Courses in American Studies

Core Faculty in American Studies

While several faculty at The Claremont Colleges offer courses that fulfill the American studies major, the faculty listed below are considered core members of the program:

CMC: Niklas Frykman (HIST), Diana Selig (HIST), Lily Geismer (HIST)
HMC: Hal Barron (HIST), Jeff Groves (LIT), Isabel Balseros (LIT), Erica Dyson (REL)
PO: Hilary Gravendyk (ENG), Frances Pohl (ARHI), Victor Silverman (HIST), Val Thomas (ENG), Tomas Summers Sandoval (HIST)
PZ: Bill Anthes (ARHI), Stu McConnell (HIST), Claudia Strauss (ANTH)
SC: Matthew Delmont (AMST), Julie Liss (HIST), Warren Liu (ENG), Rita Roberts (HIST), Cheryl Walker (ENG)

The following courses are a sample of the range offered in American studies at Scripps and the other Claremont Colleges. This is not an exhaustive list; a student should consult the course catalogue and Academic Portal for current course offerings. In selecting courses in the major, students are strongly urged to take courses emphasizing an interdisciplinary approach.

A list of current semester course offerings can be found on the Academic Portal.

• AMST 125 SC - Race in Popular Culture and Media
• AMST 126 SC - Race in US Urban/Suburban History
• AMST 130 SC - Multiracial People and Relations in US History
• ANTH 074 PZ - The City
• ARHI 137 PZ - Tradition and Transformation in Native North American Art
• ARHI 181 PZ - Modern into Contemporary: Art from 1945-1989
• ARHI 184 PO - Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism: A Social History
• ASAM 160 AA - Asian American Women’s Experience
• ENGL 115 PO - Eating and Other: Race, Gender and Literary Food Studies
• ENGL 162 SC - Race and Ethnicity in 19th-Century American Literature
• ENGL 165 SC - Contemporary American Graphic Novels
• ENGL 176 SC - Southern Women Writers
• ENGL 180 SC - Asian American Fiction
• ENGL 183 SC - Asian American Literature: Gender and Sexuality
• ENGL 189A SC - American Film: John Ford, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock
• ENGL 189B SC - American Film: Orson Welles, Preston Sturges, Fritz Lang
• HIST 050A AF - African Diaspora in the United States to 1877
• HIST 072 SC - History of Women in the United States
• HIST 122 CM - American Schools
• HIST 152 PZ - Down and Out: The Great Depression, 1929-1941
• HIST 154 SC - The Old South and Modern Memory
• HIST 166 SC - Political and Cultural Criticism in the U.S
• HIST 173 AF - Black Intellectuals and the Politics of Race
• HIST 175 SC - War, Empire, and Society in the U.S., 1898-Present
• HIST 176 AF - Civil Rights Movement in the Modern Era
• HIST 177 SC - The U.S. in the 1920s: Fords, Flappers, and Fundamentalists
• MUS 118 SC - Music in the United States
• MUS 121 SC - Music of the Spirits: Tewa Pueblo Indian, Hawaiian, and African American
• MUS 123 SC - Music and the Performance of Identities: Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender
• POLI 124 SC - Race in American Politics
• POLI 127 SC - Politics and Public Policy of Asian Communities in the U.S
• POLI 143 SC - Civil Liberties and Fundamental Rights
• POLI 144 SC - Legal Storytelling and the Rule of Law
• POLI 187K SC - Race, Nation, and Baseball

Course Descriptions

A list of current semester course offerings can be found on the Academic Portal.

• AMST 103 SC - Introduction to American Cultures
• AMST 125 SC - Race in Popular Culture and Media
• AMST 126 SC - Race in US Urban/Suburban History
• AMST 130 SC - Multiracial People and Relations in US History
• AMST 180 SC - American Studies Seminar
• AMST 190 SC - Senior Thesis Seminar
• AMST 191 SC - Senior Thesis
• AMST 199 SC - Independent Study in American Studies: Reading and Research