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Approaches to American Culture Studies, Leiden University, Prof. dr. Bronner, Page 1 of 11 APPROACHES TO AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES
Leiden University Eerste Semester 2005-2006, Fall 2005, M 3:15-5 p.m.
Prof. dr. Simon J. Bronner
Walt Whitman Distinguished Chair of American Culture Studies Fulbright Program Email: [email protected], [email protected] Blackboard course website: http://blackboard.leidenuniv.nl
DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES OF COURSE
This interdisciplinary MA-course aims to introduce a variety of approaches to American cultural evidence to MA-students in American Studies, especially those who wish to study the history and culture of the U.S. from a multidisciplinary perspective. By reading a selection of recent scholarly works on the American cultural experience, students will become familiar with representative research methods and techniques used by American Studies scholars to uncover the meaning of America in cultural evidence: social and cultural historical investigation, mythic analysis, literary and rhetorical criticism, and ethnographic and cross-cultural interpretation. Studying various forms of cultural expressions—including literature, film, television, music, art, and architecture—the course focuses on a related set of overarching questions about American national, regional, and ethnic identities that are at the core of American Studies: How do Americans define themselves? How have they been defined? How is America defined in relation
1 Approaches to American Culture Studies, Leiden University, Prof. dr. Bronner, Page 2 of 11 to other countries and its own subcultures? The themes and ideas that emerge in answer to these questions constitute fundamental inquiries of American Studies: democracy, individualism, egalitarianism, pastoralism, industrialism, consumerism, cultural diversity, regionalism, nationalism, and progressivism. As a result of taking this course, students will be familiar with resources and analytical approaches in the study of American culture. Aimed at MA-students who wish to specialize in American history, American literature, or a multidisciplinary track in American Studies, the course will provide an understanding of historical and recent debates regarding American culture studies, make student familiar with cultural research methods and interpretative approaches, and allow them to gain experience in presentation and discussion. MA students from the English Department who take the course can extend the credit points for the course to 15 by writing an additional essay in literary culture, especially in regard to uses of folklore in or as literature.
STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE
Since American Culture Studies has had a publicly active orientation to the advancement of knowledge, the different sections of the class are identified by the actions taken to achieve intellectual synthesis : locating, identifying, narrating, collecting, materializing, to name a few.
Students will read classic and new works in American Culture Studies and have a background in the intellectual legacy of American Studies, think about new trends and uses of evidence, become familiar with technological aids to research, and analyze different media. The course outline proceeds from an introduction to the scope, tools (including electronic resources), and historiography of American Culture Studies to (1) historical perspectives (especially mythic analysis and rhetorical analysis of a variety of texts besides “documents”; prevalent themes in American eras); (2) perspectives from literature, culture, and the arts (especially the reading of texts in historical, geographical, regional, and ideological contexts and issues of nationality, ethnicity, gender, class, and race within cultural production of literature, film, television, and theater); (3) social science perspectives (especially use of ethnography and cross-cultural analysis to assess American scenes, groups, and landscapes); and (4) presentations, and (5) future directions of American Culture Studies.
ESSAY AND PRESENTATION ASSIGNMENTS
The products of the class will be an essay (minimum 12 pages or 6000 words) and presentation using an approach to American Culture Studies covered in class. The themes and approaches of the projects are on research and interpretation techniques learned in class. Proposals for the essay are due on October 10, and the professor will be available to discuss the essay before that date. The essay is due December 14.
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The presentations of 15 minutes each, and preferably using Powerpoint to illustrate points and uploaded to your student website on Blackboard, will be made in class in the last two weeks of class.
The essay and presentation will be outlined in a printed guide and explained in class. Students are required to confer with the instructor about the topics they choose. They can communicate directly by phone, office appointment, or electronic mail. The projects are marked for quality of composition, research, and interpretation.
EXAMPLES OF ESSAYS:
An ethnographic analysis is an observation of an American cultural scene in which symbolic communication in the form of speech and behavior occurs. Consider the following examples in scholarship using ethnography to examine American cultural scenes that reveal performances of gender, race, ethnicity, age, occupation, and locality. It may be possible students to comment on experience in America or on an adaptation of American culture in the Netherlands. The setting, participants, and communication should be documented, analyzed, and interpreted.
The rhetorical/mythic analysis uses primary documents publicly stating the views of historic figures or movements or reporting events or issues to assess the ideas, symbols, and myths conveyed through key phrases/images and strategies of persuasion. You will interpret texts for their historical and/or cultural contexts.
