American Studies What is American Studies American Studies

American Studies

What is American Studies? • American Studies is the interdisciplinary study of American life. • “Interdisciplinary” means we study literature, history, culture, society, and more. • Instead of studying America from one point of view or set of intellectual methods—such as history or literary analysis or social science—we approach it from every possible perspective, at once.

What do We Teach? • Cultural Competency: American Studies students learn about the historical and present-day diversity (including gender, race, class, and sexuality, among many others) of American experiences. • Research Competency: Students will learn how to write and speak effectively and clearly, and to formulate a cogent argument supported by evidence. • Global Competency: American Studies students will understand the history, culture, and politics of the United States in the context of large-scale global change.

How Do We Teach This? • American Studies offers courses on a variety of topics, from surveys of a specific historical time-period to indepth investigations of a single artist. They include: • “Hip Hop in America, ” “Springsteen’s American Vision, ” “Popular Culture. ” • “Islam in/and America, ” “Native American Civil Rights Movements. ” • “Civil War and Reconstruction, ” “American Life during the Cold War. ” • “Museums and Monuments, ” “American Folklife, ” “Learning from the Past. ” • And much, much more….

Who Are We? • Our faculty are accomplished scholars and devoted teachers who introduce students to work in the study of American culture and seek to advance critical skills in thinking, analysis, and writing.

Who are We? • Lou Masur is Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. • He teaches classes on The American Dream, Bruce Springsteen, Civil War and Reconstruction, and many other subjects. • He is a cultural historian who has published books on capital punishment, the events of a single year, the first World Series, a transformative photograph, and a seminal rock ‘n’ roll album. • His most recent books are Lincoln's Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction and the Crisis of Reunion and Lincoln's Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union.

Who Are We? • Sylvia Chan-Malik is Associate Professor of American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies. • She teaches classes on Islam In/And America, Social Justice, and Introduction to Race and Ethnicity, among other subjects. • She is a scholar of race and ethnicity in America, including the book Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color and American Islam.

Who are We? • Allan Isaac is Associate Professor of American Studies and English. • He teaches Introduction to American Studies, Asian. American Literature in English, and many other courses. • He is the author of American Tropics: Articulating Filipino America.

Who are We? • Any many more….

The American Studies Major • The American Studies Major requires a total of 12 courses (36 credits), of which: • Six courses (18 credits) come from a sequence of core courses in American Studies, ranging from Introduction to American Studies to upper-level seminars. • Six courses (18 credits) from elective courses of the major’s own choice.

The American Studies Minor • The American Studies Minor requires six courses (18 credits), of which one must be an upper-level seminar. The rest are electives. • Can be paired with a major overlapping fields, such as History or English. • But many of our students pair the minor with very different sorts of majors, including business, engineering, hard sciences, or communications. • American Studies helps those students develop cultural competence and research skills that complement technical and professional skills.

Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies Minor • American Studies also offers a second minor, in Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies. • This minor requires six courses (18 credits) drawn from American Studies, Africana Studies, Latino and Caribbean Studies, and related departments. • One course must be an introductory course on race and ethnicity and one course must study race and ethnicity in a global context.

New Jersey Folk Festival • For more than four decades, the American Studies has sponsored the New Jersey Folk Festival. • Our festival management students book vendors, manage the finances, and help develop the festival theme. • The Folk Festival is the best-attended event at Rutgers Day each April.

Other Programs • American Studies offers a certificate program in Curation and Cultural Programming, which integrates hands-on work on the New Jersey Folk Festival with courses in public humanities. • American Studies also offers a certificate in Asian/Asian American Studies, which we offer in conjunction with the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures. • American Studies also hosts the Asian-American Identities and Images Living-Learning Community, a residential community on College Ave. campus. • For more on Living-Learning Communities, see: http: //ruoncampus. rutgers. edu/rulc/

More Information • To learn even more about American Studies at Rutgers, please visit our website: https: //amerstudies. rutgers. edu/ • If you have any questions, contact our undergraduate director, Prof. Jeff Decker, at jadecker@amerstudies. rutgers. edu • Or out departmental administrator, Olga Lozano, at: ol 66@sas. rutgers. edu.