American Studies (B.A.)
American Studies at Wagner is an interdisciplinary program that studies the history, culture, and society of the diverse peoples primarily, but not exclusively, within the United States. The American Studies major enables students to pursue a liberal arts education by focusing on American society and culture in the past and present. Instead of specializing in one of the traditional disciplines, the major combines several disciplines in the sequence of courses to fulfill its requirements.
American Studies majors will receive a solid grounding in American History and culture to better understand its evolution and will benefit from a range of disciplinary approaches; the study of American political institutions and American political culture to help them analyze the role of power, institutions, and policies that shape American society; and in the study of literature to experience American society from varied perspectives with particular attention to race, class, gender, and ethnicity.
Completing a degree in American Studies prepares students to enter a range of graduate and professional programs, including law school, doctoral programs, and others. The skills acquired in the program are also useful for work in non-profit organizations, activist groups, media, government, and cultural and artistic fields, to name a few.
American Studies students are strongly encouraged to take courses in languages other than English.
Requirements for a Major in American Studies (B.A.)
Download a Checklist for the Major here. A minimum of 11 units in the following distribution:
Foundation Courses (5 Units out of the following 6)
- History: HI297, HI236
- English Literature: EN226, EN216
- Government and Politics: GOV103, GOV316
Electives (4 Units)
Majors must take 4 units spread out across at least 2 disciplines. Three of these units must be at 200-level or above from the list of courses that appears below.
Senior Learning Community (2 Units)
Majors will consult with their advisor to determine which SLC is appropriate for their concentration. Students will normally complete their SLC requirement in History, though some exceptions may be permitted in consultation with the chair of the History department.
- History Senior Seminar: HI490
- History Senior Reflective Tutorial: HI400
Areas of Concentrations
Students must choose an area of concentration by the beginning of their junior year.
- African American Studies*
- Government and Politics
- History
- Literature
*Requirements for African American Studies Concentration
In addition to the Foundation Course requirements students must complete a total of 4 electives within the field of African American History, Literature, Government and Politics, and or Sociology. Three of these courses must be at the 200-level or above from at least two disciplines.
AMERICAN STUDIES COURSES
AN235 North American Archaeology: The Prehistory of Native Americans
AN238 Pre-Inca Cultures of the Ancient Andes
AR 200 Making and Seeing Art in NY
AH 215 American Art History
FM 291 Hollywood and the US Film*
FM 291 Television Theory*
EC 313 Labor Economics and Industrial Relations
EC 414 Economics of Discrimination
EN-216 African-American Literature
EN-226 American Cultures and Literatures
EN-227 American Literature from Its Origins to 1865
EN-228 American Literature from 1865 to the Present
EN-332 Pirates, Puritans, and the Revolutionary Atlantic World
EN-342 The Contested South
EN-348 Southern Women Writers
GOV 103 American Government and Politics
GOV 205 Urban Politics
GOV 211 Public Administration
GOV 212 Congress and National Policy Making: the Legislative Process
GOV 213 The Presidency
GOV 215 Law and Justice in America
GOV 217 Parties, Elections and the Mass Media
GOV 235 Riots, Rebellions and Revolutions
GOV 249 US Military Interventions in Latin America
GOV 253 The Politics of Terrorism
GOV 268 African American Political Thought
GOV 272 Feminist Political Thought
GOV 291 American Dream as Ideology
GOV 316 Constitutional Law
GOV 317 Civil Liberties and Human Rights
GOV 355 United States Foreign Policy
GOV 356 U.S.-China Relations
HI 103 American History Survey Before the Civil War
HI 216 Slaves, Masters, Po’ Whites and People of Color
HI 221 The U.S. and World War II
HI 225 History of New York City
HI 226 Topics in the History and Politics of Gender
HI 229 Museums, Myths, and Memories
HI 231 The 1960s in America
HI 236 History of The Civil Rights Movement
HI 248 African American History I, 1619-1865
HI 249 African American History II, 1865-1968
HI 250 History of Science and Medicine in America
HI 273 The Environmental History of New York City
HI 275 Bringing the Past to the Public
HI 297 Historian As Detective
HI 315 American Social History I
HI 321 History of New World Slavery
HI 324 History of Beer, Brewing, and Drinking in America
HI 323 Riots and Rebellion in Early America
HI 345 Global History of Food
FR 242 Francophone Culture and Civilization
FR 352 Cities in the Francophone World
SP 213 Hispanic Literature in English Translation
SP 310 Voces Hispanas: An Introduction to Literature in Spanish
SP 314 Topics in Hispanic Cinema
SP 347 Love, Madness, and Death in Latin American Literature
PH203 Ethics and Society
SO103 American Society and Its Social Problems
SO215 Race and Ethnic Relations
SO218 Popular Music and Social Change in the 1960s
SO300 Law and Society
SO305 Criminology
SO306 Crossing Borders: Immigration and American Identities
SO315 Social Stratification
TH 218 History of American Film
TH 235 Musical Theatre History – Background and Analysis I
TH 250 The Movie Musical