This lecture will give an overview over American history from a cultural studies point of view. Guiding concerns will be main currents of thought, American myths and ideologies, transforming ideas about the nation and the individual, the changing gender roles, the successive media revolutions, the changing landscape, ethnicity, science and technology. The lecture will keep to the time-honored period markers in order to give students some orientation. Headings will be: 1492—the conquest of America; City upon a Hill—the Puritan experiment; The Age of Reason/Age of Revolutions; Sentimentalism and the Reform Age; American Renaissance and Westward Expansion; Slavery and Emancipation; The Age of Realism and Science; The Gilded Age, Naturalism and the Frontier Thesis; American Modernism; The Harlem Renaissance; Radical Visions—The Great Depression; Counterculture and Postmodernism; Postcolonialism/Transnationalism and post-9/11 America. You do not need to sign up or register for this lecture! Reading and Preparation: · Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation. A Concise History of the American People. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. · The powerpoint presentations used in the lecture will be available for viewing and downloading on the e-learning platform Moodle before each lecture. The key is Culthis. You will also find the syllabus and a bibliography in Moodle. Course Requirements: Multiple Choice Test (Klausur) as part of the Modul-examination |