The interpretation of a collection of oral/visual/material items or artifacts involves bringing together representative samples in or across regions, periods, styles, or themes to make comparisons and interpretations. To address a cultural question or problem, you can collect or document related sets of folklore, music, graphics, tools, paintings, sculptures, environments, or houses.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS (Available at Campus Bookstore)
Bronner, Simon J. Folk Nation: Folklore in the Creation of American Tradition. Wilmington, DE: SR Books, 2002. Hunter, James Davison. Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America. New York: Basic Books, 1991. Kammen, Michael. American Culture, American Tastes: Social Change and the 20th Century. New York: Perseus, 1999. Stewart, Edward C., and Milton J. Bennett. American Cultural Patterns: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, 1991. Cullen, Jim. The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 3 Approaches to American Culture Studies, Leiden University, Prof. dr. Bronner, Page 4 of 11
DIGITAL TEXTS AND WEBSITES
American Studies Association, Programs for Annual Meetings. Http://www.theasa.net Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History.” http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/TURNER/chapter1.html Simon J. Bronner, “Reading Consumer Culture” in Consuming Visions (1989)—on Blackboard Simon J. Bronner, “Material Culture” in American Folklore: An Encyclopedia (1996)—on Blackboard Henry Nash Smith, “Can American Studies Develop a Method”—on Blackboard http://www.georgetown.edu/crossroads/ (American Studies Crossroads Site including American Studies Association) http://e.usia.gov/education/amstudy/ (USIA site for Study of the United States) http://www.umdl.umich.edu/moa/ ( Making of America Website with on-line texts) http://xroads.virginia.edu/ (American Studies Hypertext Collection from U of Virginia) http://www.census.gov (United State Census) http://www.loc.gov (Library of Congress, including American Folklife Center, American Memory Project, Thomas for legislative records, On-line Exhibitions) http://www.si.edu (Smithsonian Institution exhibitions and resources, Office of Folklife Programs) www.moviedatabase.com (searchable database for movies 1890 to present) www.xnet.com/~djk/main_page.shtml (television episode guides)
COURSE OUTLINE AND SCHEDULE
I. Introduction II. Historical Perspectives III. Perspectives from Literature, Culture, and the Arts IV. Social Science Perspectives V. Presentations VI. Future Directions of American Studies
Note that there are no classes during school holidays October 3 and October 24
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I. Introduction: Scope, Tools, and Historiography of American Culture Studies
Meeting 1: September 5
INTRODUCTION TO COURSE
Introductory class with aim of defining American Culture Studies as a questioning and locating of the American Experience and analysis of the role of cultural expression in symbolic persuasion and identity formation. Explanation of course requirements, course website, and assignments.
A. IMPORTANCE OF RESOURCES--PRINT, ELECTRONIC, HUMAN 1. The terminology of American culture studies: civilization, folk and popular culture(s), experience 2. The methods of American culture studies as hybridized approaches 3. theories, trends, and “styles” of studying American cultural experience 4. importance of presentation--in writing, oral presentation, exhibition, web.
B. GOALS OF AMERICAN STUDIES
1. The goals of American cultural studies beyond interdisciplinarity: questioning the American experience nationally and internationally 2. locating America(cultural formation and adaptation in North America, along the nation’s movable borders, and abroad) 3. reforming America.
Meeting 2: September 12
C. CONCEPTUALIZING AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES: HISTORY AND PRACTICE
We will discuss the emergence of the American Studies movement from the 1930s and the formation of the first generation of American culture studies scholars to the present. From this historiography, we will chart the goals and practices of American Culture Studies as they have changed over time. American Culture Studies scholars often refer to its "style" with reference to its distinctive rhetoric and trends. We will discuss that style and how it has changed since the founding of the American Culture Studies
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movement.
READING: Handouts:
Simon Bronner, “Theories of the American Experience” Richard Dorson, “The Birth of American Studies.” Henry Nash Smith, “Can American Studies Develop a Method?”
D. THE ESSAY AND PRESENTATION IN AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES
We will go over some effective strategies for writing a cogent paper in American Culture Studies using one of the approaches discussed in the class. We will compare these strategies for writing with oral presentation, and the use of Powerpoint to enhance presentations in American Culture Studies.
II. Historical Perspectives
Meeting 3: September 19
A. NARRATING HISTORY: DOCUMENTARY APPROACHES AND RHETORICAL/MYTHIC ANALYSIS
We will discuss the documentary/chronological emphasis in historical studies and the interdisciplinary construction of rhetorical/mythic analysis drawing on historical and literary studies. A question asked in American Culture Studies has been "what distinguishes the American experience?" A way to answer that question has been to identify symbols, images, and "myths" or themes characterizing American ideas and conditions. We will focus on the themes most often mentioned in discussions of distinctive American experiences: the Puritan founding experience, democracy and liberty, and the movable frontier.
READING:
Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” 53-76. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/TURNER/chapter1.html
Meeting 4: September 26
B. MODERNIZING AMERICA
In this class, students will critically apply the approach of symbols, images, and myths of
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early America to an understanding of modernizing America after industrialization, especially the idea of the “American Dream.” We will look at theories of modernization, new class theory, and the idea of cultural hegemony as ways to explain the apparent acceptance by the masses of commercial culture.
