- 1 -

AME 020E

An Introduction to American Studies

Lecture 1.30-3.30 Monday Thames Hall 3102 Tutorial/Seminar Wednesday 2.30-3.30 Thames Hall 3102

Professor Don Abelson Department of Political Science SSC 4152 Email: dabelson@uwo.ca Office hours: Monday and Friday 11-12 Professor Bryce Traister Department of English UC 369 Email: traister@uwo.ca Office hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 12:30-1:30 Professor Andrew Johnston (Course coordinator) Department of History SSC 4427 Email ajohnst4@uwo.ca Office hours: Tuesday 11-12, Wednesday 1-3 pm Introduction This course offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the values, society, and cultural expressions of the people of the United States. It looks at literature, history, cultural criticism, politics, government, music, and the visual arts, to understand how Americans have understood and argued about the meaning and significance of their national identity. Assignments and Evaluation Students will write th ree pape rs : 2 short (worth 10 percent each) and 1 long (worth 20 percent), a mid-term during the December exam period (worth 20 percent), and a final exam (worth 30 percent). Participation in class discussions will be worth 10 percent. The short

papers will be 4 -5 pages; the long paper will be 7-9 pages. We will provide you with some suggested topics for both the short and long papers, but students may, in consultation with one of their instructors, write on a topic of their own choice. Please note that we ask you to submit for your long paper, a topic and one-paragraph t hesi s statement (that is, an explanation of your probable line of argument) on February 22, 2006. Students should submit their papers during the class in which they are due. We will assess a late penalty of 2 percent per day thereafter. Extensions are normally only granted for reasons defined by Senate regulations (too much work, other assignments due, and so forth, do not constitute valid grounds for seeking an extension). Students must make any requests for extensions to the instructor involved in advance of the due date for the assignment. At the back of this syllabus, you will find a copy of the Faculty of Social Science’s policy on p lag ia r i sm . It is a very serious offense that can result in failure in the assignment or even more serious penalties. Please read the policy carefully and ask us if you have any questions.

- 2 -

Required Texts The course will rely on a couple of course readers, one provided by Professor Traister in September and another by Professor Johnston in second term. In addition, students are asked to purchase the following books: Frederick Douglass, The narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass (Signet) Arthur Miller, The Crucible (Penguin) James Wilson, American government: the essentials (Houghton)

LECTURE AND TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

WEEK 1 September 12 and 14 What is American Studies? Janice Radway, “What’s in a name? Presidential Address to the American Studies Association, 20 November, 1998,” American Quarterly (March 1999), 1-32. (For Wednesday’s discussion)

Professor Traister WEEK 2 September 19 and 21 New world encounters Nunez, The Relaccion; Smith, The General Historie; Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation; The Jesuit Relations (from the course reader) WEEK 3 September 26 and 28 Religion and Controversy Winthrop, “Modell of Christian Charitie”; “Short Story”; Williams, “Bloody Tenent of Persecution.” WEEK 4 October 3 and 5 Captivity and Affliction Mary Rowlandson, “Sovereignty and Goodness of God.” WEEK 5 October 12 Awakening Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”; “Faithful Narrative.” WEEK 6 October 17 and 19 The Black Atlantic Marrant, “Narrative of the Lord’s Wonderful Dealings.”

Professor Abelson WEEK 7 October 24 and 26 Articles of Confederation to Constitutional Convention Wilson, American government, chap. 2

First short paper due October 26 WEEK 8 October 31 and November 2 Federalist-Anti-Federalist debates Wilson, American government, chap. 3 WEEK 9 November 7 and 9 The structures of government: Congress Wilson, American government, chap. 11 WEEK 10 November 14 and 16 Presidency Wilson, American government, chap. 12

- 3 -

WEEK 11 November 21 and 23 Judiciary Wilson, American government, chap. 14 WEEK 12 November 28 and 30 Organizations and interests Wilson, American government, chap. 7 - 9

November 30 is the last date to drop the course without penalty WEEK 13 December 5 and 7 De Tocqueville Readings to be announced. Exam review on December 7.

FIRST TERMS ENDS DECEMBER 8 Mid-term exam during exam period

Professor Traister

WEEK 14 January 9 and 11 Legacies of independence I: Liberalism Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller selections. WEEK 15 January 16 and 18 Legacies of independence II: Slavery Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass.

Professor Johnston WEEK 16 January 23 and 25 The West in American imagination Walt Whitman, excerpt from “Democratic vistas,” (1871); Medicine Horse et al, “We are not children,” (1873); United States v. Clapox, District of Oregon (1888); Frederick Jackson Turner, “The significance of the frontier in American history,” (1893).

