American Studies (AMST)Arts and Sciences

Showing 58 results.

Course descriptions provided by the Courses of Study 2018-2019.

AMST 1104

This course will examine race and ethnic relations between Whites, Blacks, Latinos, and Asians in the United States. The goal of this course is for students to understand how the history of race and ethnicity ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one seminar and one discussion. Combined with: LSP 1105SOC 1104

  • 3 Credits Opt NoAud

  •  8836 AMST 1104   SEM 101

  •  9524 AMST 1104   DIS 201

  •  9525 AMST 1104   DIS 202

AMST 1115

A policy-centered approach to the study of government in the American experience.  Considers the American Founding and how it influenced the structure of government;  how national institutions operate ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: GOVT 1111

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  8393 AMST 1115   LEC 001

  •  8394 AMST 1115   DIS 201

  •  8395 AMST 1115   DIS 202

  •  8396 AMST 1115   DIS 203

  •  8397 AMST 1115   DIS 204

  •  8398 AMST 1115   DIS 205

  •  8399 AMST 1115   DIS 206

  •  8400 AMST 1115   DIS 207

  •  8401 AMST 1115   DIS 208

  •  8607 AMST 1115   DIS 209

  •  8833 AMST 1115   DIS 210

  •  9923 AMST 1115   DIS 211

  •  9924 AMST 1115   DIS 212

AMST 1500

This course offers an introduction to the study of Africa, the U.S., the Caribbean and other diasporas.  This course will examine, through a range of disciplines, among them literature, history, politics, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASRC 1500GOVT 1503

  • 4 Credits Graded

  •  8140 AMST 1500   LEC 001

AMST 1595

Focusing on political and social history, this course surveys African-American history from Emancipation to the present. The class examines the post-Reconstruction "Nadir" of black life; the mass black ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASRC 1595HIST 1595

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16240 AMST 1595   LEC 001

AMST 1600

This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the diverse cultures, histories and contemporary situations of the Indigenous peoples of North America. Students will also be introduced to important ... view course details

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Syllabi:
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: AIIS 1100ANTHR 1700

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  7155 AMST 1600   LEC 001

  •  7156 AMST 1600   DIS 201

  •  7157 AMST 1600   DIS 202

  •  9392 AMST 1600   DIS 203

AMST 1802

This course seeks a fuller recounting of U.S. history by remapping what we understand as "America." We will examine traditional themes in the teaching of U.S. history—territorial expansion and empire, ... view course details

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Syllabi:
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: HIST 1802LATA 1802LSP 1802

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16259 AMST 1802   LEC 001

AMST 1886

This course introduces students to the growing field of academic Food Studies, providing historical perspective into the development of American culinary culture. Discussions of American cuisine will lead ... view course details

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Syllabi:
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: HIST 1886

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 16270 AMST 1886   LEC 001

  • 16271 AMST 1886   DIS 201

  • 16272 AMST 1886   DIS 202

  • 16273 AMST 1886   DIS 203

  • 16274 AMST 1886   DIS 204

  • 16275 AMST 1886   DIS 205

  • 16276 AMST 1886   DIS 206

  • 16277 AMST 1886   DIS 207

AMST 2006

Punk Culture–comprised of music, fashion, literature, and visual arts–represents a complex critical stance of resistance and refusal that coalesced at a particular historical moment in the mid-1970s, and ... view course details

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Syllabi:
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: COML 2006ENGL 2906MUSIC 2006

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 16914 AMST 2006   LEC 001

  • 16915 AMST 2006   DIS 201

  • 16916 AMST 2006   DIS 202

AMST 2042

This seminar examines America during the overlapping eras of segregation & immigration exclusion.  Beginning with contests over the weaning of freedom during reconstruction and running through the ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: AAS 2042HIST 2042

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17317 AMST 2042   SEM 101

AMST 2225

In recent years, poverty and inequality have become increasingly common topics of public debate, as academics, journalists, and politicians attempt to come to terms with growing income inequality, with ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •  8742 AMST 2225   LEC 001

