American Studies

A student looks at the other-worldly landscape of the Grand Canyon

American Studies looks at American culture through the lens of many disciplines. This includes the institutions, values, and beliefs that have shaped the experiences of U.S. residents. Core courses provide an introduction to the scholarly work in the field. Other courses draw from art history and religion to history, economics, and political science.

This program is designed to encourage and support the interdisciplinary study of American culture. It draws upon the expertise of faculty in various disciplines and strives to understand the institutions, values, and beliefs that have shaped the experiences of U.S. residents. Recognizing the diverse and pluralistic nature of our society, the American Studies program enables the student to construct an interdisciplinary major around topics of the student’s own choice such as urban studies, ethnicity, media, religion, gender roles, environmental thought or some other aspect of the American experience. The program supports interdisciplinary courses taught by Carleton faculty and it brings to campus nationally known visiting artists and scholars under the auspices of the Fred C. Andersen Foundation.

American Studies is an interdisciplinary major which a student constructs from offerings in two or more departments of instruction. Students take both core courses in the field of American Studies and additional courses from one of five broad, thematic streams (listed below). This theme will both provide additional structure and points of comparison and a foundation for a comprehensive exercise.

Majors must complete 69 credits in the following general areas:

I. Core Courses: Each student must complete all of these:

AMST 115: Introduction to American Studies Introduction to American Studies (6 credits), this a prerequisite for AMST 345: Theory and Practice of American Studies and AMST 396: Producing Latinidad.
AMST 345: Theory and Practice of American Studies Theory and Practice of American Studies (6 credits)
AMST 396: Producing Latinidad Junior Research Seminar (6 credits)
AMST 398: Advanced Research in American Studies Advanced Research in American Studies (3 credits)
In the fall, students take AMST 398: Advanced Research in American Studies. This course provides readings and assignments that help students develop an understanding of how to do independent work in a field and what it takes to draft a syllabus on an American Studies topic. The course provides feedback and support as students put together an interdisciplinary syllabus (pitched at the level of a 300-level class) around an American Studies theme. This syllabus serves as their comps proposal.
AMST 399: Senior Seminar in American Studies Senior Seminar in American Studies (3 credits)
This course provides structure and support to students by fostering advanced skills in American Studies research, critical reading, writing, and presentation. Students get feedback on the crafting of substantiated and rigorous interdisciplinary arguments)
AMST 400: Integrative Exercise Colloquium Integrative Exercise in American Studies (3 credits)
Taken in winter term of the senior year, along with AMST 399: Senior Seminar in American Studies.
- Colloquium Comps: The American Studies comprehensive exercise takes place over Fall and Winter terms and is a colloquium process that yields an individual 12-15 PP essay and a collaborative, public facing presentation.
- In extenuating circumstances, after discussion with the director, a student may pursue the individual research essay.

II. Survey Courses: Students must take three survey courses. Two of these courses must come from a single department. Students will also take a one-term survey course from a different department. Because the entire range of these survey courses is not offered every year, students should consult the online catalog and plan accordingly.

Two courses from a single department (two-term sequence):

HIST 114: Indigenous Histories, Time Immemorial to 1887 (not offered 2024-25)
HIST 116: Intro to Indigenous Histories, 1887-present
HIST 122: U.S. Women’s History to 1877 (not offered 2024-25)
HIST 123: U.S. Women’s History Since 1877 (not offered 2024-25)
HIST 125: African American History I: From Africa to the Civil War
HIST 126: African American History II
HIST 220: From Blackface to Blaxploitation: Black History and/in Film
POSC 271: Constitutional Law I
POSC 272: Constitutional Law II

One-term course from a different department:

ARTH 160: American Art to 1940
ENGL 120: American Short Stories (not offered 2024-25)
ENGL 215: Modern American Literature
ENGL 235: Asian American Literature (not offered 2024-25)
MUSC 126: Music in the American South Program: America’s Music (not offered 2024-25)
POSC 122: Politics in America: Liberty and Equality
RELG 140: Religion and American Culture (not offered 2024-25)

III. Topical Courses: Each student must take twenty-four credits that deal with elements of the American experience from one of the thematic streams below. Courses that will fulfill this requirement are listed under each group. No more than six of these credits may be from a 100-level course. (Survey courses above and beyond those used to satisfy the required one-term and two-term sequences may count as a Topical Course.) Students must take courses from at least two departments. In order that majors acquire the research skills necessary to complete the major, six of these twenty-four credits must be at the 300-level.

Race, Ethnicity and Indigeneity: What is the relationship between race and ethnicity and U.S. cultures? Students will look at these questions in a comparative and interdisciplinary framework. Concentrators in this area should take a combination of courses that will allow them to comparatively assess the experiences of at least two ethno-racial groups in America.

Democracy, Activism, and Class: How does a longstanding American Studies emphasis on engaged scholarship reveal the relationships of politics, capitalism and power? This theme investigates the emergence of social groups and their political struggles at the local and national levels emphasizing the themes of power, inequality, and social justice.

