American Studies Major, B.A.
Sharon Holland, Chair
Gabrielle Berlinger, Director of Undergraduate Studies
The B.A. major in the American Studies area provides students with a broad foundation in ways of studying and researching American culture, exposure, and the opportunity to explore specific eras and genres in depth.
Department Programs
Majors
- American Studies Major, B.A.
- American Studies Major, B.A.–American Indian and Indigenous Studies Concentration
- American Studies Major, B.A.–Folklore Concentration
- American Studies Major, B.A.–Global American Studies Concentration
- American Studies Major, B.A.–Southern Studies Concentration
Minors
- American Studies Minor
- American Indian and Indigenous Studies Minor
- Folklore Minor
- Global American Studies Minor
- Southern Studies Minor
Graduate Programs
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the American studies program, students should be able to:
- Apply critical skills of analysis to a variety of primary historical sources and/or cultural expressions
- Exercise advanced writing skills that demonstrate clear articulation of ideas and effective expression of understanding
- Assess the value of interdisciplinary learning by engaging with a variety of disciplinary perspectives on the study of America within their major elective courses
- Interpret national traditions and ideals from different local, regional, transnational, and/or global situations and from diverse ideological and/or ethnic perspectives
- Report satisfaction with the American studies major and its value for their postgraduate academic and professional careers
Requirements
In addition to the program requirements, students must
- attain a final cumulative GPA of at least 2.0
- complete a minimum of 45 academic credit hours earned from UNC–Chapel Hill courses
- take at least half of their major course requirements (courses and credit hours) at UNC–Chapel Hill
- earn a minimum of 18 hours of C or better in the major core requirements (some majors require 21 hours).
For more information, please consult the degree requirements section of the catalog.
The concentration in American studies consists of nine courses. Courses listed more than once can be counted for only one category. At least one course must be at the 300 level or above.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Requirements | ||
| Introduction (one of the following): | 3 | |
| The Emergence of Modern America | ||
| Myth and History in American Memory | ||
| Defining America I H | ||
| Defining America II H | ||
| AMST 201 | Literary Approaches to American Studies | 3 |
| or AMST 202 | Historical Approaches to American Studies | |
| Topics: At least two AMST courses numbered above 202 (not including independent study or honors thesis research) | 6 | |
| Literature (one course, see list below) | 3 | |
| Ideas and Traditions (one course, see list below) | 3 | |
| Expressive Arts and Popular Culture (one course, see list below) | 3 | |
| Regionalism, Transnationalism, and the Public Sphere (one course, see list below) | 3 | |
| Ethnicity and Diversity (one course, see list below) | 3 | |
| Total Hours | 27 | |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
American studies (AMST) course descriptions.
AMST 396, FOLK 490, and FOLK 690 may fall under various categories, depending on the focus of these courses in a given semester; the course instructor and director of undergraduate studies will decide which category they fulfill.
At the core of the undergraduate major concentration in American studies are two required courses in interdisciplinary cultural analysis (see above). Majors also choose at least two advanced seminars in the department that focus readings and research on topics representative of both the talents of its faculty members and emergent directions in American studies scholarship. For the remainder of their requirements, majors select a series of relevant electives offered by over a dozen different University departments and curricula. These courses deepen majors’ interdisciplinary awareness of American traditions, institutions, literature, and arts as well as expose students to a diversity of American experiences and perspectives. Students may petition the director of undergraduate studies to have courses not listed approved to fulfill major requirements; such courses will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Literature
