Department of American Studies
American Studies: AMS
Lower-Division Courses
AMS 310. Introduction to American Studies.
Same as History 315G. An interdisciplinary introduction to the historical exploration of American culture. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 310, History 306N (Topic 2: Introduction to American Studies), 315G. Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history.
AMS 311S. Introductory Seminar in American Studies.
Writing, reading, and discussion on an American studies topic, with emphasis on the evaluation of information, analytical reading, and critical writing. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.
Topic 1: Consumer Culture in America. Examines consumer culture in the United States through historical and theoretical texts, including film, books, and scholarly works.
Topic 2: American Sports and Culture. Examines how the games Americans play reflect beliefs about success, class hierarchies, gender roles, race relations, and global ambitions.
Topic 3: United States Culture and Globalization. Introduction to the concepts and processes of globalization and how globalization has shaped and been shaped by culture in the United States at different periods in history.
AMS 315. Topics in American Life.
Interdisciplinary exploration of American cultural and intellectual life. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Some topics partially fulfill legislative requirement for American history. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Varies with the topic and is given in the Course Schedule.
AMS 315C. Movies Go To War, from World War I to Vietnam.
Same as Germanic Civilization 311 (Topic 2: Movies Go To War, World War I to Vietnam). Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 315 (Topic: Movies Go to War, World War I to Vietnam), 315C, Germanic Civilization 311 (Topic 2), Science, Technology, and Society 311 (Topic: Movies Go to War, World War I to Vietnam).
AMS 315D. Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity: An Introduction.
Same as Anthropology 310L (Topic 2: Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity: An Introduction) and African and African Diaspora Studies 317D (Topic 2: Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity: An Introduction). Examines the social importance of race and ethnicity both in America and around the world. Three lecture hours or two lecture hours and one discussion hour a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: African and African Diaspora Studies 317D (Topic 2) and American Studies 315 (Topic: Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity), 315D, Anthropology 310L (Topic 2).
AMS 315E. Introduction to Historical Archaeology.
Same as Anthropology 310L (Topic 4: Introduction to Historical Archaeology). A comprehensive survey of the methods, theories, and discoveries of historical archaeology, an interdisciplinary field that draws its theoretical and methodological foundations from anthropology, archaeology, and history. Three lecture hours or two lecture hours and one discussion hour a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 315 (Topic: Introduction to Historical Archaeology), 315E, Anthropology 310L (Topic 4).
AMS 315F. Native American Literature and Culture.
Same as English 314V (Topic 5: Native American Literature and Culture). Studies Native American literature from different regions and cultures and considers this literary tradition in tribal national and United States national contexts. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 315 (Topic: Native American Literature and Culture), 315F, English 314V (Topic 5). Prerequisite: English 603A, Rhetoric and Writing 306, 306Q, or Tutorial Course 603A.
AMS 119S, 219S, 319S, 419S, 519S, 619S, 719S, 819S, 919S. Topics in American Studies.
This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser in the Department of American Studies. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer credit is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.
Upper-Division Courses
AMS 321. Studies in American Societies.
A study of America through its geography, language, government, or cultures. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Some topics partially fulfill legislative requirement for American history. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing; additional prerequisites vary with the topic.
Topic 1: Native American Cultures of the Greater Southwest. Same as Anthropology 322M (Topic 3: Native American Cultures of the Greater Southwest).
Topic 2: Language and Speech in American Society. Same as Anthropology 325N, Linguistics 373 (Topic 2: Language and Speech in American Society), and Sociology 352M (Topic 3: Language and Speech in American Society). Prerequisite: Upper-division standing, and Anthropology 302, 305, 307, or Linguistics 306.
Topic 3: Native American Cultures North of Mexico. Same as Anthropology 336L.
Topic 4: America and the Holocaust. Same as History 356R and Jewish Studies 365 (Topic 1: America and the Holocaust). Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 321 (Topic 4), 370 (Topic: America and the Holocaust), History 350L (Topic: America and the Holocaust), 356R, 365G (Topic: America and the Holocaust), Jewish Studies 361 (Topic: America and the Holocaust), 365 (Topic 1), Liberal Arts Honors 350 (Topic: America and the Holocaust). Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history.
