CORE COURSES
2012-2013 Course Offerings
For additional information on the American Studies courses, please contact our academic advisor, Benjamin Pottruff, at: csus.advisor@utoronto.ca.
Fall 2012
USA200H1F Introduction to American Studies, Instructor: E. Truman, Thursdays 1:00-3:00 pm, enrolment cap: 45
Students in this course will examine the politics, history and culture of the United States through a selection of "keywords" from the field of American Studies (“nation,” “frontier,” “race,” “gender," “memorials,” etc.). Through a critical analysis of primary readings from American studies scholars and other academic and contemporary writing, students will interrogate and problematize the keywords in question. A central focus of this analysis will be the social, cultural and political contexts surrounding these keywords, as well as their representation in mediated texts. The instructor will also provide a material “object of the week” that functions as a fun and engaging entry point into the issues and debates related to the week's topic. The object and itssignificance will be discussed and debated by the students in conjunction with the instructor. Emphasis will be placed on the students' engagement with primary texts and the development of their critical reading, writing and discussion skills.
USA310H1F Approaches to American Studies: Post-war? Violence and Militarism in the United States, 1945-present, Instructor: P. Vitale, Tuesdays 10:00am-12:00pm, enrolment cap: 45
The decades following World War II are usually referred to as the post-war period. Yet this same period is also one of the most war-torn and violent in American and world history. From Korea and Vietnam to Nicaragua and Panama to Somalia and Afghanistan, it was (and remains) a period of sustained war and violence both within and beyond the borders of the United States. In this class we will question the characterization of this period as “post-war” and investigate how war and violence have systematically shaped the United States during the period between 1945 and the present. To do so we will focus on three key subjects: 1) the United States’ exercise of military power outside its borders – war as it is commonly understood; 2) the effect of constant war on life inside the United States; and 3) wars on culture, poverty, drugs, cities, the poor, and terror that took place within the United States. By questioning the idea that war is exceptional, we will consider how war and violence are fundamental aspects of American life.
USA400H1F Topics in American Studies I: Queer Feelings, Instructor: E. Brown, Tuesdays 12:00-2:00pm, enrolment cap: 18
This course brings together two areas of inquiry: queer studies and affect/emotion/public feeling. What is the relationship between feeling(s) and queer subjectivities? How does engagement in public culture structure and shape individual and collective counter-publics? What role does a commercialized mass culture play in producing queer feelings? The interdisciplinary course will use an intersectional analytic approach to investigate the relationship between emotion/affect/feeling and the production of queer selves. Students will engage with both primary texts (e.g. autobiographies, visual culture, built environment) and secondary literature (both empirical and theoretical) to explore these questions. As a capstone seminar, the course requires that student produce a major original research paper or project at the end of term. Pre-requisites: at least two courses from the American Studies list, or permission from the instructor.
USA401H1F Topics in American Studies II: Asian Diasporas: Migration, Memory, Imagination, Instructor: L. Lowe, Monday September 10, 4-6:30 orientation session, October 9 - 25, 2012 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 4:00-6:30pm, enrolment cap: 18
"Diaspora" is a suggestive framework for considering the displacements and connections of peoples within modern global processes of dislocation through war, colonialism, or labor immigration; it contains the contradictions of the impulse toward cultural unity, on the one hand, and the ruptures of separation and dislocation, on the other hand. The large dispersal of Asian peoples throughout the 19th century was central to the expansion of the global economy; in French and Dutch colonies in the Indian Ocean, Spanish Cuba and Peru, the British West Indies, Hawaii, and the U.S., Asian workers were part of a multiracial workforce that often included African slaves and other forms of unfree labor. “Asian diaspora” also refers to the explosion of migration and immigration from Asia in the second half of the twentieth century, and the retention of affective ties and identifications to the Asian homelands. In both, “diaspora” conveys the paradox of both the maintenance or reinvention of ties to homelands, and the critiques of racial, ethnic, or national essentialisms. This cultural studies seminar emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches drawing from history, literature and anthropology, and considers Asian diasporas in a global framework, but focusing especially on the English-speaking contexts of the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
Spring 2013
USA300H1S Theories and Methods in American Studies: The 1920s, Instructor: E. Brown, Tuesdays 12:00-2:00pm, enrolment cap: 60
Tutorials: Tuesdays 2:00pm, 3:00pm, 4:00pm, enrolment cap: 20
This course, required for majors and minors but open to all who have met the pre-req, explores a range of approaches to the field of American Studies. The course is organized around the decade of the 1920s, a period of tremendous social, political, and economic change as the U.S. emerged from WWI as a global industrial power and Americans debated competing ideas about the meanings of modernity. The course looks at the 1920s through a series of thematic weeks, drawing from interdisciplinary primary and secondary sources, such as black migration and urban modernities; gender, sexuality, and global beauty culture; immigration policy and racial formation; modernism in the visual arts; Prohibition and gangsters; market empires and global commodity chains. Students will be introduced to some of the many ‘theories and methods’ that have animated the field of American Studies, including historical methods; formal analysis of visual and literary texts; commodity chain analysis; ‘race,’ ‘commodity,’ ‘gender,’ ‘diaspora’ and ‘affect.’
