AMST/HIST 2011: Modern American Cultural History

Spring 2015
Instructor: Dr. Christina Larocco
Email: [email protected]
Mailbox: 2108 G St.
Class Meetings: Wed./Fri. 11:10-12, 1957 E St. 213
Office Hours: Wed. 1-2, 609 22nd St. 201
Graduate Assistants: Mara Dauphin
Scott Larson
[email protected]
[email protected]
Justin Mann
[email protected]

Rahima Schwenkbeck
[email protected]

Course Description:
This course is a survey of American cultural history between the Civil War and the end of the
twentieth century. It defines culture broadly, referring to both the ways Americans made sense
out of the world and their expressions of these worldviews. Students will read, watch, and listen
to cultural products from the past, including film, theater, music, literature, and the visual arts.
They will think in new ways about the historical development of the cultural institutions that
affect our everyday lives, including consumer culture, religion, and the news media. They will
also be exposed to, and will have to grapple with, evolving scholarly approaches to these topics.
It is the contention of this course that the importance of culture goes far beyond the enjoyment
we receive from it. Rather, culture is inherently political, and cultural products provide us with a
window into the politics of the time in which they were produced. The primary focus of this
course will thus be on what culture reveals about the politics of race, class, gender, sexuality, and
more in a given time.
As we approach these issues, we will focus on a number of themes that will carry us through the
semester. First, we will interrogate the concepts of good and bad culture. Is there any way
to evaluate culture neutrally, or will determinations of value always reflect the norms and greater
material resources of the dominant group? What does this mean for how we approach culture
produced by marginalized groups? Next, we will follow evolving approaches to the relationship
between cultural production and consumption. Over the course of the twentieth century, cultural
theorists advanced an increasingly important role for the audience, from passive receptacles to
active creators of meaning. Why did this occur, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of
these various interpretations? Finally, we will explore debates about the effects of cultural
consumption. While some thinkers and activists have argued that cultural consumption provides
merely a false escape from the world, deadens our senses, and precludes political activity, others
have insisted that culture has the power to instill a political consciousness in its consumers and
incite them to take action in their real lives. In weighing the value of each perspective and
tracing their ebb and flow throughout the twentieth century, special attention will be paid to the
function of culture in movements for social and political change.

Learning Outcomes:
Students who complete this course will be able to do the following:
1.) Identify major people, themes, and phenomena in modern American cultural history.
2.) Analyze competing interpretations of history and undertake their own analyses of
primary documents and artifacts.
3.) Understand the diversity of Americans experiences and the significance of that diversity
in shaping American culture.
4.) Write clearly and cogently about secondary sources and primary documents.
Required Books and Readings:
Amiri Baraka, Dutchman
Kathleen Franz and Susan Smulyan, eds., Major Problems in American Popular Culture
Allen Ginsberg, Howl
Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty
Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Additional required readings will be available online and through Blackboard. Although not
required, students who feel they would benefit from a textbook account of modern American
history may wish to consult James Henretta, Americas History, Volume 2: Since 1865.
Grading and Course Requirements:
Class Participation: 20%
Class participation is a large component of your grade in this course. You will not
succeed in the course if you do not attend, and participate actively in, your GA-led
discussion sections. While you may certainly ask your GA to clarify material covered in
lectures, the primary purpose of these sections is to discuss the weeks readings. You
must attend these sections having completed all of the required readings. You must also
bring the readings themselves. Online readings must be printed out or accessible on a
laptop or tablet, depending on the policy set by your GA. Please pay careful attention to
the reading schedulebecause discussion sections meet on Tuesdays, each one will be
spent discussing readings related to the previous weeks lectures.
Discussions will not work without each persons committed participation. I realize that
some of you may be uncomfortable speaking in a group setting. It is your responsibility
to see the instructor or GA if you need help in this area. Declining to participate is unfair
to both you and the rest of the class. It is unfair to you because your grade will suffer and
because your time in class will be less enjoyable and rewarding. It is unfair to the rest of
the class because you will be depriving them of your insights. In order to facilitate
participation, you will post a brief reading response to Blackboard at least twenty-four
hours before your discussion section meets. In it, you will identify one aspect of the

