Theories of American Studies - Detailseite

This seminar proposes to give a survey of scholarship within the field of American Studies as Culture Studies in the last fifty years from the so-called myth-and-symbol-school to its contestations and re-definitions by (New) New Americanists. Looking at the historical evolution of American Studies, we will discuss major paradigms and theories that have influenced and shaped the field, such as psychoanalysis, structuralism, deconstruction, new historicism, and feminism/gender studies. Thus, we will explore some of the effects of the so-called “theoretical turn” and its insistence on reflecting on central assumptions about culture, texts, nation, “race,” and gender.