USA311H1S Approaches to American Studies: Hellhound on my Trail: Living the Blues in the Mississippi Delta, 1890-1945, Instructor: N. Cardon, Tuesdays 11:00am-1:00pm, enrolment cap: 45
This course examines black life and culture in the cotton South through the medium of recorded blues music. It seeks to restore a voice and a sense of agency to black southerners in the age of Jim Crow. Topics include the plantation economy, agricultural life, mobility, migration, and urban subcultures.
USA400H1S Topics in American Studies II: Food Media, W10-12, S. Jameson, cross listed as INI463H1S, enrolment cap: 18
This course examines the rising focus on food in American popular culture. Because it functions as a biological necessity and a means of social and cultural nourishment, food has significant representational and symbolic power. In the words of food film writer Gaye Poole: “it is possible to ‘say’ things with food—resentment, love, compassion, anger, rebellion, withdrawal,” thus making it a “perfect conveyor of [cinematic] subtext.” Rather than offering a historical overview of food in media, this course will consider food as a thematic lens, a tool of narrative progression, and a structuring principle of ideas about nation and culture. By viewing and analyzing a range of American food media the course considers how imagery and sounds of food, cooking, and eating are used to communicate emotions, personal and cultural identities, and relations of power. We will explore how food representations construct a range of ethnic, religious, sexual, and psychological issues. In addition to a wide range of American food films, such as Waitress (2007), Super Size Me (2004), The Wedding Banquet (1993), as well as less obvious ‘food films’ such as the children’s comedy How to eat Fried Worms (2006), or the science fiction film Soylent Green (1973), we will address food advertising and questions of peer pressure, persuasion, desire and status. Television food media demands a look at some unique themes including culinary tourism, food infotainment, and culinary sport. Further, we will consider food in new media particularly online food photography and how food functions as the subject and means of social networking.
USA402H1S Topics in American Studies II: Taking Shots at the Man: Assassination and the American Presidency, Instructor: B. Pottruff, Wednesdays 6:00-8:00pm, B. Pottruff, enrolment cap: 18
This seminar focuses on political violence directed at the U.S. President from the Civil War to the War on Terror. At key historical moments of national crisis, the office of the Presidency has repeatedly become a target of assassination. While much can be learned by investigating the grievances articulated by assassins, interpretations of their explanations shifted considerably as their acts reverberated through American culture. Public debates surrounding these acts of violence have been framed by historically-specific notions of race, class, gender, and mental fitness. In this course, we will cover several assassination attempts from 1865-2001 through interwoven themes of power and memory. As an advanced topics seminar students will be required to pursue original research on a topic of their choice, and write a 20 page research paper.