weeks readings that you would like to discuss and include two or three sentences
describing why.
If you do not attend your discussion section, you cannot participate and thus will receive
a zero. If you show up and do not interfere with other students learning, you will receive
a D. If you participate with any relevant comment, you will receive a C. Solid
participation will earn a B for the day, and excellent participation will earn an A.
Rapid Writing: 5%
At the end of each lecture, you will complete a rapid writing assignment in which you
identify both the main point of the lecture and one question you have about the material it
covered. Rapid writing will be used to take attendance, and frequently asked questions
will be addressed at the beginning of the next lecture.
Paper #1: 15%
Paper #2: 15%
You will write two papers over the course of the semester. The first is due on Friday,
February 13, and the second is due on Friday, April 3. You will receive more information
on these assignments well in advance of the due dates.
Midterm: 20%
Final Exam: 25%
You will take two exams over the course of the semester. They will consist of a
combination of key terms and essay questions. A study guide will be distributed prior to
each exam. The midterm exam will be on Friday, February 27. The final exam date will
be announced at mid-semester.
Classroom Decorum and Course Expectations:

Attendance: Attendance will be taken in both lectures and discussion sections. If you
experience an illness or family emergency that prevents you from attending class, you
must alert the instructor or GA in writing. You must make a reasonable attempt to do so
ahead of time. Please note that you are still responsible for all of the information covered
in classes you have missed.

Religious Holidays: If you celebrate any religious holidays that conflict with any
requirements of the course, please see the instructor or GA during the first two weeks of
class. We will make sure that you can both meet the course requirements and practice
your faith fully.

Technology: Cell phones, laptops, tablets, and other electronic devices are allowed in
lecture for academic purposes only. GAs may establish their own policies for discussion
sections. Students who wish to have access to their cell phones for childcare issues or
other family situations must discuss the situation with the instructor or GA.

Writing Assignments: Assignments are to be completed in paragraph form using a

standard font, font size, and margin size. GAs may set their own policies for accepting
papers in hard copy or online. For every day that an assignment is late, one letter grade
will be deducted from your grade on that assignment. Assignments more than three days
late will not be graded. Extension requests will be considered on an individual basis and
only before the assignment is due. Do not ask for an extension once a due date has
already passed.

Academic Integrity: GW does not tolerate academic dishonesty of any kind. It is your
responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty and to familiarize
yourself with the schools policies pertaining to academic dishonesty and its
consequences. Questions related to academic dishonesty must be addressed before the
assignment in question is turned in. For more information on this very serious offense,
see the Code of Academic Integrity.

Disability Support Services: Students with documented disabilities can have their needs
determined by DSS. If you require any alterations or services, you must bring the
instructor or GA a copy of your DSS form by Wednesday, January 28. Alterations will
only be made for students who have gone through DSS. For more information, see the
DSS site.
Course Schedule
Week One

Wednesday, January 14: Introduction; Cultural Practices of Death and Remembrance

Friday, January 16: Reconstruction and the Culture of Jim Crow
Week Two
Discussion (Tues., 1/20):
Reading: MP pp. 28-30, 32-33, 36-46; Ambrose Bierce, "What I Saw of Shiloh"
Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, January 21: MISSED CLASS

Friday, January 23: Middle-Class Anxiety and the End of the Frontier
Week Three
Discussion (Tues., 1/27):

Reading: MP pp. 92-94, 100-114; Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the
Frontier in American History [Blackboard]; Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life
[Blackboard]

Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, January 28: Work Culture and Working-Class Culture
Friday, January 30: Suffrage and Feminism
Week Four
Discussion (Tues., 2/3):
Reading: MP pp. 126-30, 137-44; Frederick Winslow Taylor, Scientific Management
[Blackboard]; Excerpt from Kathy Peiss, Cheap Amusements: Working Women and
Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York [Blackboard]; Margaret Sanger, The Birth
Control Review, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1-16; Emma Goldman "Anarchy and the Sex Question"
Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, February 4: Progressive Culture and Thought
Friday, February 6: Race Men and Women
Week Five
Discussion (Tues., 2/10):

