AM201H-1-F08:Main
From Eckerd Academic Wiki
Intro. to American Civ.
Dr. Carolyn Johnston
Office: SE 214
Phone: 864-8284 (office) 492-6695 (cell phone)
E-mail: crossjohn@aol.com Fall 2008
Contents |
AM 201H- Introduction to American Civilization
Course Description
In this course we will focus on the American dream of success and the manifestations of American civilization in literature, the arts, and popular culture.
The field of American Civilization/American Studies arose out of an active discourse about how to understand the complexities of American identity. This course will explore the shift from a specifically Old World to an American identity, as manifest in social and cultural institutions, world views, behavior, values, and traditions in the encounter of European, Native American, and African cultures.
We will review past and present approaches, perspectives, and methods in the hope that you will become critically engaged in the ongoing discussion of what American identity is. We will pay particular attention to issues of race, class, gender, ethnicity, and nationalism-the forces that shape individual identity.
We will consider the American environment as the frame for European, African, and Native American interaction. We will be asking questions about which social groups have power and influence, the means by which social groupings maintain power and control identity, and how a social group’s values, ideals, language, and expressive behavior directs or redirects, shapes, dominates, or undermines American culture. Our overarching question will be “is there an American culture, or should we think of American cultures”?
Required Texts
E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime
Arthur Miller, The Crucible
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
John F. Kasson, Amusing the Million
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, A Coney Island of the Mind
John Belton, American Cinema/American Culture
Articles
Evaluation
1/3 Class Participation and presentations
This course is designed to be a seminar based on active participation and discussion. You must come to class prepared to discuss the readings and films, so that we can become a collaborative community in this venture of understanding American culture.
Because American culture is so richly documented on the World Wide Web, we will be using technology for a variety of exercises and assignments. You need not be familiar with technology to take this class, but you must become familiar with Netscape-the browser of choice for Eckerd College. You need to have an email account with Eckerd, as this is how important information about the course will be transmitted.
1/3 Essays (2 five-page)
1/3 Take-home mid-term and final examinations
Honor Code
“On my honor, as an Eckerd College student, I pledge not to lie, cheat, or steal, nor to tolerate these behaviors in others."
Students are required to write "pledged" and sign it on every assignment they turn in, indicating that their work is consistent with the Code.
Electronic Resources
American Studies is fortunate to be a field that is enhanced by the resources of the internet. Here are a few to get you started. If you find more during the course of the semester, please let me know so I can add them to our American Studies page (in progress). A site that every American Studies major should become acquainted with is Crossroads, a joint project of the American Studies Association and Georgetown University. It contains a subject-based index of links to American Studies sites on the web compiled by David Phillips of Bennington College. The Library of Congress American Memory Project is a treasure trove of materials for American Studies, as are the Museum of American Art and the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian. NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration, is another useful and beautifully done site. For US government records, look for specific agencies on the web such as the CIA, or visit the online documents section at the University of Michigan for US and international documents. The University of Virginia American Studies program maintains a subject-indexed list of valuable links. The Eckerd College Library provides a number of on-line resources. Check with a reference librarian. The EC library has Project Muse, a vast array of online journals, including American Quarterly, especially useful for American studies related courses. J-Stor provides full text and searching ability for a number of important journals. By configuring your web browser according to the instructions linked here, you may access and download from these journals from your home computer. Get acquainted with a research librarian. They are your best friends for finding relevant resources. If you would like to dramatically improve the style of your writing, Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style is now in a hypertext edition. If you need a guide for citing hypertext sources, there are several good online resources. I have included some suggestions for writing effective essays.
Class Schedule
All readings are scheduled for the class date under which they are listed. The course is roughly divided into two sections. The first section will deal with the question, “what is American culture, or should we think of American cultures?” We will be considering themes in modern American life. The second section of the course will provide a historic overview of the process of developing an American identity.
9/1 Introduction to the course
What is American Culture?
What is American Civilization/Studies?
When and how did American identity develop?
What is the American dream of success?
Film: American Tongues
Lab Assignment: Visit the American Studies Index and the American
Memories Project of the Library of Congress. Make a note of two
things you learned in each site to discuss next class.
9/4 Reading: F. Scott Fitzerald, The Great Gatsby
9/8 A Nation of Immigrants: The Idea of the Melting Pot
Reading: E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime
9/11 Ragtime
9/15 Roots of American Identity
European expansion and contact with Native Americans
The City on the Hill/American exceptionalism
The problem of social control
Reading: John Winthrop, selection from A
Model of Christian Charity (see website)
9/18 Reading: Perry Miller, excerpt from Errand into the
Wilderness; Cotton Mather, and excerpt from Hall,
Worlds of Wonder.
9/22 Arthur Miller, The Crucible; Puritan selections. Film
9/23: Essay due: Drawing on the works of Fitzgerald and Doctorow discuss the meaning of the American dream of success and radical challenges to it. Your essay should be 5 typed pages, and be fully footnoted, with a proper bibliography.