Topic 5: Asian American Jurisprudence. Same as Asian American Studies 325 (Topic 5: Asian American Jurisprudence) and Government 357M (Topic 9: Asian American Jurisprudence). Introduction to the study of Asian Americans and the law. Examines the historical development of United States law and its relationship to Asian Americans, and of Asian American jurisprudence as an independent field of legal scholarship. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Additional prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
AMS 321E. African American History to 1860.
Same as African and African Diaspora Studies 357C and History 357C. Review of West African origins; New World settlement patterns, social life, and culture; discussion of the Atlantic slave trade, the development of capitalism and plantation slavery, and the origins of racism. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: African and African Diaspora Studies 357C, American Studies 321 (Topic: African American History to 1860), 321E, History 357C. Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
AMS 321F. African American History since 1860.
Same as African and African Diaspora Studies 357D, History 357D, and Urban Studies 353 (Topic 1: African American History since 1860). Survey of the history of African Americans in the United States from 1860 to the present: Emancipation, Reconstruction politics, migration and urbanization, and the evolution of African American culture; kinds of sources and methods valuable for analyzing African American life and culture. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: African and African Diaspora Studies 357D, American Studies 321 (Topic: African American History since 1860), 321F, History 357D, Urban Studies 353 (Topic 1). Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
AMS 321G. Native Americans in Texas.
Same as Anthropology 326C. Studies the history of Native Americans in Texas using concepts and evidence from anthropology, history, archaeology, historical geography, and Native American studies. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 321 (Topic: Native Americans in Texas), 321G, Anthropology 324L (Topic: Native American in Texas). Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
AMS 322. Studies in American Writing.
A study of America through its literature, popular fiction, journalism, and folklore. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing; additional prerequisites vary with the topic.
Topic 3: Sport, Fitness, and Mass Media. Same as Kinesiology 352K (Topic 5: Sport, Fitness, and Mass Media).
AMS 325. Studies in American Art and Media Culture.
Study of American culture and society through media and the arts. Three lecture hours or two lecture hours and one discussion hour a week for one semester; additional hours may be required for some topics. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Varies with the topic.
Topic 2: American Painting to 1860. Same as Art History 374 (Topic 1: American Painting to 1860).
Topic 3: American Painting, 1860-1913. Same as Art History 374 (Topic 2: American Painting, 1860-1913).
AMS 327. Studies in Religion and Philosophy.
Interdisciplinary exploration of religion and philosophy in American culture. Three lecture hours or two lecture hours and one laboratory/discussion hour a week for one semester. Some topics partially fulfill legislative requirement for American history. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing; additional prerequisites may vary with the topic.
AMS 328. American Culture and Social Life since 1945.
Same as History 356N. Study of postwar American culture and society, using novels, plays, movies, music, television, journalism, political thought, and social criticism; special attention to the 1950s. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
AMS 329. Environmental History of North America.
Same as History 350R (Topic 7: Environmental History of North America) and Urban Studies 353 (Topic 5: Environmental History of North America). The history of humanity's influence on the plants, animals, microlife, soils, water, and air of North America, and vice versa, from the arrival of the proto-Indians to the contemporary environmental crisis. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 329, History 350L (Topic 4: Environmental History of North America), 350R (Topic 7), Urban Studies 353 (Topic 5). Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and six semester hours of coursework in history.
AMS 129S, 229S, 329S, 429S, 529S, 629S, 729S, 829S, 929S. Topics in American Studies.
This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser in the Department of American Studies. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer credit is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.
AMS 330. Modernism in American Design and Architecture.
Same as Art History 367 (Topic 3: Modernism in American Design and Architecture) and Urban Studies 352 (Topic 5: Modernism in American Design and Architecture). A historical survey of artifacts, buildings, and urban environments, focusing on responses to machine-age civilization. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
AMS 355. Main Currents of American Culture to 1865.
