AMS 10: Introduction to American Studies
Summer Session II, 2006
Instructor: Leslie Madsen-Brooks
e-mail: ljmadsen@ucdavis.edu
Office hours: noon – 2 p.m. Monday and by appointment, 2140A Hart Hall
Mailbox: 2134A Hart Hall
Class blog: http://introamericanstudies.blogspot.com/
Course description
What do American communities look like, and why? How did today’s communities come to be as they are? What values do they express, and how?
These questions will guide our exploration of American culture over the next six weeks. In attempting to answer them, we will adopt an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on history, fiction, autobiography, film, photography, food studies, and more. In addition to engaging with a variety of course materials, you’ll be called upon to think about your relationship to your own communities, past and present.
This course requires you to think critically and imaginatively about the places, food, and material culture you encounter everyday. I hope you find the process both challenging and fun.
Course materials
My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
Course reader, available at Navin’s
Course requirements
The day-to-day requirements of this class are simple: do the required reading, reflect on it, and come to class prepared to engage in thoughtful discussion.
Attendance and participation
Your presence in class is very important. We have only 12 class meetings, one of which is dedicated to the final exam. Therefore, I allow each student only one absence, no questions asked. After that, you will need to clear absences with me; each unexcused absence will lower your participation grade significantly. If you come to class late, come see me after class to be sure I have noted your attendance in my grade book.
Participation in class discussion and small group work constitutes a significant portion of your grade: 15%. To receive an “A” for your participation, you must participate meaningfully in class every day. Merely attending class will earn you a “C-” for participation.
Blog
This class maintains a blog at http://introamericanstudies.blogspot.com. We will discuss in class how to use this technology and what quantity and quality of participation I expect. Blog posts will be assigned on Mondays and must be posted by the following Friday. Your blog posts will count toward your blog writing assignments grade; your comments on blog posts contribute to your class participation grade.
Written work
I expect you to be ready to hand in your work at the beginning of class. Please use 12-point Times or Times New Roman font and staple your papers. Any assignment turned in after the beginning of class is late, and will be marked down one-third of a grade (e.g., B- to C+) for each day that passes (including weekend days) before you turn it in.
I take your writing very seriously, and I hope you do as well. I do not accept rewrites of graded assignments for a new grade. Upon request, I will schedule generous extra office hours to meet with students by appointment the days before a paper is due, so you will have ample opportunity to write a strong paper. Please note: I am not your editor or proofreader. I will help you craft a thoughtful argument and outline, and I’ll critique a paragraph or two, but I don’t read entire drafts.
Quizzes
I may give simple quizzes on a day’s reading material. If it becomes apparent to me from your quiz scores or daily responses to the readings that you have failed to do several reading assignments, your participation grade will suffer. Students who do not read the material usually cannot make meaningful contributions to discussions.
Grading
Class participation: 15%
Blog writing assignments: 25%
Paper: 20%
Final exam: 20%
Final group project: 20%
Grades for each individual assignment will be posted on MyUCDavis.
Resources
I will be available during my office hours to address your concerns with the class and assignments. I encourage you to come see me if you feel you have not been offered a chance to participate in class discussion, you are troubled by a particular assignment, you would like to talk more with me about an issue raised in class, or you have concerns about your performance in the course.
I need to hear from anyone who has a disability that may require some modification of seating, assignments, or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made. Please see me after class or during my office hours.
Plagiarism
A student commits plagiarism not only if she turns in someone else’s work as her own, but also if she borrows others’ ideas or phrases without giving them credit. We can discuss this in class if anyone has any questions. Please note that any student who plagiarizes or cheats on any assignment may receive an F on the assignment or in the course and may be subject to academic discipline by the university.
I am interested in your thoughts and your creative and analytical work. Please share them with me!
Course Schedule
INTRODUCTION
Mon., Aug. 7:
- Introduction to the course and class blog.
Wed., Aug. 9:
- Annie Dillard, excerpts from An American Childhood (reader)
- Paule Marshall, “The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the Kitchen” (reader)
Fri., Aug. 11: Blog post #1 due by 5 p.m.
BUILDING COMMUNITIES
Mon., Aug. 14:
- Thomas Frank, “Deep in the Heart of Redness” from What’s the Matter with Kansas? (reader)
- First paper assigned.
- Group project assigned.
Wed., Aug. 16:
- Cotton Mather, “Christian Behavior at Home and in the Community,” from Bonifacius (reader)
- Louisa May Alcott, “Transcendental Wild Oats”
- Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, excerpt from Farewell to Manzanar (reader)
Fri., Aug. 18: Blog post #2 due by 5 p.m.
SUBURBAN SPRAWL
Mon., Aug 21:
- Peter Bacon Hales, “Levittown: Documents of an Ideal American Suburb,” http://tigger.uic.edu/~pbhales/Levittown.html (explore the site)
- David Beers, “Invasion,” from Blue Sky Dream (reader)
- “In Support of Sprawl: A controversial architecture historian proposes that suburbia is a good thing,” http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/arts/Content?oid=oid:78291
Case Study: Lakewood, California
Wed., Aug. 23:
- D.J. Waldie, excerpt from Holy Land (reader)
- John M. Broder, “Lakewood Journal; 50 Years Later, a Still-Proud Suburb Is Starting to Fray,” http://tinyurl.com/lw8ma
Fri., Aug. 25: Blog post #3 due by 5 p.m.
URBAN LIFE
Mon., Aug. 28:
- Walt Whitman, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (reader)
- Joan Didion, “Los Angeles Notebook” (reader)
- James Rojas, “The Enacted Environment: Examining the Streets and Yards of Los Angeles” (reader)
- Jonathon Tilove, “The Edge” from Along Martin Luther King: Travels on America’s Main Street (reader)
- First paper due
Case study: Detroit
Wed., Aug 30:
- “8 Mile – The Gates of Detroit,” http://tinyurl.com/hckby (Click on “Detour” icon at bottom right to learn more. Continue to click it on each site until you’ve finished the tour of 8 Mile.)
- Jeff Byles, “Disappeared Detroit,” http://www.lostmag.com/issue2/detroit.php
- Detroitblog, “Wild Kingdom,” http://www.detroitblog.org/?p=287
- Kate Stohr, “In the Capital of the Car, Nature Stakes a Claim,” http://www.energybulletin.net/148.html
Fri., Sept. 1: Blog post #4 due by 5 p.m.
FOOD AS CULTURE
Mon., Sept. 4:
- Robb Walsh, “Texas Barbecue in Black and White” from Cornbread Nation 2 (reader)
- Kathleen LeBesco, “There’s Always Room for Resistance: Jell-O, Gender, and Social Class” (reader)
- Group project due (presentations in class)
Wed., Sept. 6:
- Ruth Ozeki, My Year of Meats
Fri., Sept. 8: Blog post #5 due by 5 p.m..
Mon., Sept. 11:
- Ruth Ozeki, My Year of Meats
Wed., Sept. 13:
- Course evaluations
- Final exam (2 hours)