Program Goals and Objectives

To consider the construction and contestation of American identities, nationalism, and distributions of rights, privileges, citizenship, and the allocation of economic resources.
To consider the intersectionality of race, class, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, and other modes of social differentiation as tools of critical analysis.
To introduce students to important conceptual constructs such as queer, race and critical theories.
To delineate the fundamental elements of thinking historically, especially their importance in social, cultural and intellectual analysis.
To analyze the production, circulation, and critical reception of material culture.
To consider the ways that performances in everyday life (such as cooking and dress) produce cultural meaning.
To communicate effectively in writing and speech.
To facilitate a vibrant conversation between students and faculty across the campus and beyond in a variety of fields.
To foster ethical engagement in larger communities–local, national, and international.
To prepare students for fulfilling careers in a variety of fields, including research and teaching; policy, advocacy and community work; law; cultural organization and curating; digitization and management.

American Studies