9/25 The Crucible
9/29 Emerson selections; Thoreau selections
10/2 Film on Class in America
10/6 Alexis de Tocqueville selections
10/9 Problems of Class and Democracy
Work and Leisure
Film: Coney Island
Reading: John Kasson, Amusing the Million
10/13 Reading: John Kasson, Amusing the Million
10/16 Imagining America
Reading: John Belton, American Cinema, xix-65.
10/20 Take-home midterm due in Letters Collegium 4PM
10/20 Belton, American Cinema, 66-90.
10/23 Belton, American Cinema, 91-149.
10/27-28 Fall Break Enjoy!(unless we have missed class days for hurricane
closing).
10/30 Belton, 150-199
11/3 Belton, 200-247
11/6 Belton, 248-303
11/0 Belton, 304-347
11/13 Belton, 348-374
11/17 Belton, 375-410
11/20 Popular, Vernacular, and Folk Culture
African-American Culture
Readings: Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were
Watching God
11/24 Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
11/27-28 Thanksgiving holiday; no classes
12/1 Essay due: Drawing on the works of John Kasson. John Belton, and Zora Neale Hurston, discuss the ideas of success, the American dream, and memory. Your essay should be 5 typed pages and fully documented
12/1 Individualism and Community Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
A Coney Island of The Mind.
12/4 A Coney Island of The Mind
Readings: The Disuniting of America: Making Sense
of the Sixties Through the end of the century. From
the Cold War to the War on Terror; from I Love
Lucy to South Park and the Simpsons
Summary discussion
12/5 Take-home final due
Articles are online and may be found at the address: http://intranet.eckerd.edu/pel/griggscm/dir intro am studies/introduction.htm
Hurricane Preparedness
If for any reason, Eckerd College is evacuated students who leave campus for stays of overnight or longer should bring their texts, notes, and syllabus so that they are ready to continue their course work. In such an event, check your Eckerd e-mail from your off-campus location and continue with the course work according to the syllabus and as delivered via Wiki.
Closing: In the event that the college is closed for 5-10 days students will continue to read the assigned readings and write analytical and reflective essays on each of the texts.
If the college is closed for 2-4 months my plan will be to convert the course to a form of an independent study. I will be in communication with students during the closing about the details, but the plan is to continue to read all assigned texts and to write essays on them. I will send out study questions and essay topics. Depending on the circumstances, I will have students return their work via email or the postal service.
Please be sure that I have your emergency contact numbers and email addresses.
AML 201A Introduction to American Civilization
Take Home Midterm Examination
Due: October 20 by 4PM in Letters Collegium The examination is composed of two parts: an identification section and an essay section. All exams must be typed and fully documented/footnoted.
In the essay section be sure to have a strong central thesis and interpretation that you support with references to the texts.
- Late exams will not be accepted unless there is a verifiable serious emergency.
Answer the following identification in short answer form. Answer on separate sheets.
Part I
1.myth of success 2.city on the hill 3.William Jennings Bryan 4.melting pot 5.the American dream 6.prohibition 7.Lawrence Ferlinghetti 8.F. Scott Fitzgerald 9.flapper 10.Emma Goldman 11.John Winthrop 12.Frederick Jackson Turner 13.Perry Miller 14.errand into the wilderness 15.attitudes of colonists toward Native Americans 16.Puritanism 17.Calvinism 18.Enlightenment 19.American Memory Project 20.covenant with God 21.the green light on Daisy’s dock 22.the significance of the frontier in American life
Part II
Essays:
Answer all of the following essays :
1.According to Frederick Jackson Turner, the experience of the frontier promoted certain traits of character among those moving west, chiefly a frontier individualism that, in turn, promoted democracy as a political system. Discuss the pros and cons of the idea of a unique American character based upon a unified frontier experience. The quality of your answer will depend on how well you understand the critiques of the frontier thesis, and your own ability to sort out myth from fact.
2.Numerous thinkers have attempted to explain the shift from an Old World to a decidedly New World identity--"Who is the American, this new man/woman." Discuss what you think is most fundamental to American identity. Be sure to explain your assumptions. Then explain the relationship between the New World experience and American ideology. Several models that you might consider are grounded in religious experience (the Puritan's "City on the Hill"), the democratic political order that arose from the thought of the American Enlightenment, the frontier experience that produced a distinctly American character based on ideals of individuality, self-sufficiency, and autonomy, or the colonial experience and legacy of slavery. Be sure to discuss the views of at least two significant thinkers on American identity, or character as it is also termed. What are the shortcomings of this approach?
3.Compare the views of Thoreau, Whitman, and Tocqueville regarding American character and democracy.
4.Discuss the Puritan views regarding the covenant, the city on the hill, nature, and Native Americans drawing on primary writings of the period. How have Puritan values helped shape contemporary American culture?
