6:00p-8:30p M
Note: A portion of this class is reserved for School of Continuing Studies Students
TOPIC: AMERICAN HISTORY/AMERICAN CULTURE: THE CONSTRUCTION OF
NATIONAL IDENTITY
For most of us, history is comprised of an intractable set of facts, dates, and battlefields we learn about either in high school or through travel with parents on interminable family road trips. Our history is passed down to us through textbooks, national holidays, and cultural landmarks. The purpose of this course will be to examine the ways in which the history we "know" is both constructed by and constructs our cultural and national identities. Readings will range from analyses of American history and the creation of historic narratives to representations of American history in contemporary film and fiction. During the course of the semester, we will examine everything from the creation of American ideologies and national narratives to the place of American history in late twentieth-century popular culture. In particular, we will examine how we, as American citizens, participate in the construction of our own national and cultural identities.