American Studies is an interdisciplinary field that critically examines the connections among American literature, arts, culture, religions, economics and politics. The Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR) has a particular interest in encounters between the United States and the Middle East.
Interested students can declare a Minor in American Studies by going to the “Useful Forms" part of the FAS website or follow this link.
Requirements for a Minor in American Studies, 15 credits (minimum):
- AMST 215 Introduction to American Studies (3 credits)
- One other AMST course (3 credits)
- Three elective courses from other departments with American Studies content or relevance (9 credits total)
Qualifying Course Options:
Current Courses:
AMST 215: Intro. to American Studies by Rana Baghdadi
ENGL 209: Survey of American Literature by Sirene Harb
THTR 269: A Workshop in Theatre Production by Robert Myers and Lucien Bou Rjeily
Core Course (required): AMST 215 Introduction to American Studies
American Studies elective (any one required):
AMST 220 Shock of Modernity in America; AMST 230 Cultural Geography of
North American; AMST 240 America in the Middle East/Middle East in America; AMST 265/266 Special Topics in American Society (carries Social Science credit); AMST 275/276 Special Topics in American Humanities (carries Humanities credit)
Electives from other departments (at least three courses required*):
- ARCH 023 Form, Event, Ideology: The American City as Case Study
- ENGL 209 Survey of American Literature
- ENGL 216 Drama
- ENGL 219 Film as Text
- ENGL 222 Literature and Cultural Studies
- ENGL 224 Early American Literature
- ENGL 225 Modern American Literature
- ENGL 226 Contemporary American Literature
- ENGL 241 Transnational Literatures
- HIST 200 Introduction to the History of the United States
- HIST 271 Race, Class, Gender: Introduction to American Social History
- HIST 272 Economic History of the United States
- HIST 273 The United States and the Middle East
- HIST 274 The United States in the Twentieth Century
- HIST 278/279 Special Topics in United States History
- MCOM 201 Intro to Media Studies
- MCOM 204 From Telegraph to Twitter: Media History (formerly 263)
- MCOM 219 Media Depictions of Society (formerly 262)
- MCOM 222 Introduction to Visual Culture Studies
- MCOM 290E On Television
- MEST 315M Making of the Modern Middle East
- PHIL 263A Contemporary Philosophical Movements: American Pragmatism and Its Critics
- PSPA 220 Globalization and Culture
- PSPA 237 The Middle East in International Politics since WWI
- PSPA 251 Politics and Government: United States of America
- PSPA 293 D Senior Seminar in International Politics: US in the Middle East
- SOAN 215 Anthropology of America
* In addition, new courses including special topics courses in other departments and programs may occasionally be related to American Studies. Students can petition to apply such a course toward the requirements for the Minor, which must be approved first by the CASAR director and then by the FAS Curriculum Committee.