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| AMST 246 | Indigenous Storytelling: Oral, Written, and Visual Literatures of Native America | 3 |
| AMST 252 | Muslim American Literatures and Cultures | 3 |
| AMST 256 | Anti-'50s: Voices of a Counter Decade | 3 |
| AMST 257 | Melville: Culture and Criticism | 3 |
| AMST 290 | Topics in American Studies | 3 |
| AMST 338 | Native American Novel | 3 |
| AMST 360 | The Jewish Writer in American Life | 3 |
| AMST 365 | Women and Detective Fiction: From Miss Violet Strange to Veronica Mars | 3 |
| AMST 371 | LGTBQ Film and Fiction from 1950 to the Present | 3 |
| AMST 440 | American Indian Poetry | 3 |
| AMST/CMPL/ENGL 685 | Literature of the Americas | 3 |
| FOLK/JWST 380 | Traditions in Transition: Jewish Folklore and Ethnography | 3 |
| FOLK 476 | Graffiti, Gods, and Gardens: Urban Folklore | 3 |
| FOLK/ENGL 487 | Everyday Stories: Personal Narrative and Legend | 3 |
| COMM/WGST 561 | Performance of Women of Color H | 3 |
| ENGL 218 | American Poetry H | 3 |
| ENGL 219 | The American Novel H | 3 |
| ENGL 220 | American Literature, Before 1900 H | 3 |
| ENGL 221 | American Literature, 1900-2000 H | 3 |
| ENGL 270 | Studies in Asian American Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 317 | Writing and Social Networks | 3 |
| ENGL 367 | African American Literature to 1930 H | 3 |
| ENGL 368 | African American Literature, 1930-1970 H | 3 |
| ENGL 369 | African American Literature, 1970 to the Present H | 3 |
| ENGL 370 | Race, Health, and Narrative H | 3 |
| ENGL 373 | Southern American Literature H | 3 |
| ENGL/WGST 374 | Southern Women Writers | 3 |
| ENGL 443 | American Literature before 1860--Contemporary Issues H | 3 |
| ENGL 444 | American Literature, 1860-1900--Contemporary Issues H | 3 |
| ENGL 445 | American Literature, 1900-2000--Contemporary Issues H | 3 |
| ENGL/WGST 446 | American Women Authors H | 3 |
| ENGL 472 | African American Literature--Contemporary Issues H | 3 |
| RELI 240 | Religion, Literature, and the Arts in America H | 3 |
| WGST 465 | Gender, (Im)migration, and Labor in Latina Literature | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Ideas and Traditions
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| AMST 220 | On the Question of the Animal: Contemporary Animal Studies | 3 |
| AMST 225 | Comedy and Ethics | 3 |
| AMST 225L | The Practice of Stand Up Comedy | 1 |
| AMST 248 | Intersectionality: Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Justice | 3 |
| AMST 255 | Mid-20th-Century American Thought and Culture | 3 |
| AMST 269 | Mating and Marriage in American Culture | 3 |
| AMST 277 | Globalization and National Identity H | 3 |
| AMST 291 | Ethics and American Studies | 3 |
| AMST 334 | Defining America I H | 3 |
| AMST 335 | Defining America II H | 3 |
| AMST 337 | Beyond Red Power: American Indian Activism since 1900 | 3 |
| AMST 387 | Race and Empire in 20th-Century American Intellectual History | 3 |
| AMST 392 | Radical Communities in Twentieth Century American Religious History | 3 |
| AMST 394 | The University in American Life: The University of North Carolina | 3 |
| AMST 420 | Theories in American Studies | 3 |
| AMST 475 | Documenting Communities H | 3 |
| AMST 510 | Federal Indian Law and Policy | 3 |
| AMST 511 | American Indians and American Law | 3 |
| AMST 512 | Race and American Law | 3 |
| FOLK/ANTH 424 | Ritual, Festival, and Public Culture | 3 |
| FOLK/ANTH 537/WGST 438 | Gender and Performance: Constituting Identity | 3 |
| FOLK/COMM/HIST/WGST 562 | Oral History and Performance H | 3 |
| FOLK/HIST 670 | Introduction to Oral History | 3 |
| AAAD 159 | The History of the Black Church and Social Change | 3 |
| AAAD 240 | African American Politics | 3 |
| AAAD 257 | Black Nationalism in the United States | 3 |
| AAAD 258 | The Civil Rights Movement | 3 |
