American Studies Concentrations

American Studies Themes of Concentration

Social Justice in America
Popular and “High” Culture in America
Business, Work, and Society in America
Place in America
Independently designed concentration

Social Justice in America (9 course minimum)

Students investigate issues of social justice as connected to race, gender, class and ethnicity in American history and culture.

Required Courses
AMS 150	Introduction to American Studies
AMS 362	Seminar in American Studies
AMS 363	Senior Research Seminar in American Studies

Electives Six of the following courses (at least one in each category)
Category I
A&S 210	Contemporary American Society
A&S 212	Sex and Gender
A&S 214	Race and Ethnic Relations
A&S 227	The Family
ECON 330	Urban Economics
ECON 378	Women in the Economy
G&L 204	Gender and the Law
G&L 207	Black Politics in the United States
G&L 213	Law and Society
G&L 314	Liberty in the United States
G&L 315	Equality in the United States
Category II
HIST 233	Slavery, Civil War, and Reconstruction
HIST 235	Progressivism through the 1920s
HIST 236	Recent America
HIST 258	U.S. Constitutional History
HIST 264	Women in American History
HIST 266	American Jewish History
REL 231	American Religious History
Category III
ART 235	African American Art I
ART 236	African American Art II
ART 351	Postmodernism, Gender, and Identity
ENG 219	Literary Women
ENG 228	American Jewish Literature
ENG 246	Black Writers
HIST 380/381	Internship (relating to social justice issues)
INDS 211	The Black Experience
INDS 240	From Generosity to Justice
INDS 360	Racial Identity Development and African Americans
PHIL 215	Feminist Philosophy
PSYCH 248	Psychology of Gender
REL 236	African Religion in the Americas
REL 222	Religion and Political Life
WS 101	Introduction to Women's Studies
WS 250	Gender and Science
WS 380/381	Internship in Women's Studies

Popular and High Culture in America
Students study American "high" and popular culture as represented in literature, art, film and media.

Required Courses
AMS 150	Introduction to American Studies
AMS 362	Seminar in American Studies
AMS 363	Senior Research Seminar in American Studies

Electives six of the following courses (at least one in each category)
Category 1
ENG 212	American Literature and Its Backgrounds
ENG 213	Modern and Postmodern American Literature
ENG 219	Literary Women
ENG 225	Contemporary Fiction
ENG 228	American Jewish Literature
ENG 246	Black Writers
ENG 304	Major American Writers
ENG 328	The American Renaissance
ENG 329	American Decades
ENG 330	American Decades
ENG 343	The American Novel to 1900
ENG 344	The Modern American Novel
ENG 347	Twentieth Century Poetry
Category II
ART 231	American Art
ART 234	Twentieth Century Painting and Sculpture
ART 235	African American Art I
ART 236	African American Art II
Category III
A&S 210	Contemporary American Society
A&S 226	The Forms of Folklore
A&S 245	Mass Communication and Society
ENG 216	Film and Literature
ENG 240	Introduction to Film
ENG 260	The New York Theater (Interim)
REL 235	Alternative Religious Movements in the U.S.
REL 221	Religion and Society
MUS 193	New York Jazz Experience
MUS 263	Music in America

Business, Work and Society in America
Students focus on the role of work and business in America from an interdisciplinary perspective and in historical context.

Required Courses
AMS 150	Introduction to American Studies
AMS 362	Seminar in American Studies
AMS 363	Senior Research Seminar in American Studies

Elective: six of the following courses (at least one in each category)
A&S 210	Contemporary American Society
A&S 215	Occupations and Professions
A&S 216	Class, Status, and Power
A&S 235	Business and Society
A&S 247	Organizations in Action
CS 200	Computers and Society
EP 470	Engineering and Public Policy
PHIL 107	Business Ethics
Category II
ECON 211	Intermediate Microeconomics
ECON 212	Intermediate Macroeconomics
ECON 323	Money and Banking
ECON 330	Urban Economics
ECON 331	Industrial Organization
ECON 332	Economics of Labor
ECON 340	Law and Economics
ECON 341	Public Finance
ECON 342	Political Economy
ECON 360	Marketing
Category III
AMS 351	Rise of Industrial America
AMS 352	Decline of Industrial America
ECON 343	Economic History of the United States
HIST 215	History of Technology
HIST 231	Early American Social and Economic History
HIST 250	Technology and the American Imagination
HIST 365	American Technological Development

Place in America
Students examine the role of place (the city, the natural world) in American history and culture from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Required Courses
AMS 150	Introduction to American Studies
AMS 362	Seminar in American Studies
AMS 363	Senior Research Seminar in American Studies

Electives Six of the following courses (at least one in each category)
ART 198	Architecture and Planning in Easton (Interim)
A&S 210	Contemporary American Society
A&S 214	Race and Ethnic Relations
A&S 216	Class, Status, and Power
A&S 219	American Communities: Cities, Suburbs, and Towns
ECON 330	Urban Economics
G&L 207	Black Politics in the United States
G&L 209	Politics, Policy, and Law in American Federalism
G&L 211	State and Local Government and Politics
HIST 251	The American City
HIST 380/381	Internship (relating to social justice issues)

Independent Concentration
Students construct their own interdisciplinary investigation of American culture through close consultation with their advisor.

Required Courses
AMS 150	Introduction to American Studies
AMS 362	Seminar in American Studies
AMS 363	Senior Research Seminar in American Studies

Electives

Six 200- or 300-level courses on American Society or culture and relating to a theme of concentration of the student's choice.

Electives must be drawn from at least three of the following departments:

American Studies
Anthropology and Sociology
Art
Economics and Business
English
Government and Law
History
Music
Philosophy and Religion

The Chair of the American Studies Program must approve the student’s plan of study.

Lafayette College • Department of American Studies • updated 28-sep-06