HN-118H: Intro to US Cultural Studies
This course introduces and acquaints students with the critical study of social identities and inequalities in the United States. The ideas and analysis presented here is reflective of the interdisciplinary scholarship of Cultural Studies, a hybrid of humanities and social science that includes history, literary studies, gender and sexuality studies, sociology, communication studies, and more. At its core, these interrelated disciplines assert ideals promise wonderful possibilities, but that unequal manifestation render social injustice as harmful aspects of US society, negatively impacting the people, processes, and institutions of this nation. Therefore, understanding social identities is presumed to be a crucial lens of social analysis. In other words, the course/field asserts that one cannot fully understand or analyze US society without a well-developed awareness of the complexity of our social identities.
As we study the diversity of social identities, sociopolitical ideals, and sociopolitical injustice and inequality, this course will focus on the United States as our primary context. This US focus should not be taken to imply a disregard for social dynamics in other societies. Instead, this course recognizes that each region or nation has its own history and modern complexity, while also acknowledging the transnational nature of a multiplicity of cultures. Therefore, this class will focus on the United States with the recognition that national boundaries are always and already permeable.
Few places offer a more illustrative account than the history of US acquisition of Hawai’i and its aftermath. As preparation for our Jan-term trip, we engage in some broad-strokes concerns of the field, analyzing language and story and diversity and power, all in an attempt to develop our skills in developing the world as it should be.
UNIT 1
Week 5: 29 Sept. – 3 Oct.
Week 6: 6-10 October
Week 7: 13-17 October
Week 8: 20-24 October
UNIT 2
Week 9: 27-31 October
Week 10: 3-7 November
Week 11: 10-14 November
Week 12: 17-21 November
Week 13: 24-28 November
Week 14: 1-5 December