American Cultural History

Catalog description

This course introduces students to the study of U.S. cultural history, which examines the role of cultural practices, beliefs, attitudes, products, and phenomenon in the development of American history. Throughout the semester, we will explore how popular culture ? including forms such as theater, art, novels, sports, film, advertising, and more ? both shaped and was shaped by the politics and economics of their times. Through engagement with primary and secondary historical sources, students will question how factors like race, class, gender, and other markers of identity influenced the ways Americans participated in cultural production and consumption, which often resulted in competing visions of citizenship and belonging.