| AAAD/LING 335 | Structure of African American English | 3 |
| AAAD 430 | African American Intellectual History | 3 |
| AAAD/POLI 333 | Race and Public Policy in the United States | 3 |
| COMM 372 | The Rhetoric of Social Movements | 3 |
| COMM/PWAD 355 | Terrorism and Political Violence | 3 |
| COMM/PWAD 575 | Presidential Rhetoric | 3 |
| ECON/MNGT 330 | Economic History of the United States | 3 |
| ECON 430 | Economic Development of the United States | 3 |
| EDUC 441 | Education in American Society | 3 |
| ENEC 208 | New Frontiers: Environment and Society in the United States H | 3-4 |
| HIST 237 | Colonial American History to 1763 | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 238 | The American Revolution, 1763-1815 | 3 |
| HIST 239 | Religion in North America since 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 244 | History of the American Presidency | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 245 | The United States and the Cold War: Origins, Development, Legacy | 3 |
| HIST 355/WGST 354 | American Women's History to 1865 | 3 |
| HIST/WGST 356 | American Women's History, 1865 to the Present | 3 |
| HIST 359 | The Early American Republic, 1789-1848 | 3 |
| HIST 360 | Ideas in Modern America H | 3 |
| HIST/MNGT 364 | History of American Business | 3 |
| HIST/MNGT 365 | The Worker and American Life | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 368 | War and American Society to 1903 | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 369 | War and American Society, 1903 to the Present | 3 |
| HIST 372 | History of American Politics, 1932-Present H | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 373 | The United States in World War II | 3 |
| HIST/WGST 375 | History of Gender in America | 3 |
| HIST 382 | The History of the Civil Rights Movement H | 3 |
| HIST 384 | America in the Sixties H | 3 |
| HIST 475/WGST 476 | Feminist Movements in the United States since 1945 H | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 565 | Civil War and Reconstruction, 1848-1900 | 3 |
| HIST 566 | The History of Sexuality in America | 3 |
| HIST 581 | American Constitutional History to 1876 | 3 |
| HIST 582 | American Constitutional History since 1876 | 3 |
| HIST 584 | The Promise of Urbanization: American Cities in the 19th and 20th Centuries | 3 |
| HIST 589 | Race, Racism, and America: (United States) Law in Historical Perspective | 3 |
| MEJO 448 | Freedom of Expression in the United States | 3 |
| PHIL 228 | American Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 274 | Race, Racism, and Social Justice: African-American Political Philosophy H | 3 |
| PHIL 428 | History of American Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 473 | American Political Philosophy | 3 |
| PLCY/PWAD 220 | The Politics of Public Policy H | 3 |
| POLI 200 | The President, Congress, and Public Policy | 3 |
| POLI 202 | The United States Supreme Court | 3 |
| POLI 280 | American Political Thought H | 3 |
| POLI 410 | The Constitution of the United States | 3 |
| POLI 411 | Civil Liberties under the Constitution H | 3 |
| POLI 412 | United States National Elections H | 3 |
| RELI 241 | Messianic Movements in American History | 3 |
| RELI 338 | Religion in American Law | 3 |
| RELI 340 | Liberal Tradition in American Religion | 3 |
| RELI 441 | Religion in Early America H | 3 |
| RELI 442 | History of Religion in America since 1865 | 3 |
| RELI 443 | Evangelicalism in Contemporary America H | 3 |
| SOCI 433 | Immigration in Contemporary America | 3 |
| SOCI 468 | United States Poverty and Public Policy | 3 |
| WGST 560 | Women and Religion in United States History | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Expressive Arts and Popular Culture
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| AMST 268 | American Cinema and American Culture | 3 |
| AMST 283 | American Home | 3 |
| AMST 284 | Visual Culture | 3 |
| AMST 336 | Native Americans in Film | 3 |
| AMST 340 | American Indian Art and Material Culture through Interdisciplinary Perspectives | 3 |
| AMST 371 | LGTBQ Film and Fiction from 1950 to the Present | 3 |
