The Popular Culture and Media Studies concentration in American Studies offers students an opportunity to explore the rich and complex role popular culture has played and continues to play in American life. In contrast to high culture or folk culture forms, "popular culture" generally refers to those commercialized leisure activities or arts that are broadly accessible to most Americans, either through their mass media production (music, radio, film, television, novels, newspapers, magazines, fashion) or wide availability (amusement parks, concerts, sports, Broadway shows, shopping malls, internet sites). Since the end of the nineteenth century, American culture has been defined through its popular arts, most obviously Hollywood films and television programs, and American popular culture and media products have had enormous effects on American identity.
Four broad sets of questions underpin our examination of American popular culture and media. First, what does our close examination of the formal elements of cultural products - their written and visual texts, their physical shapes and sounds - tell us about their specific cultural effects and meanings, both during the historical period in which they were produced and in the present? Second, how does examining the development processes and industrial histories of cultural products help us better understand their political, economic, technological, and social implications? Third, what does the reception of these products by audiences, either through live performances or mass media, tell us about their impact on the formation of American identities (gender, racial, sexual), values, and opinions? Finally, how does studying the history of American popular culture help us critically assess our current cultural politics and the role American popular culture continues to play in our understanding of ourselves as individuals, as members of social groups, and as national and international citizens?
In this concentration, students integrate courses from a number of disciplines, combining those that offer broad surveys of cultural development as well as close examinations of particular cultural products; students should also look for courses that offer a variety of methodological approaches to studying American popular culture.
Concentration Courses
Please note that the below list of possible courses is not exhaustive and that many courses listed under "TOPICS" headings may also count toward American Studies. Students may take an unlimited number of TOPICS courses, as long as the topic of each course is different.
Students must choose five courses from the following; however, exceptions may be granted by the Director of the American Studies Program. No more than three courses may be from any one department (AMS notwithstanding); at least three courses should be at the 300-level.
American Studies
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| PERSPECTIVES ON AMERICAN IDENTITIES | |
| UNITED STATES POPULAR MUSIC HISTORY | |
| IN THEIR OWN VOICES: AMERICAN AUTOBIOGRAPHY | |
| HISTORY OF SEX IN AMERICA 2: LATE VICTORIANS TO THE PRESENT | |
| HISTORY AND U.S. POPULAR MEDIA | |
| AMERICAN VOICES: TO 1860 | |
| AMERICAN VOICES: FROM 1860 ONWARD | |
| TOPICS IN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE AND MEDIA | |
| AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE: 1890s - 1930s | |
| SEX, GENDER AND SOCIAL MEDIA | |
| AMERICAN FILM | |
| TELEVISION AND AMERICAN IDENTITY | |
| ADVANCED TOPICS IN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE AND MEDIA | |
| ADVANCED TOPICS IN GENDER AND SEXUALITY STUDIES IN THE U.S./AMERICAS | |
African & Black Diaspora Studies
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| BLACK AESTHETIC THOUGHT | |
| HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND NEGRITUDE | |
| BLACK MUSIC IN AMERICAN CULTURE | |
| AFRICAN DIASPORA WOMEN WRITERS | |
| JAZZ AND THE DIASPORIC IMAGINATION | |
| RADICAL AESTHETICS OF HIP HOP | |
| WHAT IS BLACK CINEMA? | |
| AFRICAN AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION | |
| AFRICAN- AMERICAN FICTION | |
| AFRICAN AMERICAN DRAMA AND POETRY | |
| THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT | |
| RACE, MEDIA, AND REPRESENTATION | |
Anthropology
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| MATERIAL CULTURE OF MODERN AMERICA | |
Asian American Studies
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| ASIAN AMERICAN ARTS AND CULTURE | |
Communication and Communication Studies
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION | |
| PERFORMANCE: COMMUNICATION, CREATIVITY AND THE BODY | |
| AUDIO DOCUMENTARY | |
| PERFORMANCE STUDIES | |
| TOPICS IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION | |
| ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS AND RHETORIC | |
| ASIAN-AMERICAN MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS | |
