American Studies (AMS)

AMS 135. Understanding Jazz, Its History and Context. (3)

History of jazz in the United States from its origins to the present. Emphasis placed on developing aural perceptions of stylistic differences between historical periods and significant performers. IIA, IIB, IIIB. PA-3A, PA-4C.
Cross-listed with MUS.

AMS 177. Independent Studies. (0-6; maximum 10)

AMS 183. Images of America. (3)

Investigating the power and influence of visual art imagery, either about, targeted to, or made by diverse segments of historic and contemporary American society and how this imagery has helped or hindered our coming together as a diverse nation. Explores the use of art stereotypes as a basis for evaluation, how visual components help define culture, the decoding of cultural codes and how the idea of taste and aesthetics influences the way we see ourselves and others. IC, IIA, IIB. PA-3A, PA-3B, PA-4B.
Cross-listed with ART.

AMS 205. Introduction to American Cultures. (3)

Explores what it means to be "American." As an introduction to the interdisciplinary study of American cultures and identities, past and present, it examines key ideas, events, texts, images, objects, places, and other reflections of American cultures and identities. Students will consider how the meaning and significance of American and American identity has been defined, discussed and debated from multiple perspectives. IIB. PA-3B, PA-4A. CAS-B.

AMS 206. Approaches to American Culture. (3)

Examines a specific topic or case study, e.g., a form of cultural expression, a place, a historical moment, a social movement, and an identity group. Emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary skills, teaching students to analyze and inter-relate different kinds of texts to explore the idea of culture. ADVW. PA-1C.

AMS 207. America: Global and Intercultural Perspectives. (3)

Explores the local dimensions of globalization by focusing on how global networks and practices affect life and culture in the United States. Students examine the theoretical and practical questions associated with membership in local communities, in the US as a nation-state, and in the global community at large. IIB, IIIB. PA-3B, PA-4C. CAS-B.

AMS 211. Writing with Purpose: Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Communication. (3)

This is an intermediate level course which enables students to investigate and discuss interdisciplinary practices of knowledge creation and dissemination. Students will practice a variety of writing and other communication strategies necessary for the effective dissemination of ideas to interdisciplinary audiences and the general public, and can expect to gain experience in working with a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary research, tools and methods while engaging intellectually in interdisciplinary modes of thinking, reading, listening, and speaking. ADVW. PA-1C.
Cross-listed with AAA/CRE/LAS/WGS.

AMS 216. Introduction to Public History. (3)

Introduction to the major issues addressed by historians who work in the public sphere, with emphasis on the creation of a shared public past and the disciplines that comprise the field of public history.
Cross-listed with HST.

AMS 222. Italian American Culture. (3)

The course explores the history of Italian immigration in America, focusing on the development of Italian American communities across the land and the contributions that Italian Americans have made to American society and culture. Students examine and discuss the dynamics of immigration, assimilation, ethnicity, and diversity. Taught in English. IC. PA-4B.
Cross-listed with FST 222 and ITL 222.

AMS 241. Religions of the American Peoples. (3)

A wide-ranging introductory survey of ways that different religions practiced in the United States may shape the lives of your future colleagues, clients, or neighbors in areas including dress, diet, sexuality, finances, health, attitudes toward science and technology, and the lived experience of time (routines, holidays, life-cycle events). You'll gain critical perspective on how people construct and negotiate their religious identities. And you'll investigate an issue, challenge, or opportunity that religion creates in whatever field of work you are preparing to enter. IC. PA-4B. CAS-B.
Cross-listed with REL.

AMS 246. Native American Literature. (3)

Survey of published Native American fiction, poetry, memoir, drama, and non-fiction from the mid-19th century to the present. Explores cultural contexts and emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach that includes historical, sociological, and anthropological as well as literary perspectives. CAS-B-LIT.
Cross-listed with ENG 246.

AMS 248. Asian American Literature. (3)

Survey of Asian American writing (including the novel, poetry, drama, nonfiction, etc.) from the early 20th century to the present. Addresses immigration experiences, growing up in America, and writing as cultural expression. Course uses an interdisciplinary approach to the study of literature, drawing on history, sociology, ethnic studies, and current trends in American literary studies. IC, IIB, IIIB. PA-3B, PA-4A. CAS-B-LIT.
Cross-listed with AAA 248 and ENG 248.

AMS 259. Introduction to the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. (3)

Offers an interdisciplinary examination of the Myaamia as a living people, within a living culture - a people with a past, present and future. Explores pre-contact economy, social and political organization; the historic period of contact, treaties and federal legislation and the cultural basis of Myaamia responses; and present-day issues of concern to the dependent sovereign nation of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. IC, IIC. PA-3B, PA-4A, SI-01, SI-04. CAS-B.
Cross-listed with HST 259.