  •  8767 AMST 2225   DIS 201

  •  8768 AMST 2225   DIS 202

  •  8769 AMST 2225   DIS 203

  •  8770 AMST 2225   DIS 204

  •  8771 AMST 2225   DIS 205

  •  8772 AMST 2225   DIS 206

  •  8773 AMST 2225   DIS 207

  •  8774 AMST 2225   DIS 208

  •  9691 AMST 2225   DIS 209

  •  9692 AMST 2225   DIS 210

AMST 2251

Americans are conflicted about immigration. We honor and celebrate (and commercialize) our immigrant heritage in museums, folklife festivals, parades, pageants, and historical monuments. We also build ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: HIST 2251LSP 2251

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16354 AMST 2251   SEM 101

AMST 2255

This course attempts to reconcile the split between art and science through a pluralistic perspective of environmental artistic processes. What is the role of visual culture in sustainable development? ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ARTH 2255

  • 3 Credits Opt NoAud

  • 17837 AMST 2255   LEC 001

AMST 2260

In this class, we will examine how musicians working in such genres as rock, jazz, folk, classical, soul, and experimental music responded and contributed to the major themes of the 1960s in the US: the ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASRC 2260MUSIC 2260

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 16450 AMST 2260   LEC 001

AMST 2350

This introductory course surveys archaeology's contributions to the study of American Indian cultural diversity and change in North America north of Mexico. Lectures and readings will examine topics ranging ... view course details

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Syllabi:
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: AIIS 2350ANTHR 2235ARKEO 2235

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  9110 AMST 2350   LEC 001

AMST 2354

This seminar examines some of the political and cultural visions of Africa and Africans held by African-American intellectuals and activists in the 19th and 20th centuries. Emphasis is placed ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASRC 2354HIST 2354

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16368 AMST 2354   SEM 101

AMST 2505

The importance of sports to American society and popular culture cannot be denied, and this seminar will study sports films' vital significance in representing the intersection of sports, history, and ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: FGSS 2501PMA 2501VISST 2502

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 17051 AMST 2505   LEC 001

AMST 2511

This course explores the social, cultural and communal lives of black women in North America, beginning with the transatlantic slave trade, and ending in 1900. Topics include Northern and Southern enslavement, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASRC 2511FGSS 2511HIST 2511

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 16316 AMST 2511   LEC 001

AMST 2640

An introductory history of Chinese, Japanese, Asian Indians, Filipinos, and Koreans in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1990s. Major themes include racism and resistance, labor ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: AAS 2130HIST 2640

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16320 AMST 2640   LEC 001

AMST 2665

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the origins, character, and results of the American ... view course details

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Syllabi:
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: HIST 2665

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16343 AMST 2665   LEC 001

  • 16346 AMST 2665   DIS 201

  • 16347 AMST 2665   DIS 202

AMST 2682

This lecture course explores the dramatic cultural, economic, and social upheavals in U.S. society during the 1960s and 1970s. It will primarily focus on the dynamic interactions between formal politics, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: HIST 2680

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 16345 AMST 2682   LEC 001

AMST 2710

This course is a blending of the Sociology of Education and Public Policy. Front and center in this course is the question of why consistent differential educational and economic outcomes exists in American ... view course details

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Syllabi:
  •  6355 AMST 2710   LEC 001

  •  6356 AMST 2710   DIS 201

  •  6357 AMST 2710   DIS 202

  •  6358 AMST 2710   DIS 203

  •  6359 AMST 2710   DIS 204

  •  6360 AMST 2710   DIS 205

AMST 2721

Representation is basic to anthropology. In the process of translating societies and cultures, anthropologists produce authoritative accounts about other people, their lives, and their communities. We ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ANTHR 2721LSP 2721

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16502 AMST 2721   LEC 001

AMST 2770

Designed for the general student population, this course specifically appeals to students traveling abroad, or who in the future will work with diverse communities (for example, students with interests ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASRC 2770ENGL 2770LSP 2770

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  9381 AMST 2770   LEC 001

AMST 3012

Poverty is a phenomenon of enduring importance with significant implications for democratic governance. This course explores contemporary poverty in America, with a particular emphasis on its political ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: GOVT 3012

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16798 AMST 3012   LEC 001

  • 16799 AMST 3012   DIS 201

  • 16800 AMST 3012   DIS 202

  • 16801 AMST 3012   DIS 203

  • 16802 AMST 3012   DIS 204

  • 18827 AMST 3012   DIS 205

  • 18828 AMST 3012   DIS 206

AMST 3025

This course examines both mainstream representations of and independent media made by, for, and about Asians and Asian Americans throughout U.S. cultural history. In this course, we will analyze popular ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: AAS 3020PMA 3420

