race in the light of emerging scholarship in the field; and to develop an ability to connect personal experiences to larger, collective realities. We will engage several questions as a group: What are the historical and sociological foundations of racial categories? When does focusing on race make someone racist? What is white privilege, and why does it matter? All students will be asked to think and write about their own racial identity. This course, or its equivalent, is required for majors and minors. No prerequisites. Spring semester. (4 credits)

 

103 THE PROBLEM OF RACE IN U.S. SOCIAL THOUGHT AND POLICY

This course has been developed as an entry-level exploration of the impact of race on contemporary U.S. public discourse. The course has two principle objectives: to create a forum that encourages individuals to articulate well-informed opinions and attitudes about race; and to locate those ideas in an analytic framework that promotes a shared understanding of race and racial inequality in the contemporary context. Offered Fall 2007 as a First Year Course only. (4 credits)

 

110 INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES

This class will explore what it has meant to be African-American in the United States, and how this identity shaped Black community, thought, and life. This course, using a variety of disciplinary approaches, exposes students to issues and problems in the development of African-American identity, and provides students with theoretical tools and contextual sensibilities necessary for advanced courses and independent projects in African American Studies. Spring semester. (4 credits)

 

112 SEXUALITY, RACE, AND NATION: INTRODUCTION TO LESBIAN/GAY/BISEXUAL/ TRANSGENDER AND QUEER STUDIES (Same as Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies 110)

This course examines how sexuality, race, and nation relate in the lives of people in the United States, which we read in relation to histories of colonialism and globalization. Course material foreground scholarship, testimony, cultural work, and social movements by LGBT, two-spirit, same gender loving, and queer people of color, and by white LGBT and queer anti-racist allies. Their stories offer a template through which all students may examine how everyday life is shaped by sexuality, race, and nation—both as power relations, and as spaces for creating new identity and action. Every year. (4 credits)

 

128 AFRICAN AMERICAN RELIGIONS (Same as Religious Studies 128)

Understanding religion as the quest for ultimate orientation, this course will examine several expressions of African American religiosity. Students will explore the origin, development, belief structure, and practice of traditions such as Black Christianity, the Nation of Islam, Vodun (Voodoo), Santeria, Spiritual Churches, and Black Humanism. The goal of this course is to acquaint students with the complex nature of African American religious expression. Offered alternate years; not offered 2007–2008. (4 credits)

 

140 BLACK PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS

This course will address the tradition of public intellectuals in numerous Black communities. We will expand the definition of "politics" to include theater, literature, and film. We will interrogate the concept of who chooses the scholarly leaders for Black communities. We will examine numerous topics such as Communism, The American Dream, Incarceration, Feminism, and Ebony Voices in the Ivory Tower. Spring semester. (4 credits)

 

203 RACE, ETHNICITY, AND POLITICS (Same as Political Science 203)

This intermediate course offers an analysis of racial and ethnic factors and their implications for political processes and public policy. We begin by exploring the political history of whiteness. Our point of departure will be David R. Roediger's text (2005), "Working Toward Whiteness, How America's Immigrants Became White: The Strange Journey from Ellis Island to the Suburbs." We will examine how "race" has been at the core of civic assimilation. This course will focus on post-1960 American and the Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow Power Movements. We will end with an analysis of conservative people of color and their counterparts in the dominant culture, and their movement to resist identity politics in the 1990s and the turn of the 21st Century. Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

210 BLACKS IN PARIS

In his unpublished essay, "I choose Exile," Richard Wright declared, "To live in Paris is to allow one's sensibilities to be moved by physical beauty. I love my adopted city. Its sunsets, its teeming boulevards, its slow and humane tempo of life have entered deeply into my heart." This course will look at the relationship that African Americans have had to France in the Twentieth Century. We will explore the art, literature, music and political protest that were generated in the "City of Lights." Unlike White America presence in Paris, the presence of Black Americans has usually been seen, by both themselves and others as a commentary on race. We will examine the lives of Blacks who left the United States expressly to escape the burdens of discrimination and came to Paris as self-conscious refugees from racism. We will examine their experiences and critique the myth of a color-blind France.