Same as History 355N. Traces the development of American culture and society from the colonial era until the end of the Civil War. Major themes include racial conflict, religion, slavery, the development of democracy, and cultural reform. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
AMS 356. Main Currents of American Culture since 1865.
Same as History 356K. Traces the development of American culture and society from the end of the Civil War to the present. Major themes include racial conflict, pluralism, religion, urban development and reform, modernism, government centralization, cultural radicalism, and the rebirth of conservatism. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
AMS 358. The United States, 1920-1941.
Same as History 355M. A history of political, economic, diplomatic, military, social, and cultural developments in the United States between the two world wars. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
AMS 370. Seminar in American Culture.
Interdisciplinary seminar on themes in American life. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Some topics partially fulfill legislative requirement for American history. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing; additional prerequisites may vary with the topic.
Topic 1: American Cultural History of Alcohol and Drugs. Same as History 350R (Topic 5: American Cultural History of Alcohol and Drugs). Study of the American use and perception of drugs, including alcohol, and how they have changed over time. Examines significant shifts in American attitudes toward individualism and social control. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 370 (Topic 1), History 350L (Topic 2: American Cultural History of Alcohol and Drugs), 350R (Topic 5). Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Additional prerequisite: Six semester hours of coursework in history.
Topic 6: Gender-Based Discrimination. Same as Government 357M (Topic 1: Gender-Based Discrimination) and Women's and Gender Studies 345 (Topic 8: Gender-Based Discrimination). Studies the substance of laws that relate to gender-based roles, and the participation of women in the legal process. Additional prerequisite: Upper-division standing, six semester hours of lower-division coursework in government, a University grade point average of at least 3.50, and consent of department received prior to registering.
Topic 10: Leadership in America. Same as Government 370L (Topic 2: Leadership in America) and Women's and Gender Studies 345 (Topic 34: Leadership in America). Introduction to the concepts of leadership and the application of those concepts in public and political leadership. Additional prerequisite: Upper-division standing, six semester hours of lower-division coursework in government, a University grade point average of at least 3.50, and consent of department received prior to registering.
Topic 13: The Culture of Cities. Same as Geography 356T (Topic 1: The Culture of Cities) and Urban Studies 354 (Topic 4: The Culture of Cities). Examines the social, geographical, and cultural evolution of the United States from a rural and small-town society to an urban and suburban nation. Subjects may include the segregation of public and private space; the formation of urban subcultures organized by gender, work, race, religion, and sexuality; social and spatial divisions between rich and poor and native-born and immigrant; and the increasing importance of "cultural capital" in reshaping urban politics and in conflicts over revitalization and gentrification.
Topic 17: Postmodern America. Postmodernity considered as a means of understanding major cultural transformations since 1945 in areas such as architecture, art, criticism, film, journalism, literature, music, philosophy, photography, and political thought.
Topic 18: The Beats and American Culture, 1945 to 1990. Examines writers such as Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs during the immediate post-World War II era. Considers their historical origins, their representations of society and culture, and their influence from the 1960s through the 1980s on writers and artists in a variety of fields.
Topic 19: The Cold War and American Childhood. Uses childhood as a focus for studying the cultural and political climate of the post-World War II era.
Topic 20: Children's Literature and American Culture. Examines changes in American childhood using children's literature that covers several different time periods.
Topic 21: Society, Culture, and Politics in the 1960s. Various social and cultural movements of the 1960s, including civil rights, the New Left, black power and other ethnic nationalisms, the peace movement, the black arts movement, guerrilla theater, psychedelic arts and the counterculture, women's liberation, gay liberation, the environmental movement, and the conservative movement.
Topic 22: Deviance in America: An Alternative History. Same as History 350R (Topic 6: Deviance in America: An Alternative History). Examines movements and individuals outside the conventional mainstream and how they reflect American ideals and dilemmas. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 370 (Topic 22), History 350L (Topic 61: Deviance in America: An Alternative History), 350R (Topic 6). Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Additional prerequisite: Six semester hours of coursework in history.
