American Culture And Difference

College of Arts and Sciences, Interdisciplinary Program
John Roach Center for the Liberal Arts (JRC) 339, (651) 962-5649
Contact: Kanishka Chowdhury

Overview of the American Culture and Difference degree

Learn about the College of Arts and Sciences Experience

American Culture and Difference is an interdisciplinary minor that offers students a critical perspective on the diversity of “American culture.” Students consider ways in which music, film, advertisements, folklore, literature, television, and art shape daily life in the United States, form cultural and national identity, construct racial and ethnic identity, and create a sense of “high” and “low” culture. Drawing on perspectives from a number of participating departments and programs (e.g. Art History, Communication Studies, Journalism, English, History, Music, Political Science, Sociology, Theater, Theology, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), the American Culture and Difference minor examines the symbols, practices, and histories which contribute to the complexity and variety of the American experience. In addition to making connections between disciplines, students will be encouraged to engage in analysis that discovers linkages and tensions between vernacular and elite culture, as well as among diverse and multiple cultural identities and affiliations.

The minor re-examines representations of mainstream American culture and the productions of alternative and oppositional cultures, highlighting the experiences and struggles of communities that have been historically marginalized because of their class, gender, racial or sexual identities. Put simply, American Culture and Difference emphasizes diversity as a defining element of American culture. Given its emphasis on the diversity and multiplicity of cultural experience and its interdisciplinary focus on the various strands that comprise the fabric of a given culture, the minor in American Culture and Difference is particularly suited to provide students with the critical framework necessary to be effective and ethical participants in an increasingly globalized civic and economic environment.

• AMCD 200 American Culture and Difference: Power and Identity (4 credits)
• AMCD 450 American Culture and Difference Capstone (0 credits)
• Plus twenty (20) additional credits (with no more than eight credits from a single department) from the list below. At least 4 credits must be at the 300 level or higher. No more than 8 credits from 100-level courses.

Elective Options:

• ARTH 120 Intro to Aztec Art (2 credits)
• ARTH 121 Intro to Mayan Art (2 credits)
• ARTH 202: History of Street Art
• ARTH 251 Museum Studies: Practices
• ARTH 282 History of American Architecture
• ARTH 284 Arts of the African Diaspora (4 credits)
• ARTH 321 The Art and Culture of Modern Mexico (1824-1940) (4 credits)
• ARTH 323 Colonial Art of Latin America
• COMM 326 Communication in Pop Culture (4 credits)
• COMM 328 Communication of Race, Class, and Gender (4 credits)
• COMM 332 Documentary: American Culture (4 credits)
• COMM 338 Political Communication (4 credits)
• COMM 340 Television Criticism (4 credits)
• COMM 378 Communication and Underrepresented Families
• DIMA 342 Media, Culture and Society (4 credits)
• ENGL 214 American Authors I (4 credits)
• ENGL 215 American Authors II (4 credits)
• ENGL 373 Contemporary American Literature (4 credits)
• ENGL 395 Issues in Literature, Language, and Culture (4 credits)
• FILM 225 Women and Gender in FIlm
• FILM 230 Race in Contemporary U.S. Film
• GEOG 340 Geography of the U.S. and Canada (4 credits)
• HIST 113 Early America in Global Perspective (4 credits)
• HIST 114 Modern U.S. from a Global Perspective (4 credits)
• HIST 117 Latin America in Global Perspective (4 credits)
• HIST 207 Slavery in the Americas (4 credits)
• HIST 211 Women and Family in the Americas (4 credits)
• HIST 216 African-American History (4 credits)
• HIST 303 History of Modern Brazil (4 credits)
• HIST 309 History of Urban Latin America
• HIST 340 The Long Emancipation
• HIST 355 The Civil War Era
• JOUR 262 Literary Journalism (4 credits)
• JPST 280 Active Nonviolence (4 credits)
• JPST 355 Public Policy (4 credits)
• JPST 365 Leadership for Social Justice (4 credits)
• JPST 375 Conflict Analysis and Transformation (4 credits)
• MUSC 162 Roots of Blues, Rock, Country (4 credits)
• MUSC 216 Jazz in America (4 credits)
• MUSC 230 Music of the Americas (4 credits)
• POLS 205 U.S. Policy Making (4 credits)
• POLS 301 Political Identity and Participation (4 credits)
• POLS 302 Gender and Politics (4 credits)
• POLS 306 Campaigns and Elections
• POLS 314 Constitutional Rights & Liberties
• SOCI 110 Social Problems (4 credits)
• SOCI 251 Race and Ethnicity (4 credits)
• SOCI 275 Born This Way?
• SOCI 280 Hate Crimes
• SOCI 350 Social Inequality: Privilege and Power (4 credits)
• SOCI 354 Sex in Society
• SPAN 332 Latin American Culture and Civilization (4 credits)
• THEO 224 Bridges: Theology and Mass Media (4 credits)
• THTR 223 American Theater (History of Theater III) (4 credits)