Students majoring in American Studies will:
- Develop knowledge of the histories and cultures of the United States, while engaging the US as a political, social, and cultural formation that has always existed in a context of empire and global capitalism.
- Work with and analyze a wide range of evidence and materials—e.g. essays, novels, autobiographies, poems, photographs, films, music, visual art, architecture, urban plans, historical documents and legal texts—developing not only skills with each but also an ability to discuss them together.
- Gain competence in a broad range of theories and methods appropriate to interdisciplinary work in American Studies and in all of the major’s specializations.
- Learn how to conduct sustained, independent research in American Studies.
- Learn how to communicate effectively about the histories, cultures, politics, and social formations of the United States in both written and oral forms.
- Attain the skills and knowledge that prepare them well both to pursue graduate work in American Studies, related fields, and the professions, and throughout their lives, to critically assess and effectively engage institutions, culture, and social structure and practices.