AMS 277. Independent Studies. (0-6; maximum 10)

AMS 281. Americans in Berlin: An Interdisciplinary Study-Abroad Workshop. (6)

This interdisciplinary workshop will expose students to the confluence of several global issues in one location: Berlin, Germany. Berlin has been a magnetic destinations for Americans artists, entertainers, authors, politicians, and entrepreneurs from 1920s to the present moment. Particularly contested and influential has been the encounter between Germans and Americans in Berlin during the Cold War (1945-1989), as the city became the center of the conflict between two political systems. Students will explore the various cultural, political, and economic dimensions of this long-lasting relationship, and will visit sites dedicated to the research and preservation of cultural memory in both parts of this formerly divided city. We will also study the role of the United States in Germany's and Berlin's unification, in the transition of the West German capital from Bonn to Berlin, and in the transformations that took place in the post-unification period.
Cross-listed with GER 281.

AMS 285. Introduction to African American Music. (3)

This course is an overview of the musical practices of African Americans and how this array of musical sounds, performance practices, and modes of dissemination correlate with the evolving consciousness of Blackness. Emphasis is placed on the evolution of Black folk practices into specific forms of popular music and classical (concert) music. IC, IIA. PA-3A, PA-4A.
Cross-listed with MUS 285.

AMS 286. Rhythm, Rhyme, and Resistance: Hip Hop Culture in America. (3)

This course explores the ecosystem of cultural expression that informs the identity of Hip Hop culture in America, and its larger impact in shaping America’s political, economic, and cultural identity during the last three decades of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century. Students will investigate how Hip Hop used the archetypes of storytelling, historical documentation, and social protest that underscore Black Diasporic linguistic traditions, musical practice (vocal and instrumental), dance, and visual culture. Rather than a survey of the history of rap music, this course is asks for students to consider how the four pillars of Hip Hop challenged conventional definitions of art, established new praxis in the production of sound and visual culture, and served as one of the central markers of generational political consciousness and identity. This course is inquiry-based and transdisciplinary in nature. It will implement theoretical perspectives and modes of analysis that are associated with the fields of musicology, comparative studies, sound studies, and sexuality studies. PA-3B, SI-02, SI-04. CAS-B.
Cross-listed with MUS 286.

AMS 301. American Identities. (3)

Focusing on a specific theme, topic or issue, the course explores social and cultural identity, intercultural exchange, and public culture in the United States. The course connects theory and practice through collaborative and interactive research and learning in American Studies. Approaches include service learning, field research, experiential learning, or applied research.

AMS 302. Immigrant America. (3)

Examination of U.S. immigration and emigration in historical and contemporary perspective. Using a transnational lens, the course explores a range of topics related to American culture, identity, politics, and history in the context of growing global interconnectedness. IC. PA-4B.

AMS 303. Consumer Culture. (3)

This course examines the history, material infrastructure, trends, and impacts of consumption in the United States. It explores consumer culture through the interdisciplinary perspective of American studies, integrating politics, economics, food, and culture. Central topics will include mass production and mass distribution, advertising and desire, the meaning of things, the construction and production of identity in the marketplace, and the impact of consumption on the environment, other people, and our own bodies. Students will explore how consumerism affects belonging, citizenship, and membership in a heterogenous transnational America. Drawing from a diverse array of primary and secondary sources (i.e. history, literature, anthropology, advertisements, digital culture, etc) we will sample some of the theories and methods that distinguish the critical and creative thinking of the American Studies perspective. SI-01.

AMS 304. History, Memory, Tradition. (3)

Examination of the role of history, memory, and tradition in American culture, and the theoretical underpinnings of public history.
Cross-listed with HST 304.

AMS 305. American Icons. (3)

American Icons are objects, images, and symbols of identification, which represent the United States and are associated with the idea of America both at home and in the global world. The significance of American icons derives not solely from their own internal qualities, but often from the qualities and ambitions that they have come to represent for others. Through a critical examination of their creation, dissemination, and legacies, this course explores the variety of meanings that these figures and symbols have come to represent. Central themes include the relevance of the past for the present, varieties of cultural representation, the impact that different forms of representation have on their content, and the coherence of American culture. IC, IIB. PA-3B, PA-4B, SI-04.

AMS 310. Special Topics in American Studies. (1-4; maximum 16)

Topical offerings in American Studies on themes such as popular culture, material culture, ethnicity, or periods in American life such as the 1950s. May be taken for credit more than once with different content and permission of instructor.
Prerequisite: AMS 205 or permission of instructor.