Painting: Frederic Remington and Albert Bierstadt Music: Henry Clay Work, “Crossing the great Sierra,” (1869) or “The song of the Red Man,” (1868); Louis Moreau Gottschalk, “The last hope: religious meditation”; Edward McDowell, “Woodland sketches,” “Indian suite” (1897) WEEK 17 January 30 and February 1 The Gilded Age: industrialism, corporatism and the American self Andrew Carnegie, “Wealth,” North American Review 316 (June 1889), 653-664; Henry Demarest Lloyd, “The Standard Oil, an unscrupulous monopoly”; Upton Sinclair, selections from The Jungle (1906); Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "Women and economics" (1898); Henry Adams, “The shaping of national character”; Theodore Roosevelt, “True Americanism,” (1894). Painting: John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt Music: Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 “For the New World”; Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag. WEEK 18 February 6 and 8 The Plastic Age: modernism and tradition Lincoln Steffens, “The shamelessness of St. Louis”; W.E.B. Du Bois, from The souls of black folk (1903): Du Bois, “The striving of the Negro people,” and Woodrow Wilson, “The making of the nation,” Atlantic Monthly 80 (July 1897); Booker T. Washington, from "Atlanta Address"; Walter Lippmann, from Drift and mastery (1914); Florence Perkins Gilman, “The yellow wall-paper” (1892); Thorstein Veblen, “The economic theory of women’s dress,” (1894).

Painting: Ashcan Realism; Marcel Duchamps, Nude descending a staircase (1913), Fountain (1917); Francis Picabia,

- 4 -

Américaines (1917) Music: Charles Ives Three places in New England, The unanswered question; Edgar Varèse’s Amériques.

Second short paper due February 8 WEEK 19 February 13 and 15 Empire, race, and American civilization Gail Bederman, “Theodore Roosevelt: manhood, nation, and ‘civilization”; The imperialist argument (Henry Cabot Lodge and Albert Beveridge); the anti-imperialist argument (William Jennings Bryan and William James); Theodore Roosevelt, “The strenuous life,” (1899); Alain Locke, “The political and practical conceptions of race”; Horace M. Kallen, “’Americanization’ and the cultural prospect,” (1924); Randolph Bourne, “Trans-national America,” (1916). Painting: Marsden Hartley, Portrait of a German officer (1914); Ben Shahn (Sacco and Vanzetti series). Music: New Orleans jazz. WEEK 20 February 20 and 22 Optimism and despair: from culture wars to the cultural front Sinclair Lewis, “Boosters—Pep!” from Babbitt (1922); Herbert Hoover, “The constructive instinct,” (1922); Bruce Barton, “Jesus as a businessman,” (1925); The Ku Klux Klan defines “Americanism”; H.L. Mencken, “The sex uproar,” (1926); “American culture,” (1920); “The hills of Zion,” (1926); F. Scott Fitzgerald, from Tender is the Night (1934); Dorothy Parker, “The Lady’s Reward,” “Coda,” “Men,” and “Résumé”; Margaret Sanger, “The case for birth control”; Alain Locke, “The New Negro,” (1925). Painting: Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood; Stuart Davis. Music: Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington; Copland’s Orchestral variations; George Gershwin, An American in Paris.

Submit proposal and thesis statement for long paper February 22 WEEK 21 March 6 and 8 The global generation: America astride the world Langston Hughes, “Let America be America again,” (1938); Lee Coleman, “What is American?” (1941); Max Lerner, “The idea of American civilization,” (1957); Arthur M. Schlesinger, “What then is the American, this new man?”; Virginia Snow Wilkinson, “From housewife to shipfitter,” (1943); Reinhold Niebuhr, excerpt from The children of light and the children of darkness (1944); George Dondero, “Communists maneuver to control art in the United States,” (1949); Ben Shahn, “The artist and the politician,” (1953) Painting: Normal Rockwell, Jack Levine, Jackson Pollock Music: Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring, Fanfare for the common man

Professor Traister Week 22 March 13 and 15 Cold War America

Conference Week February 27 to March 3

- 5 -

Arthur Miller, The Crucible.

Professor Johnston Week 23 March 20 and 22 Counter-culture: alternative America Allen Ginsberg, Howl (1955); LeRoi Jones, “The last days of the American empire (including some instructions for black people,” (1964); The Black Panther Party Platform, “What we want, what we believe,” (1966); “Huey Newton talks to the movement,” (1968); “’My generation’: the Student Movement and the New Left,” including The Port Huron Statement and C. Wright Mills’, “Letter to the New Left”; Betty Friedan, selection from The feminine mystique (1963); NOW Statement of Purpose (1966) Painting: Romare Bearden’s The dove (1964); James Rosenquist’s I love you with my ford (1961); F-111 (1964-65) Music: Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix’s Machine Gun

Long paper due March 22

Professor Abelson Week 24 March 27 and 29 The Republican Revolution Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay, American unbound, chaps. 1-3.

Professor Johnston Week 25 April 3 and 5 Religion and globalization Samuel Huntington, “Clash of civilizations,” Foreign Affairs (summer 1993); Michael Walzer, “What Does It Mean To Be an ‘American’?” (1990); Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. excerpt from The Disuniting of America (1991); Cornel West, “The New Cultural Politics of Difference” (1993). Painting: Andres Serrano, Piss Christ (1987); Jeff Koons, Michael Jackson and Bubbles Music: Steve Reich’s Different Trains Week 26 April 10 Review FINAL EXAM Held in the exam period Appendix 1 University regulations concerning extensions and

plagiarism.

(Charles Schreyvogel painting on the roof of his apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey, 1903)