Institute for American Thought

AMST Course offerings Fall 2011

AMST-A 103: Optimism in America (3 CR)
33120 M. 12:00-1:15 Tuesday, Thursday ES 2132 M. Brodrick

In this course, we will examine the often-embattled career of optimism in America through the lens of philosophical, psychological, literary, and cultural texts. This will involve distinguishing different forms of optimism, looking at how optimism manifests in individuals and in groups, and exploring optimism as experienced by diverse populations. Our study will enable us to decide whether there is an adequate basis for optimism about the future of America and our futures as individuals.
A popular view is that American thought and culture is decidedly optimistic. Yet the sanguine optimism that flourished in America during the nineteenth century faced serious and perhaps devastating challenges in the twentieth. Today, we want to be more optimistic, but complex economic problems and rampant skepticism are holding us back.
Perhaps the most famous form of optimism in America is meliorism, or the idea that gaining even a little ground in the fight to make things better constitutes an improvement of the world. To experience this form of optimism, students will engage in service learning activities in the community.

AMST-A 301: Question of American Identity (3 CR)
19918 WEB M. Brodrick

In this online course, we will study the ways in which Americans derive personal and national identity from their perceptions of aging. This will involve examining the worship of youth in America, American experiences of aging, and notions of what it means to mature. Our efforts will culminate in a critical analysis of the attitude to aging that prevails in America to see whether it provides the sort of rich identities we want to have.
Who we are depends largely on how we experience aging. Americans tend to dream of being young forever, but in glorifying the idea of youth, we risk missing out on the kind of personal development that enriches life by adding meaning and perspective to basic drives and passions, such as love of autonomy and love of pleasure. Development of this kind occurs only when we embrace the psychological age that is appropriate to our age measured in months and years.

AMST-A 303: Literature of Rock’n'Roll (3 CR)
18572 12:00-1:15 Monday, Wednesday IT 077 J. Gosney

What constitutes the literature of rock music? Some would say that a three-paragraph review of the latest CD in Rolling Stone is the best and perhaps only example. But what about the countless books, essays, articles and other extended works that have been written about this music? How (and why?) is it possible, for example, to use rock music as the framework for a written discourse on American history (and in such discourse, suggest a logical, relevant connection between Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley?) How could an extended review of a rock ‘n’ roll album transform itself (logically and correctly) into first-rate political and social commentary? All of these questions - and many more - will be addressed in this course, as we explore the "written word of rock ‘n’ roll" in all its wonderfully complex and fascinating permutations.

AMST-A 303: The Media and their Audiences: From Lady Gaga to Glee Club (3 CR)
20175 12:00-1:15 Tuesday, Thursday ARR K. Trager Bohley

What do people do with music videos, broadcast radio, comic books, network news and websites? And what do music videos, broadcast radio, comic books, network news and websites do for people? In this class, we explore how people integrate media into their daily lives and the power and identity issues implicated in this interaction. Several of the works that we will examine this semester suggest that media practices frequently reflect, maintain and advance inequalities of American society, especially in respect to gender, class and race.  But this is not always the case.  Some studies that we read highlight the cohering elements of mediated leisure and their liberating potential. These different assessments of mediated leisure are influenced by many factors, including methods and theoretical frameworks used in a given study. In this class we will carefully consider the production of knowledge-how certain types of theories and methods are prone to produce certain types of knowledge.
Our approach to media audiences will be ethnographic, which encompasses a range of qualitative methods, including participant observation and interviewing.  Your major assignment in this class will be an ethnographic study of a media audience of your choice (e.g., a mystery book club that meets at Barnes & Noble, a baseball Internet chat group, Lady Gaga fans, or, perhaps a community of Dr. Phil television viewers who live at a retirement home.) The ethnographic approach is a holistic one that will help you to discover the hidden rules, purposes, consequences and structure of everyday media practices.  Moreover, it will shed light on the ways in which media practices shape and are shaped by American culture.

AMST-A 303: German Heritage in Indiana (3 CR)
20131 6:00-8:40 PM Thursday D. Nuetzel

AMST-A 303: Organizing for Social Action (3 CR)
17773 9:30-12:00 Friday T. Marvin

In this course we will study the social movements of the past and meet the activists who are working for social justice today. We will learn about the history of American activism from Revolutionary days to the present in order to understand how mass organizations are created and how they can be used to realize the American ideals of liberty, equality, justice, peace, and opportunity. Originally designed as the centerpiece for the first year of the Sam Masarachia Scholars Program, this seminar is now open to all who are interested in social action organizing, especially with regard to labor, seniors, and communities. This will be a "traveling seminar," moving beyond the classroom to engage the community. At several points during the semester we will meet at the site of a labor, senior, or other community organization, hosted by a representative of that organization. For more information, contact Tom Marvin at tmarvin1@iupui.edu.

AMST-A 497 OVERSEAS STUDY, DERBY, UK
AMST-A 499 SR AMERICAN STUDIES TUTORIAL
AMST-B 497 OVERSEAS STUDY, NEWCASTLE, UK
AMST-G 753 INDEPENDENT STUDY