Topic 23: Memory and Place. Same as Geography 356T (Topic 2: Memory and Place). Explores how cultural memory is produced in its various forms, from memorials, public art, and commodities to popular culture, rituals, and museums, and how public remembering is inevitably anchored in specific geographic places.
Topic 24: Comparative Cultures of Beauty. Same as Asian American Studies 320 (Topic 2: Comparative Cultures of Beauty) and Women's and Gender Studies 345 (Topic 45: Comparative Cultures of Beauty). Examines fashion and beauty as discourses and cultural practices affecting identity, body politics, race, gender, sexuality, and class.
Topic 25: Immigrants, Amusements, and Consumer Culture. Same as Asian American Studies 320 (Topic 1: Immigrants, Amusements, and Consumer Culture). Studies the growth of consumer capitalism as it coincides with the migration and integration of immigrants into American society. Examines the emergence of consumer culture as a force that defines modern American society and traces its developments and current manifestations throughout the world.
Topic 26: American Food. Same as Women's and Gender Studies 345 (Topic 41: American Food). Studies diverse American food cultures from a humanities perspective, exploring connections between global, national, and local communities. Uses scholarship in the field of food studies as well as cookbooks, novels, poetry, photographs, songs, documentaries, and oral histories to investigate the past and present of American food communities.
Topic 27: Nature and Gender in America. Same as Women's and Gender Studies 345 (Topic 42: Nature and Gender in America). Study of the connections between nature and gender in American national narratives. Explores how Americans of differing classes, races, genders, sexual orientations, and ages have shaped and experienced changing ideas of America, wilderness, domestication, and society over time and in different regions of the country.
Topic 28: Animals and American Culture. Same as History 350R (Topic 9: Animals and American Culture) and Women's and Gender Studies 345 (Topic 43: Animals and American Culture). Explores the role of animals in American history, culture, and society. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 370 (Topic 28), History 350L (Topic 60: Animals and American Culture), 350R (Topic 9), Women's and Gender Studies 345 (Topic 43). Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and six semester hours of coursework in history.
Topic 29: Women Radicals and Reformers. Same as Women's and Gender Studies 345 (Topic 44: Women Radicals and Reformers). Traces traditions of women's radical activism and reform beginning with the Enlightenment and the American Revolution and continuing to the present, with concentration on the twentieth century.
Topic 30: Women in Postwar America. Same as History 350R (Topic 8: Women in Postwar America) and Women's and Gender Studies 345 (Topic 37: Women in Postwar America). Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 370 (Topic 30), History 350L (Topic 58: Women in Postwar America), 350R (Topic 8), Women's and Gender Studies 345 (Topic 37). Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and six semester hours of coursework in history.
Topic 31: Black Americans and the South. Same as African and African Diaspora Studies 374D (Topic 6: Black Americans and the South). Traces the post-Reconstruction conversation among black Americans over how to live in the South and make sense of its history of widespread racial violence, lynching, de jure segregation, civil rights struggles, and their legacies. Sources include authors such as Jean Toomer, Tayari Jones, and Natasha Trethewey, and fiction, speeches, newspaper accounts, photographs, paintings, poetry, and popular music, including jazz, blues, rock, rhythm and blues, and hip hop and rap. Only one of the following may be counted: African and African Diaspora Studies 374 (Topic: Black Americans and the South), 374D (Topic 6), American Studies 370 (Topic 31).
Topic 32: Slavery across Genres. Same as African and African Diaspora Studies 372E (Topic 2: Slavery across Genres). Uses nonfictional and fictional narrative accounts of slavery in the United States to examine the political, social, cultural, economic, and psychological aspects of the institution of slavery at different historical moments. Sources may include authors such as Frederick Douglass, Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Edward P. Jones; graphic novels; conceptual art; court records; and bills of sale. Only one of the following may be counted: African and African Diaspora Studies 372E (Topic 2), 374D (Topic 7), American Studies 370 (Topic: Slavery across Genres), 370 (Topic 32).