| AMST 439 | Meaning and Makers: Indigenous Artists and the Marketplace | 3 |
| AMST 482 | Images of the American Landscape | 3 |
| AMST 483 | Seeing the USA: Visual Arts and American Culture | 3 |
| AMST 485 | Folk, Self-Taught, Vernacular, and Outsider Arts | 3 |
| AMST 487 | Early American Architecture and Material Life | 3 |
| AMST 489 | Writing Material Culture | 3 |
| AMST 498 | Advanced Seminar in American Studies | 3 |
| AMST/FOLK 375 | Southern Food Studies: Beyond the Plate | 3 |
| AMST/HIST 671 | Introduction to Public History | 3 |
| AMST/WGST 325 | Encountering Art in the Unexpected: Borderlands and Story in Contemporary American Visual Art | 3 |
| FOLK 476 | Graffiti, Gods, and Gardens: Urban Folklore | 3 |
| FOLK/JWST 481 | Jewish Belongings: Material Culture of the Jewish Experience | 3 |
| FOLK 550 | Introduction to Material Culture | 3 |
| FOLK 560 | Southern Literature and the Oral Tradition | 3 |
| FOLK/AAAD 480 | Vernacular Traditions in African American Music | 4 |
| FOLK/ANTH/LING 484 | Discourse and Dialogue in Ethnographic Research | 3 |
| FOLK/ENGL 310 | Fairy Tales | 3 |
| FOLK/ENGL 487 | Everyday Stories: Personal Narrative and Legend | 3 |
| FOLK/HIST 571 | Southern Music | 3 |
| AAAD 250 | The African American in Motion Pictures: 1900 to the Present | 3 |
| AAAD 259 | Black Influences on Popular Culture | 3 |
| AAAD 284 | Contemporary Perspectives on the African Diaspora in the Americas | 3 |
| AAAD 334 | Performing African American History | 3 |
| AAAD 340 | Diaspora Art and Cultural Politics | 3 |
| AAAD 356 | The History of Hip-Hop Culture | 3 |
| AAAD 449 | Black Women in Cinema: From the Early 1900s to the Present | 3 |
| AAAD 451 | Orality, Literacy, and Cultural Production: African Americans and Racial Modernity | 3 |
| ARTH 285 | Art Since 1960 H | 3 |
| ARTH 287/AAAD 237 | African American Art Survey | 3 |
| ARTH 288 | 19th-Century American Art | 3 |
| ARTH 289 | Art in the United States, 1890-1945: American Modernisms | 3 |
| ARTH 385 | Pop Art and Its Legacy | 3 |
| ARTH 387/AAAD 330 | 20th-Century African American Art | 3 |
| ARTH 557 | Art and Money | 3 |
| ARTH 586 | Cultural Politics in Contemporary Art | 3 |
| COMM 251 | Introduction to American Film and Culture, 1965-Present | 3 |
| COMM/WGST 345 | Gender and Film | 3 |
| COMM 430 | History of American Screenwriting | 3 |
| COMM 548 | Humor and Culture | 3 |
| COMM 550 | American Independent Cinema | 3 |
| COMM 573 | The American Experience in Rhetoric | 3 |
| COMM 577 | Rhetoric and Black Culture | 3 |
| DRAM 287 | African American Theatre | 3 |
| DRAM 292 | Corner of the Sky": The American Musical | 3 |
| DRAM 488 | United States Latino/a Theatre | 3 |
| ENGL 284 | Reading Children's Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 323 | American Cinema of the 1970s: New Hollywood and Beyond | 3 |
| ENGL/WGST 665 | Queer Latina/o Literature, Performance, and Visual Art | 3 |
| ENGL/WGST 666 | Queer Latina/o Photography and Literature | 3 |
| HIST 125 | The Social History of Popular Music in 20th-Century America | 3 |
| HIST 362 | Baseball and American History | 3 |
| HIST 363 | Popular Culture and American History H | 3 |
| HIST 381 | Bebop to Hip-Hop: The Modern Black Freedom Struggle through Music | 3 |
| HIST/FOLK 571 | Southern Music | 3 |
| HIST 625 | Technology and American Culture | 3 |
| MUSC 143 | Introduction to Rock Music | 3 |
| MUSC 144 | Introduction to Country Music | 3 |
| MUSC 145 | Introduction to Jazz | 3 |
| MUSC 147 | Introduction to the Music of the Américas | 3 |
| MUSC 281 | Popular Song in American Culture | 3 |
| MUSC 294 | Bluegrass Music, Culture, and History | 3 |
| RELI 236 | Religious Things | 3 |
| RELI 246 | Supernatural Encounters: Zombies, Vampires, Demons, and the Occult in the Americas H | 3 |
| WGST 285 | African American Women in the Media | 3 |
| WGST 555 | Women and Creativity | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Regionalism, Transnationalism, and the Public Sphere
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| AMST 210 | Approaches to Southern Studies: A Historical Analysis of the American South | 3 |
