American Studies 201 Introduction to American Studies Smith College Spring 2011

Transcription

1 1 American Studies 201 Introduction to American Studies Smith College Spring 2011 Floyd Cheung Kevin Rozario Michael Thurston x 3619 x 3531 x Wright 233 Wright 2/15 Neilson fcheung@smith.edu krozario@smith.edu mthursto@smith.edu Wed. 12:30-2:30 (Sam's Café) W 9-10, Th 1-2 T 1-2, W 1-2 2:30-3:30 at Wright Readings Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie (Penguin) Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (Dover) Charles Chesnutt, The Marrow of Tradition (Penguin) John Kasson, Amusing the Million Helen L. Horowitz, ed., Love Across the Color Line An x indicates that the reading can be found in the course pack, which is available for purchase at Paradise Copies, 21 Conz Street Some additional readings on Moodle (marked as such below). 1. Jan 25: INTRODUCTION (Lecture) 2. Jan. 27: A 19TH-CENTURY FAMILY RESPONDS TO CHANGE (Section) x Hale family letters, (from the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College) ANALYZING AMERICAN CULTURES: A HANDS-ON INTRODUCTION 3. Feb. 1: CULTURE AND CHILDHOOD (Section) x Catharine Beecher, American Woman s Home, excerpt (1869) x Family, from American Studies Keywords (Moodle) 4. Feb. 3: Library Day Meet in Neilson Classroom (Level 1 North) see Web site: 1

2 2 THE 1890s 5. Feb. 8: CULTURE AND CHILDHOOD (Section) x Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, chapters 1-4, 14 (1901) x Ellis B. Childers, Sun Elk, Native American Testimony (1880s) 6. Feb. 10: MODERNITY (Lecture -- KR) x Frederick Jackson Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History (1893) x Miller, City of the Century, First Paper Due in class, Feb. 10, 10:30 am. 7. Feb. 15: ART (Museum Visit) 8. Feb. 17: SELFHOOD IN THE CITY 1 (Section) Dreiser, Sister Carrie, Chapters 1-6, 11-13, 17-19, Feb. 22: SELFHOOD IN THE CITY 2 (Section) Dreiser, Sister Carrie, Chapters 32-35, 40-41, x Thorstein Veblen, The Economic Theory of Women s Dress (1894) x Kathy Peiss, Charity Girls and City Pleasures (1983) 10. Feb. 24: THE NATION AND THE WORLD: Interpreting the World s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 (Lecture) x Harriet Monroe, Columbian Ode, excerpt (1892) x Richard Watson Gilder, The Vanishing City and The Tower of Flame (1893) x Frederick Douglass, Why the Colored American Is Not in the World s Columbian Exposition (1893) 11. March 1: GENDER AND EMPIRE x Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life (1899) x Rafael, "White Love: Surveillance and Nationalist Resistance in the United States Colonization of the Philippines" 12. March 3: ETHNIC PORTRAITS 1 (Section) Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890), chapters: 1-6, 9-10, 13 In section, discussion of long paper 13. March 8: ETHNIC PORTRAITS 2 (Lecture -- FC) 2

3 3 Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, chapters 15, 17, 20, 21, 24, and 25 x Angel Island Poems Hand in 1-page proposal on long paper, which should include the author and title of your primary source text and a paragraph on what questions/issue you propose to discuss 14. March 10: LABOR (Lecture -- MT) Reading TBA Art paper due, 2 pages, in class at 10:30 SPRING BREAK 15. March 22: THE PROBLEM OF THE COLOR LINE (Lecture -- FC) x Plessy v. Ferguson, (1896) 16. March 24: THE MARROW OF TRADITION (Section) Chesnutt, The Marrow of Tradition, Chapters March 29: THE MARROW OF TRADITION (Lecture -- MT) Chesnutt, The Marrow of Tradition, finish 18. March 31: THE BIRTH OF A NATION (Lecture/Screening -- ALL) D.W. Griffith, The Birth of a Nation 19. April 5: THE CULTURE OF SPECTACLE (Lecture -- KR) Kasson, Amusing the Million 20. April 7: THE CULTURE OF SPECTACLE (Section) Kasson, Amusing the Million 21. April 12: THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK x W. E. B. DuBois, Souls of Black Folk, chapters 1, 3, 14 (1903) 22. April 14: WHAT S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? (Section) Horowitz, Love Across the Color Line 23. April 19: AMERICAN STUDIES AT SMITH 1 (Lecture) 3

4 4 Rozario, That Enchanted Morning : Or How Americans Learned to Love Disasters, The Culture of Calamity, chapter 3 (Moodle) Long Paper due by 5pm under your instructor s office door and by 24. April 21: AMERICAN STUDIES AT SMITH 2 (Lecture) Cheung, Performing Exclusion and Resistance: Anti-Chinese League and Chee Kung Tong Parades in Territorial Arizona (Moodle) 26. April 26: AMERICAN STUDIES AT SMITH 3 (Lecture) Guglielmo, Transnational Feminism s Radical Past (Moodle) 27. April 28: AMERICAN STUDIES AT SMITH 4 (Lecture) Waksman, Pure Tones and Solid Bodies: Les Paul s New Sound, Instruments of Desire, chapter 2 (Moodle) Self-scheduled examination (during exam period) COURSE EXPECTATIONS The syllabus is only a draft: there may be corrections and changes as the course goes along. You are responsible for any changes in procedure mentioned in class. If you have to be absent, be sure you find out what went on. If you bring to the class some special concerns if, for example, your first language was not English or you have a learning disability and you wish your instructor to know this, please tell him or her as soon as possible. You may indicate special concerns on the card that we ask you to fill in. We expect you to attend all class meetings, read the assignments, and participate in discussion. You will need to plan ahead for periods of heavy reading. Written components of the course are: 1. A short (3-4 pages) paper due on Feb. 10 in class; topic to be given in class 2. Paper (2-3 pages) on a work of art in the Smith Museum of Art due in class March Third paper (approx pages) due by 5pm on April 19, by to your instructor and/or under the door of your instructor s office. 4

5 5 4. Self-scheduled examination There are six components of the course that are evaluated: participation in discussion (20%); the initial paper (10%); the art paper (20%); the 8-10 page paper (30%); and the exam (20%). We are aware that sometimes a student has a bad day or week and will show mercy if one grade is substantially lower. Like all your professors, we like improvement over the semester. The papers must be completed at the scheduled time. Make-ups are allowed only for serious illness or bereavement. If there is a conflict with another class s assignment, arrangements for an alternate date must be made with your instructor at least a week in advance. Without an extension, grades on late papers will be lowered one step (i.e. from B to B-) for every 24 hours they are overdue. 5