Space and Place: How is space organized, and how do people make place? This includes the study of natural and built environments; local, regional, national and transnational communities; and international and inter-regional flows of people, goods, and ideas.

Production and Consumption of Culture: How do people represent their experiences and ideas as culture? How is culture transmitted, appropriated and consumed? Students will examine the role of artists and the expressive arts, including literature, visual arts and performance as well as that of consumers and producers.

America in the World (Migration, Borderlands, and Empire): How is the society and culture of the United States shaped by the historical and contemporary flows of people, goods and ideas from around the world? In turn, students will also focus on the various ways in which both colonial America and the United States have shaped the world.

AMST 225: Beauty and Race in America (not offered 2024-25)
AMST 238: 9/11 and the War on Terror in American Culture
ARTH 240: Art Since 1945
ECON 262: The Economics of Sports (not offered 2024-25)
ECON 264: Health Care Economics
ECON 271: Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment
ECON 273: Water and Western Economic Development (not offered 2024-25)
EDUC 340: Race, Immigration, and Schools (not offered 2024-25)
ENGL 235: Asian American Literature (not offered 2024-25)
ENGL 252: Caribbean Fiction (not offered 2024-25)
GWSS 150: Working Sex: Commercial Sexual Cultures (not offered 2024-25)
GWSS 398.00: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Popular Culture (.25/SP)
HIST 209: Slavery in the Atlantic World
HIST 213: Politics and Protest in the New Nation (not offered 2024-25)
PHIL 304: Decolonial Feminisms (not offered 2024-25)
POSC 122: Politics in America: Liberty and Equality
POSC 231: American Foreign Policy
POSC 269: I Did My Own Research: Information and Political Division in America (not offered 2024-25)
POSC 274: Covid-19 and Globalization (not offered 2024-25)
RELG 243: Native American Religious Freedom (not offered 2024-25)
RELG 261: Race & Empire in American Islam
RELG 285: Islam in America: Race, Religion and Politics (not offered 2024-25)
RELG 289: Global Religions in Minnesota (not offered 2024-25)
SOAN 125: Southeast Asian Migration and Diasporic Communities
SOAN 283: Immigration, Citizenship, and Belonging in the U.S.

The American Studies minor offers students the opportunity to complement their major field with an interdisciplinary focus on American culture. Minors develop interdisciplinary skills and habits of mind in core American Studies courses (AMST 115: Introduction to American Studies, AMST 345: Theory and Practice of American Studies) and choose a set of electives from one of our American Studies thematic streams: Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity; Democracy, Activism, and Class; Space and Place; Production and Consumption of Culture; America in the World. The majority of these electives come from disciplinary departments, including OCS programs, offering students the opportunity to connect disparate disciplines within the thematic focus of their chosen stream. The American Studies minor invites students into a deeper awareness of the social inequities that have shaped our society as well as a recognition of the historical and cultural resources we have that empower us to change our world for the better.

42 credits, including:

AMST 115: Introduction to American Studies (6 credits). This class introduces students to both the topics and approaches to American Studies. We find that our majors (and others) refer to it frequently as they move through other AMST courses.
AMST 345: Theory and Practice of American Studies (6 credits). American Studies Methods. Besides the deep dive into methodology that this class provides, it is also a key part of our community building.
One HIST course with a focus on U.S. history.
At least three courses that fulfill a single AMST stream (18 credits). The three courses must come from at least two different departments. See the lists here under “topical courses.”
- Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity
- Democracy, Activism, and Class; Space and Place
- Production and Consumption of Culture; and America in the World
In addition to number 4, one 300-level advanced topical course in AMST or within the chosen stream (6 credits) (excluding AMST 345: Theory and Practice of American Studies).

AMST 100.00 Walt Whitman’s New York City

AMST 115 Introduction to American Studies

AMST 142 U.S. Latinx Identity and Representation: Cultures of Belonging

AMST 204 Museums, Native Americans, and Decolonization

AMST 215 Trains of Thought: Contemplating Local Commuter and Passenger Rail

AMST 217 Race, Gender, and Sports in America

AMST 221 Indigenous Chicago: Indigenous Histories and Futures in Zhegagoynak

AMST 225 Beauty and Race in America

AMST 231 Contemporary Indigenous Activism

AMST 234 American Identities in the Twentieth Century

AMST 238 9/11 and the War on Terror in American Culture

AMST 239 The Death Penalty: An American History

AMST 244 Approaches to Indigenous Studies

AMST 250 Asian American Reckonings

AMST 260 Sexuality in American Film since 1945

AMST 263 Ethics of Indigenous Engagement

AMST 269 Woodstock Nation

AMST 321 Indigenous Chicago: Indigenous Histories and Futures in Zhegagoynak

AMST 345 Theory and Practice of American Studies

AMST 396.00 Producing Latinidad

AMST 398 Advanced Research in American Studies

AMST 399 Senior Seminar in American Studies

AMST 400 Integrative Exercise Colloquium

About American Studies

Requirements for the American Studies Major