Summer 2009 Courses

FIRST 6-WEEK SESSION, MAY 26-JULY 2, 2009

American Studies 101AC: Examining U.S. Cultures in Time. Prof. Cohen
The Age of Monopoly: American Culture 1865-1929 (4 units)
This course satisfies the American Studies “Time” and pre-1900 requirements, as well as Area of Concentration classes in Business or Popular Culture, It also satisfies UCB’s American Cultures requirement. Between the end of the Civil War and start of the First Great Depression, the United States of America transformed itself from an isolationist and agricultural country into the richest, most powerful nation in the world. This era is characterized by the stunning growth of industrial and finance capitalism and the seemingly insignificant birth of what quickly became the dominant institution in our world: the modern business corporation. The building of vast corporate monopolies in money, steel, tobacco, movies, food, oil, electricity, organized crime, etc. reorganized every aspect of American life and culture from our cities to our sports, from our politics to our popular entertainment. The Age of Monopoly represents the birth of modern America, and with these great changes came epic social, sexual and racial conflicts characterized by the often violent clash of labor and capital, the repression of African American rights and the triumph of white supremacy, the cataclysmic end to 400 years of Indian wars, the challenge of feminism and the New Woman, the confrontation of Americans with the rest of the world in the form of mass immigration and imperial expansion, the rise of major reform and revolutionary movements, and the growth of state institutions dedicated to stopping them. The focus of this class will be to consider the economic and political changes of the Age of Monopoly through a study of its culture, for it was this half-century that gave birth to modern American culture in the form of illustrated magazines and comic strips, world's fairs and amusement parks, Wild West shows and vaudeville, the advertising and public relations industry, window shopping and department stores, skyscrapers and national parks, military buildups and IQ tests, talk radio and Jazz music, automobiles and suburbs, and most importantly, the Hollywood movie.

SECOND 6-WEEK SESSION, JULY 6 - AUGUST 14, 2009

American Studies 125 Prof. Wren
American Media and Global Politics (3 units)
Public opinion about world events is largely shaped today by the mass media. How accurate is such coverage in the light of historical analysis? To what extent do systemic sources of bias or distortion affect our understanding of history? To approach these questions, we will analyze the role of the media in several specific case studies. Also listed as Mass Communications C125 and Interdisciplinary Studies Field Major C125.

AMERICAN STUDIES SUMMER INSTITUTE COURSES, JULY 27-AUGUST 14, 2009

American Studies 178AC Profs. Moran, Cohen, Rowe
Race and Ethnicity in American Culture:
Film, Music, and Advertising (3 units)
Fifteen hours of lecture/discussion per week for three weeks – MW 3-5:30, TTh 12-2:30, and TTh 3-5:30. This course will examine the politics of racial representation and expression in popular music as well as film and advertising. This course combines American Studies 180C, 184I, and 188F. This course satisfies the American Cultures requirement. Students will receive no credit for 178AC if they also take American Studies 179AC, 180C, 184I, or 188F.

American Studies 180C Prof. Moran
The Politics of Advertising in the United States:
Race, Ethnicity and Representation (1 unit)
Five hours of lecture per week for three weeks. This course will address the birth of advertising culture in the U.S., focusing on the specific ways that early advertising used images of Natives to connect products to values associated with nature, authenticity, and masculinity. We will then talk about the use of plantations and African Americans to both sell products and re-imagine the U.S. as a nation. Finally, we will look at the "Golden Age" of advertising (1950-1980) to talk about the way that middle class Euro-American values came to define the American Dream. Students will receive no credit for 180C if they also take American Studies 178AC of 179AC.

American Studies 184I Prof. Cohen
Race and American Film (1 unit)
Five hours of lecture per week for three weeks. This course uses film to investigate the central role of race in American culture and history from the late 1800s to the present. We will consider the ways in which film has represented the history of race and racial formations in the U.S. Other topics include the histories of whiteness and ethnicity, representations of race and nation, blackface minstrelsy in the movies, westerns and representations of American Indians on film, borderlands and immigration, and the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. Students will receive no credit for 184I if they also take American Studies 178AC or 179AC.

American Studies 188F Tim Rowe
Race and American Popular Music (1 unit)
Five hours of lecture/discussion per week for three weeks. This course will examine the politics of racial representation and expression in American popular music. Topics will include blackface minstrelsy, jazz and the blues, and contemporary music such as reggae, salsa, and rap. Students will receive no credit for 188F if they also take American Studies 178AC.

American Studies 188D Prof. Hutson
San Francisco Detectives (1 unit)
Formerly 164. Five hours of lecture per week for three weeks. San Francisco, since Dashiell Hamett's The Maltese Falcon, has been used as a setting for detective fiction, as if its fog, hills, and valleys, and its spirit of freedom could serve as a rich environment for generating the secrets that a detective has to expose. The narrative of detection must construct, as theorists observe, the narrative of the crime. This course will consider narrative theories of detective stories. Students will read The Maltese Falcon, and writers such as Joe Gores and Marcia Muller. Three detective films, The Maltese Falcon, Vertigo, andBullett, will be screened, and students will take the Maltese Falcon tour in San Francisco.