Freshman Year
The following seminars provide freshmen with an introduction into interdisciplinary methods and inquiry into special topics in the field of American studies. Course enrollment limited to freshman. Any student interested in a freshman seminar should e-mail Dean George Levesque(george.levesque@yale.edu).
Official Yale College program and course information is found in the Yale College Programs of Study, available online at www.yale.edu/yalecollege/publications/ycps/
AMST 001
African American Freedom Movements in the Twentieth Century.
Glenda Gilmore
Introduction to the study and writing of history, focusing on how African Americans fought for civil rights throughout the twentieth century. The civil rights movement placed in its historical context; African American freedom struggles placed in the larger narrative of U.S. history.
AMST 002
American Consumer Culture in the Twentieth Century.
Jean-Christophe Agnew
An interdisciplinary introduction to twentieth-century American consumer culture, exploring the rise (and fall) of mass consumption and its impact on the experience of family, faith, citizenship, community, gender, race, ethnicity, and politics. Topics include the changing moral valuations of consumption; the effect of consumerism on ritual life; the Americanization of immigrants and the marketing of race and ethnicity; consumer culture's reciprocal relations with literature and the arts; the politics of consumer resistance; suburbanization; and the consumer model of citizenship.
AMST 003
American Literature and World Religion.
Wai Chee Dimock
A study of the complex trajectories of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and Buddhism in American literature. Readings range from Anne Bradstreet to Bharati Mukherjee.
AMST 004
Narrations of Native America
Alyssa Mt. Pleasant
Introduction to contemporary and historic writing by American Indian authors of nonfiction and fiction. Focus on the varied ways American Indians have employed literacy and recorded oratory as a means to document, interpret, represent, and comment on their histories and experiences. Use of materials from the Beinecke Library.
AMST 005
American Religion, American Life.
Jon Butler
Explores the intersection of religion and American life from the Puritans to the present. Focuses on religion and social values, slavery, politics, reform, and gender, plus America's role in spawning new religions, with special attention to understanding religion's remarkable persistence in American culture down to the early twenty-first century.
AMST 010
The Rise of Religion in Modern America
Jon Butler
The survival and prosperity of religion in America from the 1870s to 2000. Topics include the relationship of religion to urbanization, industrialization, and American corporate life; efforts to realign religion to meet conditions of modernity; and ways that pluralism, gender equality, race, class, and expanding its influence in unexpected ways.
Next: Sophomore Year
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