 

During Macalester's spring break, students in this class will travel to Paris where they will continue to study the historical context and circumstance that prompted so many Black American artists and intellectuals to seek refuge in Paris during the early- to mid-20th century. This course is suitable for any major. Travel expenses are extra and are not covered by tuition fees. Generally offered alternate spring semesters. (4 credits)

 

222 IMAGINING THE AMERICAN WEST (Same as History 222)

Fantasies about the U.S. West are central to American history, popular culture, and collective memory. From John Wayne to Zane Grey to Disneyland, ideas about the West have shaped the ways we think about settlement, conquest, race, gender, and democracy. This course examines the myths that have circulated about the West alongside what has been called new western history, in an attempt to make sense of western Americans and the societies they created. Beginning with notions of the frontier, we will consider the scholarship that challenges our thinking about a region that has defied simple constructions. Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

224 AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY: SLAVERY, EMANCIPATION, AND RECONSTRUCTION (Same as History 224)

This course explores the Afro-American experience from the villages of West Africa to the cotton plantations of the antebellum South. Considers West African social structure and culture, the international slave trade, the development of racism, the development of American slavery, the transformation of Afro-American culture over more than two centuries, the struggle, the possibilities of reconstruction, and the ultimate rise of share-cropping and segregation. Not offered 2007-2008. (4 credits)

 

230 WOMEN AND WORK IN U.S. HISTORY (Same as History 230)

An historical overview of women's changing experiences with work—both paid and unpaid—from the mercantilist economy of colonial times to the post-industrial era of the late twentieth century. Working women come from every racial and ethnic group, and work in every sector of the economy. How did we reach this point? How does this compare to the experience of women in the early years of U.S. history? And where might working women be headed? This course is designed primarily for students who have no previous college-level background in U.S. history. Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

232 IMMIGRATION AND ETHNICITY IN U.S. HISTORY (Same as History 232)

An overview of U.S. history as seen through the experiences of newly arriving and adjusting immigrant groups. This course is designed primarily for students who have no previous college-level background in U.S. history. Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

233 INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF THE U.S. WORKING CLASS (Same as History 233)

This course traces the development of the U.S. working class—men and women, native-born and immigrants, black and white—from the artisan era to the post-industrial age. This course is designed primarily for students who have no previous college-level background in U.S. history. Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

240 RACE, CULTURE AND ETHNICITY IN EDUCATION (Same as Educational Studies 240)

This survey course will explore history, policy, and pedagogy as they relate to race, ethnicity, and culture as education. K–12 public education will be the primary focus with topics including desegregation, standardized testing, multi-cultural and ethnocentric pedagogy, the teacher's role and experience, and significant historical events in education. The course will culminate by analyzing current trends and future expectations in education. Spring semester. (4 credits)

 

248 JIM CROW (Same as History 248)

This course examines the political, cultural, economic, and social ramifications of segregation in the United States from approximately 1865 to the present. While much of the course will focus on the South, we will also consider how racial boundaries were drawn in the West and North. The course will pay special attention to the ways racial boundaries became "fixed," and how black men and women defied Jim Crow in the streets, courts, and in their homes. Additionally, this class examines how segregation has been forgotten and how and when it is remembered. Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

249 AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE CITY: 1890–1945 (Same as History 249)

This course investigates two mutually influencing transformations of the first half of the twentieth century: 1) the urbanization of the Afro-American people; and 2) the emergence of the modern American metropolis as the site of congregation and segregation of distinct racial and ethnic groups. Principal points of focus for this course include the causes and patterns of black migration from the rural South to the urban North; the formation of ghettoes in major northern cities; the internal life of those ghettoes, including changing gender roles and the development of new cultural forms; and the rise of new political and social ideas within these communities. Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

