Program and Course Information
Jim Denomie (Ojibwe, Lac Courte Oreilles Band, American) Eminent Domain: A Brief History of America, 1955
We offer American Studies: AS4051/AS4052 American Studies I & II. American Studies has small class sizes and offers extensive practice in critical reading, analysis and interpretation, and academic writing. American Studies carries double credit (English and history/social science), fulfills NCSSM’s English/history requirements for juniors, and prepares students for their senior-level courses.
American Studies I (AS4051): Contact to Reconstruction
American Studies II (AS4052): Reconstruction to the Present
Course Description:
American Studies is the shared humanities experience for all NCSSM juniors. A required, two-course sequence, students take an interdisciplinary, cultural-studies approach to the critical study of American history and literature—from Indigenous American nations before contact with Europeans to the period of Reconstruction in AS4051, and from the period of Reconstruction to the present day in AS4052. Students examine the continuing development of both collective and individual American identities through the study of history and historiography, literature and literary theory, politics, economics, law, material culture, the visual arts, film, music, and other aspects of American culture. A key feature of the curriculum is instruction and practice in close and critical reading, critical thinking, and academic writing—skills foundational to NCSSM's senior humanities courses and to future higher-level work across academic disciplines. Discussions, group and individual projects, and a variety of writing assignments invite students to recover, construct, interrogate, and interpret the past as narratives woven from many threads. Through collaborative inquiry and investigation, students encounter the past as a means of interrogating issues in our current world and as a path to becoming informed, empathetic, engaged, and ethical citizens in their local and global communities.
"American Studies certainly helped prepare me for college and life beyond as I was equipped with the tools to break down and understand any subject or topic through analytical and evidence-based thinking. I was also better prepared for college because I was taught to write in a way that didn't just summarize facts or historical events, but to critique and analyze history through a cultural lens."
Isabel Huesa, class of 2019
"The class was a fantastic opportunity to learn about some of the more forgotten and less glorious parts of the American past, and, on many occasions, sparked rich class discussion on myriad subjects and current events. I appreciate the seamless synthesis of facts and primary source literary analysis that my teachers employed to make our country’s history more vivid and personal than it would be in a traditional history class."
Sellers Hill, class of 2020
"While the texts we read were very relevant to their time period, we also participated in engaging discussions about issues that have persisted beyond those time periods. These discussions were made possible by very dedicated teachers who went out of their way to tie in current events, films, music, and more recent texts to show parallels between the times. I appreciated this most from American Studies because every unit provided me with more take-aways than just 'x event happened' and that it had 'y impact.'"
Leo Rangel Jimenez, class of 2019
"Amstud grew my compassion tenfold, heightening my awareness about how to be culturally and historically understanding. . . It helped me strengthen my morals, develop my understanding of human nature, and made me feel a deep connection to what I was learning. This was a rejuvenating experience, motivating me to seek out classes, subjects, and even people that helped me reflect on and make impactful connections between our self identities and the larger identity of the United States of America. "
Anna Yokote, class of 2019