2023-2024 Catalog

Requirements

Major

The American Studies major consists of a minimum of 10 courses (40 units).  Students must complete three required courses: one introductory course in American Studies (AMST 101); a junior seminar in American Studies Theory and Methods (AMST 390); and the capstone senior seminar (AMST 490). In addition to these courses, students will take seven electives.  These will consist of two courses from each of the two thematic clusters ("cultural productions" and "historical perspectives"); and three additional electives.  Two of the seven electives must be 300-level courses.

Core Required Courses

All majors must take these three courses.

AMST 101Introduction to American Studies

4 units

AMST 390Theories and Methods of American Studies

4 units

AMST 490Senior Seminar

4 units

Please note: AMST 101 is a prerequisite for AMST 390 and AMST 490.

Cultural Productions

Students must select two courses from the list below:

AMST 220Race, Gender, and Sexuality in American Film and Media

4 units

AMST 333American Queer Novel

4 units

AMST 260/LLAS 260United States Latino Literature and Cultural Studies

4 units

AMST 265/WRD 265Feminist Rhetorics and Social Change

4 units

AMST 270Asian American Literature

4 units

AMST 320Graphic Narratives: From Pulp Fiction to Comix Literature

4 units

AMST 329/BLST 329Black Queer Thought

4 units

AMST 335Queer of Color Critique

4 units

ENGL 289The American Experience in Literature

4 units

ENGL 346/BLST 34619th Century African American Literature

4 units

Students may also apply AMST 295 to the Cultural Productions cluster if they have enrolled in the "Dis/Ability and Care Cultures in the U.S." section of the course.

Historical Perspectives

Students must select two courses from the list below:

AMST 202/LLAS 202Latina/o Cultural and Intellectual History

4 units

AMST 208/BLST 208African American History II: The Great Migration and the Transformation of American Culture

4 units

AMST 215Discipline and Desire: The History of Sexuality in the United States

4 units

AMST 256/BLST 256Race Women: African American Women's Protest Culture

4 units

AMST 268/BLST 268Style Politics: Beauty and Fashion in Black Women's History

4 units

AMST 272/ASN 272Asian Immigrants in American Society

4 units

AMST 280/DWA 246The United States and East Asia

4 units

AMST 376/BLST 376Slavery, Freedom, and American Memory

4 units

HIST 101United States Culture and Society I

4 units

HIST 102United States Culture and Society II

4 units

HIST 207/BLST 207African American History I: Black Americans and the Making of the Nation

4 units

HIST 309/BLST 309Slavery in the Antebellum South

4 units

Students may also apply AMST 295 to the Historical Perspectives cluster if they have enrolled in the "Origins of the New Right" or "Settler and Native Ecologies of Power in North America" sections of the course.

Additional Electives

Students must take three additional elective chosen either from the list of approved electives below, or one of the thematic clusters above. 

AMST 200/POLS 200Democratic Socialism, American Style

4 units

AMST 295Topics in American Studies

4 units

AMST 332Psychic Life of Violence in the United States

4 units

ARTH 285Nineteenth Century Art: Culture, Politics, and National Identity

4 units

BLST 101Introduction to Black Studies

4 units

ENGL 142/BLST 142Joyful Noise! On Black Literature and Musicality

4 units

HIST 312/BLST 312Race, Rights, and Revolution in the Atlantic World

4 units

LLAS 385/PSYC 385Chicanx Identities and Social Institutions: Education, Health, Politics

4 units

POLS 208Movements for Social Justice

4 units

RELS 145Introduction to American Religion

4 units

RELS 245/BLST 245African American Religious Traditions

4 units

UEP 230Climate Justice: Theory and Practice

4 units

Honors in the Major

In general, it is expected that honors students will take both:


AMST 490Senior Seminar

4 units

AMST 499Honors

2 or 4 units

For further information see the Honors Program and the department chair.

Minor

The American Studies Minor consists of five courses for a total of 20 units.  AMST 101 is required along with one elective in the "Cultural Productions" category and one elective in the "Historical Perspectives" category and two additional electives from any category.