  • 4 Credits GradeNoAud

  • 18709 AMST 3025   SEM 101

AMST 3082

This course focuses on political campaigns, a central feature of American democracy. We will examine how they work and the conditions under which they affect citizens' decisions. The course looks at campaign ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: GOVT 3082

  • 4 Credits Graded

  •  8344 AMST 3082   LEC 001

  •  8349 AMST 3082   DIS 201

  •  8350 AMST 3082   DIS 202

  •  8351 AMST 3082   DIS 203

  •  8352 AMST 3082   DIS 204

AMST 3161

This course will explore and seek explanations for the performance of the 20-21st century presidency, focusing on its institutional and political development, recruitment process (nominations and elections), ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: GOVT 3161

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16686 AMST 3161   LEC 001

  • 16987 AMST 3161   DIS 201

  • 16988 AMST 3161   DIS 202

AMST 3230

Surveys problems in American economic history from the first settlements to early industrialization. view course details

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Syllabi:
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ECON 3310

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  8077 AMST 3230   LEC 001

AMST 3281

This course investigates the United States Supreme Court and its role in politics and government. It traces the development of constitutional doctrine, the growth of the Court's institutional power, and ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: GOVT 3281LAW 3281

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17027 AMST 3281   LEC 001

AMST 3330

Based on indigenous and place-based "ways of knowing," this course (1) presents a theoretical and humanistic framework from which to understand generation of ecological knowledge; (2) examines processes ... view course details

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Syllabi:
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: AIIS 3330NTRES 3330NTRES 6330

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 16658 AMST 3330   LEC 001

AMST 3380

This is a seminar course on urban inequality in the United States.  The first half of the semester will be dedicated to understanding the political, historical, and social determinants of inequality in ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: SOC 3380

  • 4 Credits Opt NoAud

  • 17330 AMST 3380   SEM 101

AMST 3463

This course considers issues, approaches, and complexities in the contemporary television landscape. As television has changed drastically over the past fifteen years, this course provides students with ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: PMA 3463VISST 3463

  • 4 Credits Graded

  •  9653 AMST 3463   SEM 101

AMST 3475

This course explores Caribbean literary, sonic, and visual cultures in New York City from the late 19th century to the present, and examines the ways in which Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Dominican diasporic ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •  9414 AMST 3475   SEM 101

AMST 3515

Blaxploitation films of the 1970s are remembered for their gigantic Afros, enormous guns, slammin' soundtracks, sex, drugs, nudity, and violence. Never before or since have so many African American performers ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  • 16839 AMST 3515   LEC 001

AMST 3562

The Western nation-state has failed to solve the two most pressing, indeed catastrophic, global problems: poverty and climate change. This failure is due to the inability of national policy to imagine ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: AIIS 3560ENGL 3560

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  8640 AMST 3562   SEM 101

AMST 3650

Powerful voices emerged in the United States' first hundred years that continue to reverberate and to shape the ways in which we understand ourselves as Americans.  We will give special attention in this ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ENGL 3650

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16740 AMST 3650   SEM 101

AMST 3670

In the twentieth century, American fiction had an outsize impact on world literature as well as popular culture in the United States. This course will explore particularly important moments in its development, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ENGL 3670

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • Topic: 20th C. American Fiction

  • 16768 AMST 3670   LEC 001

AMST 3810

Review of architecture, building, and responses to the landscape from the prehistoric period to the Civil War. Architecture and building as social and collaborative arts are emphasized and thus ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ARCH 3810ARCH 5810

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 18336 AMST 3810   LEC 001

AMST 3854

This course addresses pertinent issues relative to the subject of regional development and globalization. Topics vary each semester. view course details

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Syllabi:
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: CRP 3854GOVT 3494

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • Topic: Growth and Development

  •  7718 AMST 3854   LEC 080

  • Taught in Washington, DC. This is part of the Cornell in Washington program.