| AMST 211 | Approaches to Southern Studies: The Literary and Cultural Worlds of the American South | 3 |
| AMST 259 | Tobacco and America | 3 |
| AMST 277 | Globalization and National Identity H | 3 |
| AMST 283 | American Home | 3 |
| AMST/ECON 285 | Access to Work in America | 3 |
| AMST 350 | Main Street Carolina: A Cultural History of North Carolina Downtowns H | 3 |
| AMST 351 | Global Waters, American Impacts, and Critical Connections | 3 |
| AMST/FOLK 375 | Southern Food Studies: Beyond the Plate | 3 |
| AMST 378 | Nation Building and National Identity in Australia and the United States H | 3 |
| AMST 387 | Race and Empire in 20th-Century American Intellectual History | 3 |
| AMST 394 & 394L | The University in American Life: The University of North Carolina and Role of the University | 4 |
| AMST 398 | Service Learning in America | 3 |
| AMST 410 | Senior Seminar in Southern Studies | 3 |
| AMST 460 | Rising Waters: Strategies for Resilience to the Challenges of Climate and the Built Environment | 3 |
| AMST/JWST 486 | Shalom Y'all: The Jewish Experience in the American South | 3 |
| FOLK/GEOG 254 | American Historical Geographies | 3 |
| FOLK/ANTH 340 | Southern Styles, Southern Cultures | 4 |
| FOLK 587 | Folklore in the South | 3 |
| AAAD 252 | African Americans in the West | 3 |
| AAAD 254 | African Americans in North Carolina | 3 |
| AAAD 278 | Black Caribbeans in the United States | 3 |
| AAAD 284 | Contemporary Perspectives on the African Diaspora in the Americas | 3 |
| AAAD 298 | Blacks in British North America to 1833 | 3 |
| AAAD 332 | Remembering Race and Slavery | 3 |
| AAAD 385 | Emancipation in the New World | 3 |
| AAAD 485 | Transnational Black Feminist Thought and Practice | 3 |
| AAAD/POLI 333 | Race and Public Policy in the United States | 3 |
| ANTH 584 | Conspiracy Thinking in Contemporary United States H | 3 |
| ARTH 281 | Art of Exchange and Exploration: Early America and the Globe | 3 |
| ARTH 453/AAAD 486 | Africa in the American Imagination H | 3 |
| ARTH 485 | Art of the Harlem Renaissance | 3 |
| ARTH 556 | Visual Cultures of the American City, 1750-1950 | 3 |
| COMM 372 | The Rhetoric of Social Movements | 3 |
| COMM 374 | The Southern Experience in Rhetoric | 3 |
| COMM 437 | United States Black Culture and Performance | 3 |
| COMM 573 | The American Experience in Rhetoric | 3 |
| COMM 576 | Making and Manipulating "Race" in the United States | 3 |
| DRAM 489 | Carnivals and Festivals of the African Diaspora | 3 |
| ENGL 215 | English in the U.S.A. H | 3 |
| ENGL 267 | Growing Up Latina/o | 3 |
| ENGL 270 | Studies in Asian American Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 271 | Mixed-Race America: Race in Contemporary American Literature and Culture | 3 |
| ENGL 371 | The Place of Asian Americans in Southern Literature H | 3 |
| ENGL 475 | Southern Literature--Contemporary Issues | 3 |
| GEOG 228 | Urban Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 260 | North America's Landscapes | 3 |
| GEOG 261 | The South | 3 |
| GEOG 262 | Geography of North Carolina | 3 |
| GEOG 429 | Urban Political Geography: Durham, NC | 3 |
| GEOG 430 | Global Migrations, Local Impacts: Urbanization and Migration in the United States | 3 |
| HIST/AMST 233 | Native American History: The West | 3 |
| HIST 236 | Sex and American History | 3 |
| HIST 242 | United States-Latin American Relations | 3 |
| HIST 243 | The United States and Africa H | 3 |
| HIST 246 | The Long Cold War: U.S. Foreign Relations in the 20th and 21st Centuries | 3 |
| HIST 278 | The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade H | 3 |
| HIST/ASIA/PWAD 281 | The Pacific War, 1937-1945: Its Causes and Legacy | 3 |
| HIST 289 | America in the 1970s | 3 |
| HIST 357 | The U.S. South to 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 358 | The New South | 3 |
| HIST 366 | North Carolina History before 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 367 | North Carolina History since 1865 | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 373 | The United States in World War II | 3 |
| HIST 374 | The American West, 1800 to the Present | 3 |