AMS 310Z. Topics in Dramatic Literature and Cultural Performance. (3; maximum 6)

Topics in Dramatic Literature and Cultural Performance is a topic-driven course in theatre. Possible topics may include a given playwright such as August Wilson; a given style in theatre such as Realism or Postmodernism; or an overall specific maker of theatre such as an actor, director, or dramaturg. Students will be required to write short papers, make a public presentation, and develop a final paper or project. The course is repeatable up to 6 credit hours.

AMS 312. The American West. (3)

This class investigates the history of American expansion from the trans-Appalachian frontier to the Middle West, trans-Mississippi West, Pacific Coast, and beyond. We will especially focus on indigenous societies and settler/indigenous conflicts and relations, the lasting effects of settler colonialism, and the various cultural outcomes of this history. Materials used will include primary and secondary sources, including a textbook, memoirs, journals/diaries, and films. CAS-B.
Cross-listed with HST 312.

AMS 315. Latin American Diaspora: Communities, Conditions and Issues. (3)

Study realities and challenges of Hispanic-Latino communities in Southwest Ohio in the context of transnational connections that link communities across the Americas. Incorporates Service-Learning projects and community based research. IC. PA-4B.
Cross-listed with LAS.

AMS 340. Internship in American Studies. (0-20)

AMS 341. Protestantism and the Development of American Culture. (3)

History and symbolic structure of American Protestantism and its role in the development of American culture.
Cross-listed with REL 341.

AMS 348. Ethnic American Literatures. (3)

Intensive introduction to theories of race, ethnicity, and identity through the study of American literature by ethnic minorities. CAS-B-LIT.
Cross-listed with ENG.

AMS 352. Geographies of Urban Change. (3)

Examines the cultural, social and political dimensions of urban planning and development practices in the United States. Drawing on an array of source materials and using multiple methods of representing past places, students apply analytical tools to document the nature, extent, and significance of urban change and to communicate their understanding of the complex forces shaping urban America. IIC. PA-2A, SI-02, SI-04. CAS-C.
Cross-listed with GEO 352.

AMS 357. Gilded Age America. (3)

Covering the period between 1877 and about 1920, this course explores the political, economic, social, and cultural history of the era in the United States known as the Gilded Age, as well as Progressive Era responses to issues raised in that era. Pedagogy includes both lecture and hands-on experiential work with primary and secondary sources.
Cross-listed with HST.

AMS 362. The Era of the American Revolution. (3)

Origins, events, and legacies of the American Revolution with particular emphasis on political and social developments. CAS-B.
Cross-listed with HST 362.

AMS 363. The Early American Republic 1783-1815. (3)

Emphasizes the Constitution, the Federalists, and the Jeffersonians with study of Washington, Madison, Hamilton, John Adams, and Jefferson as major figures.
Cross-listed with HST 363.

AMS 367. The United States in the 1960s. (3)

Examines political, social, and cultural changes in the United States in the turbulent decade of the 1960s. Describes the consensus that existed in the 1950s, and then explores such topics as the civil rights movement, the women's movement, expansion of the welfare state, war in Vietnam, and the growth of a counterculture.
Cross-listed with HST.

AMS 371. Native American History to 1840. (3)

American Indian history from the period before European contact through the removal era of the 1830s and 1840s.
Cross-listed with HST.

AMS 377. Independent Studies. (0-6; maximum 10)

AMS 382. Women in American History. (3)

Survey of the history of women's lives and roles in American society from the colonial period to present. Emphasis on examining women's individual and collective roles in private and public spheres and on exploring how specific economic and political transformations have affected women's lives. IC. PA-4B. CAS-B.
Cross-listed with HST/WGS.

AMS 390. Studies In Amer Regionalism. (3; maximum 6)

Literature of the West: imaginative treatments of the American frontier and the postfrontier West, Cooper to the present; major Southern American writers from Byrd to the present. CAS-B-LIT.
Cross-listed with ENG.

AMS 392. Sex and Gender in American Culture. (3)

Examination of change over time in the construction of sexual norms, attitudes, and behaviors in American culture, as well as of gender roles. Covers the period just prior to the Indian-European encounter to the present. IC. PA-4B. CAS-B.
Cross-listed with HST/WGS.

AMS 401. Senior Capstone in American Studies. (4)

A colloquium in which students undertake and complete a research or creative project in an area of American cultural studies. Emphasis is on the collaborative selection and design of issues for discussion as well as on sharing the process of project development. Required for American studies majors and minors. SC.
Prerequisite: AMS 205, nine additional hours of American studies-related course work, or permission of instructor.

AMS 477. Independent Studies. (0-6; maximum 10)