250 RACE, PLACE AND SPACE (Same as Geography 250)

In this discussion-based course we focus on the racialized places of U.S. cities, rural towns and suburbs in an effort to understand how social, historic, and spatial forces have colluded to bring about complex and enduring racial formations. We will look for race and related social categories in places around St. Paul and Minneapolis. By engaging theories about visuality and representation, urban development and suburban sprawl, and social movements for racial justice, we will develop a specialized vocabulary for explaining how race, place, and space are connected. This course requires prior exposure to at least one of the following areas: American Studies, human geography, sociology of race/ethnicity, or urban studies. Fall semester. (4 credits)

 

254 PEOPLES AND CULTURES OF NATIVE AMERICA (Same as Anthropology 254)

A survey of the traditional cultural areas of the Americas and of selected topics related to American Indians. The course introduces the peoples, languages, subsistence patterns, and social organizations in America at the time of European contact, and traces selected patterns of change that have come to these areas. Prerequisite: Anthropology 111, Cultural Anthropology. Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

264 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GENDER (Same as Psychology 264)

This course will survey the major theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding human personality. Specific topics to be covered include psychoanalytic, humanistic, existential, and biological personality theories; motivation and cognition; traits; identity and the self; and the cultural and social context of personality. Research and assessment strategies for understanding personality will be explored and critically evaluated. Prerequisite: Psychology 100 or permission of the instructor. Spring semester. (4 credits)

 

285 ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY AND IDENTITY (Same as Sociology 285)

This course introduces the basic issues and problems that shape the Asian American experience. The main learning objectives are: to identify and dismantle stereotypes about Asian Americans; to create a common vocabulary for describing the Asian American experience; to explore the historical and sociological foundations of Asian American community and identity; and to cultivate an appreciation of various theoretical approaches to race and ethnicity. No prerequisites. Spring semester. (4 credits)

 

300 JUNIOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT SEMINAR: WHERE THEORY MEETS PRACTICE

This innovative course will comprise a junior civic-engagement experience in the Twin Cities organized around a central theme (such as "Schools and Prisons"). The course provides a real-world urban context for students who are deeply engaged in theorizing racism and other forms of structural inequalities in the U.S. and around the globe. It is based largely outside the classroom, draws on the College's relationships with the Twin Cities, and provides extensive opportunities for students to interact with community mentors. The course is designed primarily for juniors majoring in American Studies as a prior rigorous study of issues related to race and racism in U.S. history and contemporary social policy and social thought are needed to set the stage for the course. It is required of all American Studies majors, however, other students with equivalent preparation are welcome with permission from the instructor. A 2-credit concurrent internship may be required for this course. Spring semester. (4 credits)

 

305 RACE, SEX AND WORK IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY (Same as Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 305)

This seminar presents feminist and queer studies of global capitalism, which examine power relations under contemporary globalization in terms of the racial and sexual dynamics of labor, citizenship, and migration. Course material considers the local and transnational dynamics of free trade, labor fragmentation, and structural adjustment, as these shape industrial and informal labor, and community organizing around gender, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS. The material foregrounds ethnographic analyses of the everyday conditions of people situated in struggles with the effects of global capitalism. Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of the instructor, and at least one intermediate-level Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies core course. Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

331 RACIAL FORMATION, CULTURE AND U.S. HISTORY (Same as History 331 and Humanities and Media and Cultural Studies 331)

This interdisciplinary course will employ the methodologies of cultural and media studies within an historical framework to ask: What roles did "race" (the presence of diverse races; the relationships among those groups of people; the construction and representation of racial identities; the linking of material privileges and power to racial locations) play in the development of the United States? How have relationships of class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality been linked to "race"? How has "race" been a site of struggle between groups? How is the present a product of historical experiences? Our coursework will rely on reading historical studies, theory, cultural analysis, and memoirs, and on viewing and analyzing cultural performances and films. This course is designed for students with experience in history, cultural studies, African American Studies and/or American Studies. Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

334 CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE MEDIA (Same as Humanities, Media and Cultural Studies 334)

An overview of contemporary approaches to media as culture, a determining as well as determined sphere in which people make sense of the world, particularly in terms of ethnicity, gender, identity, and social inequality. Students develop tools for analyzing media texts and accounts of audience responses derived from the international field of cultural studies and from the social theory on which it draws. Analysis emphasizes specificity of media texts, including advertisements, films, news reports, and television shows. Experience in cooperative discussion, research, and publication. Every year. (4 credits)

