BA History and American Studies

This class explores the discourses of love, romance, the couple, marriage, loneliness, friendship, gender ,sexuality, race, ethnicity, and nationality in American culture from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. In interrogating a wide range of American texts we will focus not only on representations of femininity, masculinity, and sexuality, but also on the development of discourses of love, desire, and their intersections with ideologies of Americanness. Finally, we will also look at how constructions of race and ethnicity influence gender and sexuality, and how changing representations of mixed-race, crossed-class, and same-sex unions contribute to the meaning of American national identity.

Love American Style, a 'comedic television anthology' that ran for four seasons starting in 1969, was a light, slick, and pretty misogynistic and racist look at love, romance, and human emotions and relationships in America. Its title (and perhaps its opening credits and theme music) will set the premise for how we interrogate the ways America tells the story of love to itself through low, medium, and high culture. Through this interrogation we might find the underlying assumptions and constructions of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and class - and indeed assumptions about national identity and its concomitant cultural, political, and personal aspirations

- To introduce students to the major themes of love, anomie, and nationality in American literature, film, and other media (e.g. television), particularly in the late twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first;
- To develop students' critical awareness by encouraging them to attend to the language, themes, narratives, and political elements of the literary works we study;
- To develop students' awareness of cultural, historical, and theoretical concerns relating to the concepts of gender, race, marriage, desire, sexuality, and nationality that are particular to the United States;
- To encourage and develop students' research, presentation, and writing skills and their capacity to construct a sustained and coherent argument.

By the end of this course students should display:
Knowledge and understanding of the social, ideological, and political issues and themes regarding love, marriage, intimacy, desire, nation, race, sex, and sexuality, as expressed through works of U.S. cultural representation from the mid twentieth century to the present day;
Ability to understand and theorize ideological constructions of, as well as intersections between, race, gender, sexual identity, desire, and nationality in historically specific contexts;
Ability (in the assessed essay and oral presentation) to construct a sustained and cohesive written argument and to deploy scholarly methods of presentation.
Ability to analyze texts, speak in front of groups, make connections to present-day concerns, engage critically with primary material; improved writing; self confidence in abilities.

Weekly 3-hour seminars will focus substantially on class discussion and may include student presentations, feedback about essays, journal writing and discussion, short video screenings and discussion, or other activities.

Essay (70%)
Journal Essay (30%)
 

Over the summer students should read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (any edition) in preparation for the beginning of term.

Readings might also include:

Kristen Roupenian, “Cat Person” (2017)
Carmen Maria Machado, “The Husband Stitch” (2017)
James Baldwin, Another Country (1962)  Book 1
Marilyn French, The Women’s Room (1977)  Part I
Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982)
Carol Anshaw, Aquamarine (1992)
Jenny Offill, Dept. of Speculation (2014)