Topic 33: Atlantic Slavery: History and Memory. Same as African and African Diaspora Studies 374E (Topic 3: Atlantic Slavery: History and Memory). Charts a history of Atlantic slavery by focusing on primary sources detailing crucial events and contexts such as the Zong Massacre, the Haitian Revolution, and Dred Scott vs. Sandford, among others. Considers how historians, memoirists, fiction writers, visual and performance artists and filmmakers have come to terms with that history and its implications. Only one of the following may be counted: African and African Diaspora Studies 374E (Topic 3), American Studies 370 (Topic: Atlantic Slavery: History and Memory), 370 (Topic 33).
Topic 34: American Disasters. Examines natural and human-made disasters as key turning points in American history. Engages with the politics of disasters, analyzing environmental contexts, grassroots activism, legislative policies, and approaches toward commemoration.
Topic 35: American Popular Culture, 1682-Present. Same as History 350R (Topic 19: American Popular Culture, 1682-Present) and Women's and Gender Studies 340 (Topic 26: American Popular Culture, 1682-Present). Explores the evolution of American popular culture and its relationship to national consolidation, and at times, disunion, over the last 330 years. Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and six semester hours of coursework in history.
Topic 36: Exiles, Expatriates, and Political Pilgrims. Explores the ways in which foreign experiences formed and re-formed individuals' perspectives on the United States, the nature of their social critiques of the U.S., and Americans' experiences of other nations.
Topic 37: The Politics of Creativity. Interdisciplinary investigation of artists in American society and of the intersection of art and politics.
Topic 38: Property in American Culture. African and African Diaspora Studies 372C (Topic 3: Property in American Culture). Explores American conceptions of property over a wide range of economic transformations from the mercantile to the digital age, with special attention to the ambiguous and tension-filled meanings of property for women, African Americans, and Native Americans. Only one of the following may be counted: African and African Diaspora Studies 372C (Topic 3), 374D (Topic: Property in American Culture), American Studies 370 (Topic: Property in American Culture), 370 (Topic 38).
Topic 39: Radical Latinos. Mexican American Studies 374 (Topic 32: Radical Latinos). Examines the social positioning and history of Latinas/os in the United States. Analyzes the histories of Latinas/os who have gone against mainstream expectations, or who have challenged or critiqued the status quo in provocative and unexpected ways. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 370 (Topic Radical Latinos), 370 (Topic 39), Mexican American Studies 374 (Topic: Radical Latinos), 374 (Topic 32).
Topic 40: Southern Cultures. Women's and Gender Studies 345 (Topic 27: Southern Cultures). Investigation of multiple, fluid, and diverse southern cultures through topics such as NASCAR, biscuits and cornbread, mega-churches, beauty pageants, jazz, country music, southern hip hop, migrant farm cultures, matzo ball soup with collards, the Trail of Tears, Gullah, Tara, Graceland, and more. Includes discussion of stereotypes and the individual truths about women, men, and southern in the context of this discussion.
Topic 41: Vienna: Memory and the City. European Studies 346 (Topic 5: Vienna: Memory and the City), History 362G (Topic 2: Vienna: Memory and the City), and Urban Studies 354 (Topic 7: Vienna: Memory and the City). Examines the ways in which cultural memory has shaped, and continues to shape, urban life in Vienna, Austria. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 315 (Topic: Vienna: Memory and the City), 370 (Topic 41), European Studies 301 (Topic: Vienna: Memory and the City), 306 (Topic: Vienna: Memory and the City), 346 (Topic 5), Geography 309 (Topic: Vienna: Memory and the City), Germanic Civilization 311(Topic: Vienna: Memory and the City), History 306N (Topic: Vienna: Memory and the City), 362G (Topic 2), Urban Studies 305 (Topic: Vienna: Memory and the City), 354 (Topic 7). Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
AMS 372. Conference Course.
Supervised individual study of selected subjects in American studies. Conference course. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and consent of instructor.
AMS 679H. Honors Tutorial Course.
Individual readings and conferences in connection with an original research paper. Conference course for two semesters. Prerequisite: For 679HA, upper-division standing and admission to the American Studies Honors Program; for 679HB, American Studies 679HA.