SENIOR PROJECT COLLOQUIUM

This course is for American studies majors planning to complete senior projects in the spring. The course is designed to help students clarify their research agenda, sharpen their questions, and locate their primary and secondary sources. Through class discussions and a workshop peer review process, each member of the course will enter spring semester with a completed bibliography that will provide an excellent foundation for the work of actually writing the senior essay. The colloquium will meet every other week and is required for everyone planning to do a senior research project. Application due June 15. See American Studies website.

• MT 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Jeremy Dauber
  CULPA: 21 Wikipedia Info
• 1 points

TOPICS IN AMERICAN STUDIES

GENDER HISTORY AND AMER FILM

Please refer to the Center for American Studies website for course descriptions for each section.
americanstudies.columbia.edu

• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Hilary-Anne Hallett
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 4 points

TOPICS IN AMERICAN STUDIES

LANGUAGES of AMERICA

Please refer to the Center for American Studies website for course descriptions for each section.
americanstudies.columbia.edu

• W 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: John H McWhorter
  CULPA: 26 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

TOPICS IN AMERICAN STUDIES

SHAKESPEARE IN AMERICA

Please refer to the Center for American Studies website for course descriptions for each section.
americanstudies.columbia.edu

• T 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: James Stephen Shapiro
  Info
• 4 points

TOPICS IN AMERICAN STUDIES

SUPREME COURT IN AMER HISTORY

Please refer to the Center for American Studies website for course descriptions for each section.
americanstudies.columbia.edu

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Benjamin Rosenberg
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 4 points

TOPICS IN AMERICAN STUDIES

Tocqueville: Democratic Mind

Please refer to the Center for American Studies website for course descriptions for each section.
americanstudies.columbia.edu

• R 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Mark Lilla
  CULPA: 57 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

The Native Northeast

This course provides an interdisciplinary perspective on Native peoples of present-day New York and New England and their interactions with colonial empires (French, Spanish, British, US). Most of the reading will be by Native authors. In order to provide a firm historical foundation for understanding the dynamics of Indigenous and colonial history our emphasis will be on the period between European settlement and the nineteenth century. Coverage will not be exhaustive; there are too many Native nations in this region for that to be possible. Our focus rather will be on major turning points in Native history which have become flashpoints for controversy among scholars and in the broader public sphere: the relationship between Native nations and Pilgrims, King Philip’s War, the so-called Indian Great Awakening, and others. The course will cover topics in literary and religious history, politics, law, and anthropology, and should appeal to students in any of those fields, while providing an introduction to the history and methods of Indigenous Studies.

• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Ryan Carr
  Info
• 4 points

Democracy and De-Democratization, Theory

Democracy & De-Democratiz

The concepts of democratic backsliding, regime cycles (between oligarchy and populism, democracy and dictatorship), hybrid regimes and reverse waves, were devised with regard to newly democratized and/or insufficiently institutionalized democratic regimes. Yet today even long consolidated, wealthy western democracies seem to be at risk. This course will focus on the case of the United States.  While domestic and external threats to American constitutional democracy are not new, there is widespread concern today that both liberal constitutionalism and American democracy are at grave risk.  Our inquiry will involve an in-depth study of the political theory and American politics literature on the relevant concepts and dynamics. In the first part of the course, we will discuss the basic concepts and theories regarding democracy, oligarchy, constitutionalism and regime cycles developed in classical and early modern political thought.  The second part of the course will focus on the U.S., the oldest constitutional representative democracy and typically deemed the exemplar of a successfully consolidated democratic regime.  We analyze the processes, dynamics, reversals and limits to democratization in the US focusing on key tipping points from the founding to the present.  Our focus will be on four sets of factors and modes of explanation for the relevant shifts: constitutional, political, socio-cultural, and economic.  We conclude with analysis of the  contemporary conjuncture and current threats to American constitutional democracy.

• M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Jean L Cohen
  CULPA: 7 Wikipedia h-index: 63 Info
• 4 points

SENIOR THESIS IN AMER STUDIES

A year-long seminar for outstanding majors who want to conduct research -- or to design a creative project -- on any aspect of American history and culture. During the fall, students will clarify their research agenda or creative topic, sharpen their questions, locate their primary and secondary sources, and begin their project to be completed in the spring perhaps leading to departmental honors. See American Studies website for more details.

• Instructor: Jeremy Dauber
  CULPA: 21 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

SUPERVISED INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH

For students who want to do independent study of topics not covered by normal program offerings, or for senior American studies majors working on the Senior Honors Project independent of 3990y. The student must find a faculty sponsor and work out a plan of study; a copy of this plan should be submitted to the program director.

• Instructor: Robert L Amdur
  CULPA: 16 Info
• 1-4 points