| PERFORMANCE OF GENDER & SEXUALITY | |
| PERFORMANCE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE | |
| PERFORMANCE OF HUMOR | |
Critical Ethnic Studies
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| RACE AND THE MEDIA | |
English
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE | |
| THE AMERICAN NOVEL | |
| AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE | |
| LATINX LITERATURE | |
| LGBTQ LITERATURE | |
| TOPICS IN EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE | |
| TOPICS IN 19TH-CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE | |
| AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1830 | |
| 19TH-CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE | |
| AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1865 TO 1920 | |
| AMERICAN LITERATURE AFTER 1900 | |
| TOPICS IN GENRE STUDIES | |
| TOPICS IN 20TH-CENTURY FICTION | |
| TOPICS IN AMERICAN STUDIES | |
| TOPICS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE | |
| TOPICS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE | |
| MULTIETHNIC LITERATURE OF THE U.S. | |
| NATIVE LITERATURE | |
| LITERARY THEORY | |
| TOPICS IN LATINX LITERATURE | |
| TOPICS IN LGBTQ LITERATURE | |
History of Art and Architecture
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| AMERICAN ART | |
| HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY | |
History
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| AMERICAN HISTORY AND FILM/TV | |
| AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE 1890s-1930s 1 | |
Intercultural Communication
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| PERFORMANCE: COMMUNICATION, CREATIVITY AND THE BODY | |
| CULTURAL AND SYMBOLIC CRITICISM | |
| CULTURE OF CONSUMPTION | |
| ASIAN-AMERICAN MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS | |
Journalism
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| JOURNALISM AND THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | |
| JOURNALISM LAW AND ETHICS | |
| THE PRESS AND THE PRESIDENCY | |
Media & Cinema Studies
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| HISTORY OF CINEMA I, 1890-1945 | |
| HISTORY OF CINEMA II, 1945-1975 | |
| HISTORY OF CINEMA III, 1975-PRESENT | |
| MEDIA AND CULTURAL STUDIES | |
| STORYTELLING & STYLE IN CINEMA | |
| HISTORY OF TELEVISION & RADIO | |
| MEDIA ETHICS | |
| THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION: HOLLYWOOD IN THE 1960s | |
| TOPICS IN TELEVISION STUDIES 1 | |
| SEX IN THE BOX: U.S. TELEVISION, SEX, AND SEXUALITY | |
| FANDOM & PARTICIPATORY CULTURE | |
| COMMUNICATION, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY | |
| TALKING ABOUT FILM: THEORY & CRITICISM | |
Public Relations & Advertising
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTISING | |
| HUMOR AND ADVERTISING | |
| DIVERSITY & CURRENT ISSUES IN ADVERTISING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS | |
Political Science
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| MASS MEDIA AND AMERICAN POLITICS | |
| PUBLIC OPINION | |
Religion
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| RELIGION AND POPULAR CULTURE 1 | |
Sociology
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT | |
| MASS MEDIA AND CULTURE | |
| SOCIOLOGY OF ROCK MUSIC | |
| VISUAL SOCIOLOGY | |
| POPULAR CULTURE AND THE ARTS | |
| SOCIOLOGY OF CELEBRITY | |
Theater
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| POLITICS, POP CULTURE, AND THE STAGE | |
Women's and Gender Studies
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| DECONSTRUCTING THE DIVA | |
Portfolio Requirement
Students are encouraged to maintain an active record of documents from their concentration courses, including syllabi, completed written course work, collections of visuals, e.g., photo essays -- whatever is appropriate to the six courses chosen for the concentration. Students will use these documents to aid them in writing reflective essays during the initial weeks of their senior seminar. These essays might ask you to consider “What were the course’s most valuable lessons in research, analysis, writing and communication? How did this course, taken together with the other courses you have chosen for your concentration, influence/develop your understanding of the area of American culture on which you are focusing?” These essays, along with representative assignments, will form the student's American Studies "portfolio." Students turn in their portfolio on the concentration, along with a proposal for the senior seminar project, in the first weeks of the senior seminar, AMS 301. Specific directions for the portfolio can be obtained from your American Studies advisor, from the American Studies Program office, or from the American Studies Program Director.
Open Electives
Open elective credit also is required to meet the minimum graduation requirement of 192 hours.