American Studies (MA)
Department website: http://liberalarts.utexas.edu/ams/
The University has one of the oldest and most highly regarded programs in American studies, which focuses on the cultural, social, and intellectual life of the United States, as well as the place of the United States and US citizens in the world. Students analyze the American past and present from the perspectives of several disciplines, learn to synthesize their knowledge, and acquire the habits of mind needed for cultural analysis.
The program offers courses in areas such as American intellectual, cultural, and artistic life; race, ethnicity, and gender; cultural geography and material culture; and the public arts and popular culture. Specific courses are offered on topics such as immigration, transnationalism, and diaspora; American political theory; property, race, and critical legal studies; religion and psychology; childhood studies; food and foodways; animals; technology and design; social movements and radical political cultures; feminism, fashion, and beauty; the experiences of Latin American and Caribbean descendants in the United States; space and place; and public memory. The program also invites students to take advantage of the resources of the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, the Center for Asian American Studies, the Center for Mexican American Studies, the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies, the Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and the Américo Paredes Center for Cultural Studies. American studies courses are sometimes cross-listed with other courses throughout the University; in addition to the department’s core faculty, students may work with faculty members from departments such as anthropology, art and art history, English, geography and the environment, government, history, radio-television-film, religious studies, and from architecture, law, and education.
The courses that American studies students take outside the program train them in areas of expertise relevant to their central interests. With the approval of the graduate advisor in American studies, these courses may be in any of the liberal arts or in architecture, business, communication, education, fine arts, law, the sciences, or public affairs.
Graduate Handbook
Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.
Total Hours Required: 36
Requirements
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Degree | ||
| Research | ||
| AMS 390 | Topics in Research Seminar in American Studies (any topic) | 3 |
| AMS 390 | Topics in Research Seminar in American Studies (any topic) | 3 |
| Methodology | ||
| AMS 393 | Introductory Readings in American Studies | 3 |
| Cultural History | ||
| AMS 385 | Cultural History of the United States to 1865 | 3 |
| AMS 386 | Cultural History of the United States since 1865 | 3 |
| Report | ||
| AMS 398R | Master's Report | 3 |
| Subtotal | 18 | |
| Additional Coursework | ||
| Hours chosen from: Field(s) outside of AMS | 9 | |
| Electives (primarily American in content) | 9 | |
| Subtotal | 18 | |
| All students in this program must also follow these requirements and policies: | ||
| Graduate Liberal Arts Requirements | ||
| Graduate University Requirements | ||
| Total Hours | 36 | |
Additional Requirements
The student's planned program of work requires advisor approval.
The program culminates in a master’s report course (AMS 398R) consisting of an article, after approval from the supervisor and second reader, submitted to a scholarly journal during the student's fourth semester. Typically, the article is based on a term paper or project from a course taken within the program.