 

340 LIVING ON THE EDGE: THE ASIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE (Same as Asian Languages and Cultures 340)

The Asian American experience will be used to examine the role of cultural heritage in how one views oneself, one's own ethnic group and the dominant culture. This interdisciplinary course consists of experiencing the art, reading the literature and history, and discussing the current issues of several Asian American communities. Topics include the role of women, stereotype, racism and assimilation. Generally offered alternate years. (4 credits)

 

354 BLACKNESS IN THE MEDIA (Same as Humanities and Media and Cultural Studies 354)

This course examines mainstream and alternative systems of African American representation in the media from the 1820s to the 1960s, including race records, race movies, the Black press, Black video, and Black appeal radio. It also examines the way Blackness is constructed in the media today, including the role of new media (such as cable and the Internet); new corporate formations (such as FOX, UPN, and BET), and new forms of representation (such as representations that reject the Black-White binary). Prerequisite: one of the following: an introduction to African American Studies course, or Texts and Power: Foundations of Cultural Studies (Humanities and Media and Cultural Studies 110), or permission of instructor. Every year. (4 credits)

 

370 UNDERSTANDING AND CONFRONTING RACISM (Same as Psychology 370)

An examination of the social psychological factors associated with race prejudice and racism, particularly in the United States. Focusing on the psychological theories proposed to understand racism, this course investigates the causes and consequences of racism at the individual, interpersonal, institutional and cultural levels of society. Special attention will be given to exploring interventions to reduce racism. Culture and Context course. Prerequisites: Psychology 100, Psychology 200, or Psychology 201, and at least one intermediate course or permission of the instructor. Fall smester. (4 credits)

 

380 TOPICS IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE (Same as English 380)

This course will explore African American cultural production during the twentieth century and, depending on the instructor, may focus on a particular genre (e.g., novels, short stories, drama, poetry, detective fiction, speculative fiction, film), or on a particular period (e.g., the Harlem Renaissance, the 1950s, the Black Arts Movement, the Contemporary), or on a particular theme (e.g., African American Women's Writing, the Politics of Modern African American Literature), or on a particular author (e.g., Du Bois, Hughes, Hurston, Wright, Brooks, Baldwin, Wideman, Morrison, Parks). Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

400 SENIOR SEMINAR: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES IN AMERICAN STUDIES

The Senior Capstone is required of all majors. Majors who meet college criteria are encouraged to conduct an honors project in conjunction with their Senior Capstone. Fall semester.(4 credits)

 

444 THE FAMILY AS HISTORY: THE STORIES OF U.S. LATINOS (Same as Hispanic Studies 444 and Humanities and Media and Cultural Studies 444)

The course will examine and compare the stories of Latinas/os in the U.S. as told by themselves. Students will read authors of Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, and Mexican-American origin. We will place a special emphasis on practices and values held both here and in the cultures of origin. The course will cover such subjects as family, social and economic struggles, individual aspirations and spiritual needs. The course will highlight language issues and use film to complement the readings. Prerequisite: HISP 307 or consent of the instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

 

604 TUTORIAL

Closely supervised individual or small group study with a faculty member. A student may explore, by way of readings, short writings, etc., an area of study not available through the regular catalog offerings. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Every semester. (1-4 credits)

 

614 INDEPENDENT STUDY

Closely supervised independent study with a faculty member. Students may explore, through reading and writing or independent research, an area of knowledge not available through regular course offerings. Prerequisite: successful completion of the introductory course and permission of a faculty member in American Studies. Every semester. (1-4 credits)

 

624 INTERNSHIP

Majors are encouraged to take an internship after the Civic Engagement seminar. All internships require the approval of a professor in the American Studies department. Every semester. (1-4 credits)

 

634 PRECEPTORSHIP

Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Students may arrange to precept a course with a department member. They will normally be expected to attend the course, do the reading and participate in discussion, look over student writing, and provide guidance or tutor as necessary. Every semester. (4 credits)

 

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