USA403H1S Topics in American Studies II: Thinking Out Loud: Think Tanks, Interest Groups and the Public Interest, Instructor: D. Abelson, Thursdays 2:00-4:00pm, enrolment cap: 18
The purpose of this seminar is to explore the extent to which think tanks and interest groups in the United States and in Canada rely on various governmental and non-governmental channels to promote policies they believe will advance the public interest. For decades, political scientists, historians, and sociologists have paid close attention to how interest groups on both sides of the border have attempted to influence public opinion and public policy. However, only recently have scholars from various academic disciplines begun to study how and under what conditions think tanks are able to make their presence felt in key policy-making circles. As think tanks or public policy research and advocacy organizations have proliferated in significant numbers throughout the developed and developing world, important questions regarding their involvement and impact in shaping the public interest have been raised. In this seminar, students will have an opportunity to study the complex world of think tanks and interest groups in the United States and in Canada and will be able to explore how these organizations have been able to establish strong ties to policy makers, the media, universities, to leaders of industry and commerce and to other key stakeholders. In the process, they will identify how these organizations become involved in different stages of the policy-making process and the many methodological obstacles scholars have to overcome to properly evaluate their impact on specific policies. Think tanks and interest groups represent but two important types of organizations that compete for power and prestige in the increasingly crowded marketplace of ideas. However, by the end of this seminar, students will appreciate why, in many instances, these organizations warrant closer consideration.
Summer 2013
USA310H1S Approaches to American Studies: Illegal Drugs and American Society, Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am-12pm (July 2-August 12), enrolment cap: 45
Few topics spark as much controversy and emotion in American culture as the consumption of psychotropic substances. In fact, the nature of these substances and their impact on society has long been debated.
This course will trace the shifting meanings of illegal drug use in American society over the course of the twentieth century. It begins with an historical analysis of drug consumption at the turn of the twentieth century, and explores the way perceptions about drugs and drug use change over time. We will explore how and why particular substances come under public and legal scrutiny in particular periods, and how drug use shaped the lives of users in different contexts.
Among the topics to be covered are the changing meanings of “addiction,” the emergence of anti-narcotic legislation, treatment versus punishment approaches to addiction, the racialization of drug users, the development of urban drug subcultures, gendered perceptions of drug consumption, and the “War on Drugs,” and alternative approaches to drug law enforcement.
2011-2012 Course Offerings
Fall Term
USA200H1F Introduction to American Studies: Crime and Punishment U.S.A., Instructor: S. Davis, M6-8, enrollment cap: 45,
In this course, we will look at the U.S. through the prism of its prisons, using all the tools that American Studies offers us. Whether generated in a courthouse, a comedy club, a textbook for criminal justice majors, an MSNBC “shock-doc,” or the admissions unit at a state penitentiary, stories told about the incarcerated man or woman –who he or she purportedly is and why he or she broke the law— naturalize that country’s escalating rate of incarceration. Our look in this course at how the U.S. defines “crime” and enacts its “punishments” will offer both an introduction to the field of American Studies and a penetrating look at an entire nation through the keyhole of its penitentiaries.
USA310HIF Approaches to American Studies: American Security, Instructor: P. Loosemore, T12-2, enrollment cap: 45
This course will explore some of the political, economic, and military factors of American state security—defined as the strategic protection of life by the state apparatus—in the light of two major emergencies of the past decade: the event of 9/11 and the credit crisis. As we are conducting an “approaches” course, we will emphasize the methodology and techniques of American Studies, with a particular eye on post-national models. Within that framework, the two main parts of the course—Economic Security and Political Security—will each develop from our reading of the relevant sections of the National Security Strategy released by the White House in two versions (2002, 2006). Our exploration of the significance, effects, and long historical background of this document will be interdisciplinary in nature, with readings drawn from early modern, revolutionary-era and mid-nineteenth century tracts, sermons, essays, diplomatic papers, and fiction, as well as contemporary philosophy, economics, political theory, and film. Topics to be addressed include the relation between credit, energy supply, and national security; American financial panics in a historical perspective; capitalism and labour; the philosophy of military targeting; the doctrine of the preemptive strike; necessity and moral law; and human rights and political terror.
