11 - 20 of 134 results for: AMSTUD

Preference to freshmen. We will examine the struggles of African American women to define their own lives and improve the social, economic, political and cultural conditions of black communities. Topics will include women¿s enslavement and freedom, kinship and family relations, institution and community building, violence, labor and leisure, changing gender roles, consumer and beauty culture, social activism, and the politics of sexuality.

Preference to sophomores. African American women have been placed on the periphery of many historical documents. This course will encourage students to think critically about historical sources and to use creative and rigorous historical methods to recover African American women¿s experiences. Drawing largely on primary sources such as letters, personal journals, literature and film, this course explores the everyday lives of African American women in 19th- and 20th-century America. We will begin in our present moment with a discussion of Michelle Obama and then we will look back on the lives and times of a wide range of African American women including: Charlotte Forten Grimké, a 19th-century reformer and teacher; Nella Larsen, a Harlem Renaissance novelist; Josephine Baker, the expatriate entertainer and singer; and Ida B. Wells and Ella Baker, two luminaries of civil rights activism. We will examine the struggles of African American women to define their own lives and improve the social, economic, political and cultural conditions of black communities. Topics will include women¿s enslavement and freedom, kinship and family relations, institution and community building, violence, labor and leisure, changing gender roles, consumer and beauty culture, social activism, and the politics of sexuality.

This discussion class will explore a series of social movements in modern America through the songs produced to support efforts to achieve labor unions, civil rights and racial justice, peace, and women's rights. For each class we will read short historical texts to provide contexts for the movements and then concentrate on the role of music within them. We will listening to and discuss several core songs for each topic. Biographical and autobiographical readings on a key set of musicians (including Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Malvina Reynolds, and Bernice Johnson Reagon) will provide personal accounts of the relationship of songs to social movement . The music we include in class will range from ballads to anthems, from oral traditions to the work of singer-songwriters.

Preference to sophomores. ¿The humor, the sadness, the EVERYTHING-ness and American-ness of these pictures!¿ wrote Jack Kerouac of photographer Robert Frank¿s iconic collection, The Americans. This seminar takes Kerouac¿s enthusiasm and applies it to ten American photographs, a new one each week. Examples span the medium¿s history and were taken as art, science, commerce, journalism, or personal mementos. Close study of the photo of the week will address how it looks and why; its history, from initial responses to later reception; and its relationship to the larger American visual and cultural context. Also under discussion: What story does this set of pictures tell about Americanness? What might another set of photos convey?

This class is a lunch seminar on the car and auto-mobility in twentieth-century America. We will talk about cars with a guest each week from one of ten disciplines; and topics will range from design and mechanics, to film and literature, the mapping of the United States, a gas dependent economy, social mobility, car collectability, and the history of the driver¿s license. Guests from Design and the Stanford Revs Digital Archive will also attend. Once a week TBD at Noon. Manzanita Seminar Room. Limited Enrollment. Sophomore Priority. One Unit.

Preference to freshmen. Mark Twain defined the rhythms of our prose and the contours of our moral map. He recognized our extravagant promise and stunning failures, our comic foibles and  tragic flaws. He is viewed as the most American of American authors--and as one of the most universal. How does his work illuminate his society's (and our society's) responses to such issues as race, gender, technology, heredity vs. environment, religion, education, art, imperialism, animal welfare, and what it means to be "American"?

This class examines the history of Mexican migration to the United States. In the United States we constantly hear about Obama¿s immigration plan, the anti-immigrant laws in Arizona, and the courage of DREAM Activists; in Mexico news sources speak about the role of remittances, the effect of deportations, and the loss of life at the border. Unfortunately, few people truly understand the historical trends in these migratory processes, or the multifaceted role played by the United States in encouraging individuals to head there. Moreover, few people have actually heard the opinions and voices of migrants themselves. This course seeks to provide students with the opportunity to place migrants¿ experiences in dialogue with migratory laws as well as the knowledge to embed current understandings of Latin American migration in their meaningful historical context.

This course explores the role that racial and ethnic politics play in American political campaigns and elections. This will include readings that explore the power of ethnoracial voting blocs (e.g. the Black vote and the Latino vote), as well as the challenges and advantages of candidates that are people of color. We will discuss how changing demographics are changing the political landscape, and how candidates and political parties are responding to those changes. This will include, of course, significant attention to ongoing battles at the national (e.g. Trump v. Clinton), state (e.g. Kamala Harris v. Loretta Sanchez), and local levels, most often in California but in other geographic areas as well. We will also explore historic candidacies and elections (e.g. Jesse Jackson) and political parties (e.g. La Raza Unida party) that help put the 2016 races into perspective.

This course will trace how contemporary beliefs and practices connect to historical trends in the American religious landscape.