AMST 3980

Affords opportunities for students to carry out independent research under appropriate supervision. Each student is expected to review pertinent literature, prepare a project outline, conduct the research, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 1-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  6144 AMST 3980   IND 601

    • TBA
    • Staff

AMST 3990

Individualized readings for junior and senior students. Topics, requirements, and credit hours will be determined in consultation between the student and the supervising faculty member. view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 1-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  6145 AMST 3990   IND 601

    • TBA
    • Staff

AMST 4021

American conservative thought rests on assumptions that are strikingly different from those made by mainstream American liberals.  However, conservative thinkers are themselves committed to principles ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: GOVT 4021

  • 4 Credits Graded

  •  8583 AMST 4021   SEM 101

AMST 4039

This course focuses on the American South in the nineteenth century as it made the transition from Reconstruction to new forms of social organization and patterns of race relations. Reconstruction will ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  • 16359 AMST 4039   SEM 101

AMST 4066

Computers and digital technologies including robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), internet-enabled platforms, and other "high-tech" drivers of automation have revolutionized the nature ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ILRLR 4066ILRLR 6066

  • 4 Credits GradeNoAud

  • 18228 AMST 4066   LEC 001

AMST 4104

It is almost a truism that the United States is the world's most litigious society. As a polity founded on an almost sacralized constitutional foundation, it is no surprise that law and the legal system ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASRC 4304ASRC 6340

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 19015 AMST 4104   SEM 101

AMST 4203

This advanced seminar traces transformations in citizenship and the franchise throughout U.S. history. Through readings, frequent short writings, discussion, and a final paper, the class examines the struggles ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: HIST 4203

  • 4 Credits GradeNoAud

  • 16357 AMST 4203   SEM 101

AMST 4272

This seminar uses archaeology to examine engagements between settlers and indigenous peoples throughout world history. Archaeology provides a perspective on settler-indigenous encounters that both supplements ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  • 16457 AMST 4272   SEM 101

AMST 4402

Hip hop has been dependent on women's contributions, yet female artists have had to work hard to contest their marginalization and objectification in the music and culture. Some of the most heated debates ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  • 16723 AMST 4402   SEM 101

AMST 4521

This seminar will investigate the narrative uses of history and memory in US fiction, focusing particularly on the impact of gender on these representations. How do US writers use history in their fiction, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ENGL 4521FGSS 4521

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17752 AMST 4521   SEM 101

AMST 4565

The movement of things like narcotics and of people like laborers has been a profoundly compelling subject for artists of every form. This course will study television series such as Weeds and The Wire ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ENGL 4565LATA 4565LSP 4565

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16762 AMST 4565   SEM 101

AMST 4626

This seminar surveys contemporary political theories of disobedience and resistance. We will examine liberal, republican, and radical perspectives on the logic of political protest, its functions, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  • 16381 AMST 4626   SEM 101

AMST 4733

How should anti-racist people respond to the new racialized white identities that have emerged recently in Europe and the United States?  What alternative conceptions of whiteness are available? How can ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •  9916 AMST 4733   SEM 101

AMST 4993

To graduate with honors, AMST majors must complete a senior thesis under the supervision of an AMST faculty member and defend that thesis orally before a committee. Students interested in the honors program ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Multi-Term

  •  5535 AMST 4993   IND 601

    • TBA
    • Staff

AMST 5710

Examines the goals, roles, inputs, and outcomes of schooling in American society, and the policy environment in which schools operate. Analyzes controversies and tensions (e.g., equity, market forces, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •  6361 AMST 5710   LEC 001

  •  6362 AMST 5710   DIS 201

  •  6363 AMST 5710   DIS 202

  •  6364 AMST 5710   DIS 203

  •  6365 AMST 5710   DIS 204

  •  6366 AMST 5710   DIS 205

AMST 6272

This seminar uses archaeology to examine engagements between settlers and indigenous peoples throughout world history. Archaeology provides a perspective on settler-indigenous encounters that both supplements ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  • 16462 AMST 6272   SEM 101

AMST 6531

This course takes a theoretical (what are some of the key understandings of capitalism?), methodological (how should we study it?), and case study approach to the history of capitalism in the United States ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: HIST 6531

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 17429 AMST 6531   SEM 101

AMST 6627

This seminar surveys contemporary political theories of disobedience and resistance. We will examine liberal, republican, and radical perspectives on the logic of political protest, its functions, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none
  • 16385 AMST 6627   SEM 101

AMST 6733

How should anti-racist people respond to the new racialized white identities that have emerged recently in Europe and the United States?  What alternative conceptions of whiteness are available? How can ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none
  •  9917 AMST 6733   SEM 101