USA400H1F Topics in American Studies I: Queer Feelings, Instructor: E. Brown, T12-2, enrollment cap: 18
This course brings together two areas of inquiry: queer studies and affect/emotion/public feeling. What is the relationship between feeling(s) and queer subjectivities? How does engagement in public culture structure and shape individual and collective counter-publics? What role does a commercialized mass culture play in producing queer feelings? The interdisciplinary course will use an intersectional analytic approach to investigate the relationship between emotion/affect/feeling and the production of queer selves. Students will engage with both primary texts (e.g. autobiographies, visual culture, built environment) and secondary literature (both empirical and theoretical) to explore these questions. As a capstone seminar, the course requires that student produce a major original research paper or project at the end of term. Pre-requisites: at least two courses from the American Studies list, or permission from the instructor. To view the syllabus, please <click here>.
USA401H1F Topics in American Studies II: Social Problem Films, Instructor: N. Sammond, T1-3 (Screening), W4-6 (seminar), cross listed as INI464H1F.
Enrollment in this course is competitive, interested applicants must complete and submit a course ballot. Please email csus.advisor@utoronto.ca for more information.
Study of the (primarily American) ‘social problem film’ genre from the 1920s-2000s, examining how producers’ interactions with fans, critics, and censors helped shape films that approached issues such as class conflict, crime, sexism, racism, corruption, and homophobia, and how people imagined the genre as changing social and cultural life.
ENG434H1F Advanced Studies Group 3: American and Transnational Literatures "Cook the Books: Modern Food Literature," Instructors: Prof. Andrea Most and Chef Joshna Maharaj, T3, R2-4
A few spaces in this course have been reserved for American Studies students; there is a $100 ancillary fee for this course. Enrollment in this course is competitive, interested applicants must complete and submit a course ballot. Please email csus.advisor@utoronto.ca for more information.
Literature and food have a long and tasty relationship. This course will explore modern literary representations of growing, preparing, and eating food with particular focus on the ethics of eating and the aesthetics of taste. Taught in collaboration with a local chef, Cook the Books will include hands-on literary-inspired cooking projects and weekly tasting sessions. Required texts will include novels, memoirs, poems, essays, cookbooks, films, websites and TV shows by writers such as MFK Fisher, Alice B. Toklas, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Roald Dahl, Julia Child, Wendell Berry, Robert Frost, Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, Mollie Katzen, Marcella Hazan, Alice Waters, Jonathan Safran Foer. Select secondary readings in ethics and aesthetics. First Three Authors/Texts: Brillat-Savarin, MFK Fisher, Laura Ingalls Wilder. Method of Instruction: Seminar discussion; hands-on cooking classes. Method of Evaluation: Cooking presentation and short essay (5 pages); final essay (10-15 pages) To view images from the class, please <click here>. To read an article about this course published in The Bulletin on October 18, 2011, please <click here>. The course was featured on Metro Morning on November 25, 2011. To view the podcast (it’s about 4/5 of the way through): http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/metromorning_20111124_18925.mp3
Winter Term
USA300H1S Theories and Methods in American Studies: The 1920s, Instructor: E. Brown, Tuesdays 12-2pm, enrollment cap: 60
Tutorials: T2, T3, enrollment cap: 30
This course, required for majors and minors but open to all who have met the pre-req, explores a range of approaches to the field of American Studies. The course is organized around the decade of the 1920s, a period of tremendous social, political, and economic change as the U.S. emerged from WWI as a global industrial power and Americans debated competing ideas about the meanings of modernity. The course looks at the 1920s through a series of thematic weeks, drawing from interdisciplinary primary and secondary sources, such as black migration and urban modernities; gender, sexuality, and global beauty culture; immigration policy and racial formation; modernism in the visual arts; Prohibition and gangsters; market empires and global commodity chains. Students will be introduced to some of the many ‘theories and methods’ that have animated the field of American Studies, including historical methods; formal analysis of visual and literary texts; commodity chain analysis; ‘race,’ ‘commodity,’ ‘gender,’ ‘diaspora’ and ‘affect.’ To view the course syllabus <click here>.