READING:
Cullen, The American Dream Bronner, “Reading Consumer Culture”
III. Perspectives from Literature, Culture, and the Arts
Meeting 5: October 10
A. COLLECTING AND OBSERVING TRADITION: FOLK CULTURE AND ETHNOGRAPHY
How do we describe American tradition and culture, particularly to get at issues of values in communication and performance? Areas of anthropology, folklore and folklife, and sociology have contributed field collecting and ethnographic techniques that we will apply to American Culture Studies. After discussing the idea of the “cultural scene” to describe native and “primitive” groups, we will discuss the use of ethnography to describe complex industrialized societies. Then we will examine the historic “search for American tradition” in folklore and folklife, and critically view the issues coming out of “dialogues” in historical periods about tradition
READING:
Bronner, Folk Nation
Meeting 6: October 17
B. DISCERNING AMERICA: THE RISE OF POPULAR CULTURE AND NATIONAL TASTES IN THE UNITED STATES
What is American about American popular culture, which has been exported around the globe? To answer the question, we will look at the development of popular culture in the twentieth century--particularly in music, literature, and film—to get at the issue of how “tastes” are aestheticized, determined, and spread. We will discuss analytical approaches
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to American popular culture, particularly “expressive culture.” How can we apply the interpretative possibilities of “representational” study to expressive forms? How do we take into account the implications of these forms in “performance” with audiences, writers, directors, and promoters? These questions are framed in emerging theories of consumer and commercial culture. Popular culture arguably is America’s largest export; how do we analyze it as it is adapted abroad in addition to the ways it is produced and consumed in the United States?
READING:
Kammen, American Culture, American Tastes
Proposals for Essay Due
Meeting 7: October 31
E. MATERIALIZING AMERICA: MATERIAL CULTURE, FOODWAYS, LANDSCAPE, ART AND ARCHITECTURE
In this class, we will discuss artifacts as evidence and analytical approaches toward them using cultural collection, cultural geography, and ethnography. How is this evidence distinctive or supplementary? Are there theoretical changes in American Studies suggested by incorporation of “material culture”? Using the Web, we will examine other artifacts and ways to mount a material “cultural collection.”
READING:
Bronner, “Material Culture”
IV. Social Science Perspectives
Meeting 8: November 7
A. DIVIDING AMERICA: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE WARS
We will discuss the prevalent idea of American “culture wars” representing a division of moral worldviews. This idea grew out of sociological perspectives on family, education, and law, and has been applied to many politicized social issues since the late twentieth century. We examine the assumptions of this analysis, and discuss contemporary examples that invite such an analysis.
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READING:
Hunter, Culture Wars
Meeting 9: November 14
B. RELATIVIZING AMERICA: COMPARATIVE SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Statistical comparisons and ethnography can be used to provide a comparative cross- cultural perspective on America. In addition, social science provides relativistic approaches of American viewed through international eyes and for interpreting American culture as it is adapted in international settings (e.g., Japan’s Disneyworld, Israeli rap music).
READING:
Stewart and Bennett, American Cultural Patterns
V. Presentations
Meeting 10: November 21
PRESENTING AMERICA
Student Presentations
Meeting 11: November 28
PRESENTING AMERICA
Student Presentations
VI. Applications and Future Directions of American Culture Studies
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Meeting 12: December 5
A. USING AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES
We examine examples on the Web of American Culture Studies engaged in:
1. Education and Scholarship 2. Government, Historical and Arts Administration, and Cultural Resources Management 3. Museums, Archives, Parks, and Heritage Institutions 4. Community Programming 5. Documentary Film and Journalism 6. Information Services and Heritage Enterprises
SOURCES:
Websites listing jobs for Crossroads, H-Net, Folkline, Organization of American Historians, Museum Resource Board Newsletters for American Museum Association, American Studies Association, American Association for State and Local History, National Council for Public History
B. THE LOCAL AND GLOBAL FUTURES OF AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES
SOURCES:
ASA Conference Programs Websites for H-AMSTDY, H-NET, FOLKLINE, MUSEUM RESOURCE BOARD
December 14
Essay Due
N.B. Schedule Subject to Change.
ATTENDANCE, PARTICIPATION, ACADEMIC INTEGRITY, AND DISABILITIES
Regarding attendance, a student should attend every class for which the student is scheduled and should be held responsible for all work covered in the courses taken. Students who in the judgment of the instructor have become deficient scholastically, may run the risk of receiving a
10 Approaches to American Culture Studies, Leiden University, Prof. dr. Bronner, Page 11 of 11 failing grade or receiving a lower grade than the student might have secured had the student been in regular attendance. Students are expected to participate in class in a respectful manner to their classmates.
“Academic integrity” is the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating of information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students. The instructor can fail a student for major infractions.
Students with disabilities should identify themselves and provide documentation of disabilities to the instructor. In such cases, the instructor will make arrangements for the students to complete the requirements of the class.
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