Ampersand: Examining America: American Dreams: Art, Culture, Performance, and Politics

Look around at the landscapes you inhabit. Are they created by chance and happenstance? Or were they made for particular reasons and in particular ways? This course examines landscapes in American history and society. We look at landscapes as both literal and figurative--not only physical environments, but also cultural and artistic landscapes, the social, political, and historical formations where identities are shaped and lived. This Ampersand course introduces students to a wide range of interdisciplinary methods and theories to interpret physical and cultural landscapes in America. Students develop critical thinking skills to look at such topics as nationhood, ecology and natural resources, cities and urban life, conflicts over territory and contested spaces, the spatial dimensions of subcultures, the relationship of technology to landscapes, and the meanings of home. With case studies of the landscapes of Ferguson, political struggles over landscapes of gender and sexual identities, the rise of highways and automobiles, histories of immigration and contested borders, and the powerful role of the United States in a global world, this course fosters an appreciation for the complexities and contradictions implicit within the meanings of "America."
Course Attributes: EN H; BU Hum; BU Eth; BU IS; AS HUM; AMP; FA HUM; AR HUM

Ampersand: Examining America: American Dreams: Art, Culture, Performance, and Politics

AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES 110A

Section 01