USA310H1S: Approaches to American Studies: Quantitative Cultures, Instructor: B. Beaton, M6-8, enrollment cap: 45
Do numbers have politics? Who makes numbers? Why do people make them? This course explores the historical relationship between people and numbers, concentrating on what Americans make and do in fields like science, engineering, mathematics, insurance, and finance. As an "approaches" course, there will also be a strong emphasis on the practice of American Studies and significant time devoted to discussing the field's methods and techniques. Students will use critical terms of analysis to research and write about numbers and the people who make them. What role have numbers played within U.S. history and culture? How have numbers figured within larger debates over things like settlement, citizenship, slavery, immigration, population, war, and public health? How has counting, calculating, predicting, and forecasting been characterized and portrayed within American art, film, and literature? Assigned texts include a considerable amount of archival and primary source material, covering the period from the 18thc to the present. In this course, we employ critical and interdisciplinary perspectives to analyze elite and expert number-making cultures. This course is designed specifically for students with a background in the arts and humanities. No prior background in statistics, math, or quantitative reasoning is required. Prerequisites: At least two courses from the American Studies list or USA300H1 or permission of the instructor.
USA310H1S Approaches to American Studies: Illegal Drugs and American Society, Instructor: H. Karibo, T10-12, enrollment cap: 45
Few topics spark as much controversy and emotion in American culture as the consumption of psychotropic substances. In fact, the nature of these substances and their impact on society has long been debated. This course will trace the shifting meanings of illegal drug use in American society over the course of the twentieth century. It begins with an historical analysis of drug consumption at the turn of the twentieth century, and explores the way perceptions about drugs and drug use change over time. We will explore how and why particular substances come under public and legal scrutiny in particular periods, and how drug use shaped the lives of users in different contexts. Among the topics to be covered are the changing meanings of ‘addiction,’ the emergence of anti-narcotic legislation, treatment versus punishment approaches to addiction, the racialization of drug users, the development of urban drug subcultures, gendered perceptions of drug consumption, and the “War on Drugs” and alternative approaches to drug law enforcement.
USA400H1S Topics in American II: Taking Shots at the Man: Assassination and the American Presidency, Instructor: B. Potruff, W2-4, enrollment cap: 18, cross listed as HIS496H1S
This seminar focuses on political violence directed at the U.S. President from the Civil War to the War on Terror. At key historical moments of national crisis, the office of the Presidency has repeatedly become a target of assassination. While much can be learned by investigating the grievances articulated by assassins, interpretations of their explanations shifted considerably as their acts reverberated through American culture. Public debates surrounding these acts of violence have been framed by historically-specific notions of race, class, gender, and mental fitness. In this course, we will cover several assassination attempts from 1865-2001 through interwoven themes of power and memory. As an advanced topics seminar students will be required to pursue original research on a topic of their choice, and write a 20 page research paper.
USA401H1S Topics in American Studies II: Science, Medicine, Religion in America, Instructor: R. Numbers, enrollment cap: 18, cross listed as RLG1501H1S and RLG440H1S
This is an intensive sprint course taught by eminent historian of science and religion, Prof. Ronald Numbers of the University of Wisconsin. Prof. Numbers is our F. Ross Johnson-Connaught Distinguished Visitor in American Studies for 2011-12. To view Prof. Numbers' bio, please <click here>. This 3-week seminar explores the history of science, medicine, and religion in American life. Throughout the seminar, students focus on close readings of primary sources and analyses of historical interpretations. In addition to participation, the major requirement of the course is a 20 page research paper, based on primary sources, and due at the end of the term. Seminar topics include: delineating the boundaries between “science” and “religion”; God in colonial America; naturalizing Nature; creationism; evolution and anti-evolutionism; science and intelligent design; miracles and healing; psychology and sex; science and secularization. In addition to a range of primary sources, such as work by Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, or Asa Gray, students will read secondary literature by Prof. Numbers, Charles Rosenberg, Mark Noll, Robert Orsi, and others.
Orientation Session: Tuesday Jan. 10, 4-6:30 pm (with Prof. Pamela Klassen). Thereafter, classes will meet on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for three weeks: Jan. 31-Feb 2, 2012; Feb. 28-March 2, 2012; and March 7-9, 2012.