Reading: George Creel, How We Advertised America, pp. 84-98, 166-83; Langston
Hughes, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain [Blackboard]; James Weldon
Johnson, Harlem: The Culture Capital [Blackboard]; Film: 100% American

Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, February 11: Modernism and Modernity
Friday, February 13: 1920s Culture Wars

Assignment due Fri, 2/13: Paper #1

Week Six
Discussion (Tues., 2/17):

Reading: MP pp. 169-82; Excerpts from Jeffrey P. Moran, ed., The Scopes Trial: A Brief
History with Documents [Blackboard]; Film: The Sheik

Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, February 18: The New Deal Cultural Apparatus
Friday, February 20: The Proletarian Moment
Week Seven
Discussion (Tues., 2/24):

Reading: Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty

Be prepared to discuss Ben Shahn, The Meaning of Social Security (View at the
Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Ave. SW)

Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, February 25: Review Session
Friday, February 27: Midterm Exam
Week Eight
Discussion (Tues., 3/3):
No discussion sections this week
Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, March 4: The Culture of Anti-Fascism
Friday, March 6: Massification and McCarthyism
Week Nine SPRING BREAK

Week Ten
Discussion (Tues., 3/17):

Reading: Norman Rockwell, Four Freedoms; Ayn Rand, "Screen Guide for Americans";
Film: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, March 18: The Cold War Family and the Affluent Society
Friday, March 20: Sexual Revolutionaries in a Conservative Age
Week Eleven
Discussion (Tues., 3/24):

Reading: MP pp. 333-39, 348-50; Richard Nixon, What Freedom Means to Us

[Blackboard]; excerpt from Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in
the Cold War Era [Blackboard]; excerpt from James Gilbert, Men in the Middle:
Searching for Masculinity in the 1950s [Blackboard]

Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, March 25: Youth Culture and Counterculture
Friday, March 27: The Black Freedom Movement in Culture and the Media
Week Twelve
Discussion (Tues., 3/31):

Reading: MP pp. 307-308; 388-407; Ginsberg, Howl; Amiri Baraka, Dutchman

Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, April 1: Performing Vietnam War Protests
Friday, April 3: The Culture of Postmodernity

Assignment due Fri., 4/3: Paper #2

Week Thirteen
Discussion (Tues., 4/7):

Reading: Tim OBrien, "How to Tell a True War Story"; Songs: Barry McGuire, Eve of
Destruction, Barry Sadler, Ballad of the Green Berets, Country Joe and the Fish, IFeel-Like-Im-Fixin-to-Die Rag, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fortunate Son
[see YouTube for videos and Blackboard for lyrics]; Film: Apocalypse Now

Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, April 8: Second-Wave Feminism and the Rights Revolution
Friday, April 10: Culture in Crisis in the 1970s
Week Fourteen
Discussion (Tues., 4/14):
Reading: Daniel Horowitz, Rethinking Betty Friedan and the Feminine Mystique: Labor
Union Radicalism and Feminism in Cold War America, American Quarterly 40 (March
1996): 1-42; Jefferson Cowie and Lauren Boehm, Dead Mans Town: Born in the
U.S.A., Social History, and Working-Class Identity, American Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 2
(June 2006): 353-378
Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, April 15: Backlash and Conservatism
Friday, April 17: Culture Wars Revisited
Week Fifteen
Discussion (Tues., 4/21):

Reading: Excerpts from Ronald Story and Bruce Laurie, eds., The Rise of Conservatism:
A Brief History with Documents [Blackboard]; Smith, Twilight

Lecture Topics:
Wednesday, April 22: Epilogue: 9/11 and American Culture
Friday, April 24: Review Session
Final Exam Date and Time TBD