| HIST 534 | The African Diaspora | 3 |
| HIST/WGST 568 | Women in the South | 3 |
| HIST/ASIA/PWAD 570 | The Vietnam War | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 577 | United States Foreign Relations in the 20th Century | 3 |
| HIST 593 | Exploring the U.S. South Hands On and Ears Open: Internship at the Southern Oral History Program | 3 |
| ITAL/PWAD 339 | US-Italian Encounters: War, Tourism, Myth | 3 |
| MEJO 242 | From Gutenberg to Google: A History of Media | 3 |
| MEJO/WGST 442 | Gender, Class, Race, and Mass Media | 3 |
| MEJO 443 | Latino Media Studies | 3 |
| PLAN 550 | Evolution of the American City | 3 |
| PLAN/ENEC/ENVR/PLCY 585 | American Environmental Policy | 3 |
| PLCY 349 | Immigration Policy in the 21st Century | 3 |
| PLCY 361 | Health Policy and Politics | 3 |
| POLI 203 | Race, Innocence, and the Decline of the Death Penalty | 4 |
| POLI 231 | Latin America and the United States in World Politics | 3 |
| POLI 404 | Race, Immigration, and Urban Politics | 3 |
| POLI 418 | Mass Media and American Politics | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 443 | American Foreign Policy: Formulation and Conduct | 3 |
| RELI 345 | Black Atlantic Religions H | 3 |
| SOCI 468 | United States Poverty and Public Policy | 3 |
| WGST 350 | Spitting in the Wind: "American" Women, Art, and Activism | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Ethnicity and Diversity
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| AMST/HIST 231 | Native American History: The East | 3 |
| AMST/HIST 233 | Native American History: The West | 3 |
| AMST/ANTH/HIST 234 | Native American Tribal Studies H | 3 |
| AMST/HIST 235 | Native America in the 20th Century | 3 |
| AMST 246 | Indigenous Storytelling: Oral, Written, and Visual Literatures of Native America | 3 |
| AMST 248 | Intersectionality: Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Justice | 3 |
| AMST 252 | Muslim American Literatures and Cultures | 3 |
| AMST/JWST/WGST 253 | A Social History of Jewish Women in America | 3 |
| AMST 258 | Captivity and American Cultural Definition | 3 |
| AMST 317 | Adoption in America | 3 |
| AMST 336 | Native Americans in Film | 3 |
| AMST 337 | Beyond Red Power: American Indian Activism since 1900 | 3 |
| AMST 339 | The Long 1960s in Native America | 3 |
| AMST 341 | Digital Native America | 3 |
| AMST 360 | The Jewish Writer in American Life | 3 |
| AMST 392 | Radical Communities in Twentieth Century American Religious History | 3 |
| AMST 440 | American Indian Poetry | 3 |
| AMST/JWST 486 | Shalom Y'all: The Jewish Experience in the American South | 3 |
| AMST 512 | Race and American Law | 3 |
| AMST/ANTH 203 | Approaches to American Indian Studies | 3 |
| FOLK/AAAD 480 | Vernacular Traditions in African American Music | 4 |
| FOLK/JWST 380 | Traditions in Transition: Jewish Folklore and Ethnography | 3 |
| AAAD 231 | African American History since 1865 | 3 |
| AAAD 232/WGST 266 | Black Women in America | 3 |
| AAAD/POLI 240 | African American Politics | 3 |
| AAAD 257 | Black Nationalism in the United States | 3 |
| AAAD 286 | The African Diaspora in the Colonial Americas, 1450-1800 | 3 |
| AAAD 333 | Race and Public Policy in the United States | 3 |
| AAAD 350 | The Harlem Renaissance | 3 |
| ANTH 206 | American Indian Societies | 3 |
| ANTH/FOLK 230 | Native American Cultures | 3 |
| ANTH 250 | Archaeology of North America H | 3 |
| ARTH 387/AAAD 330 | 20th-Century African American Art | 3 |
| ARTH 485 | Art of the Harlem Renaissance | 3 |
| ARTH 554 | Imagining Otherness in Visual Culture in the Americas | 3 |
| ASIA 350 | The Asian American Experience | 3 |
| CHIN 631 | Writing Chinese (in) America: Advanced Studies of a Foreign Literature from United States Homeland | 3 |
| COMM/WGST 524 | Gender, Communication, and Culture | 3 |
| COMM 576 | Making and Manipulating "Race" in the United States | 3 |
| DRAM 297 | African American Women in Theatre | 3 |
| EDUC 510 | Mexican American and Chicana/o Experience in Education | 3 |
| ENGL 164 | Introduction to Latina/o Studies H | 3 |
| ENGL 267 | Growing Up Latina/o | 3 |
| ENGL 270 | Studies in Asian American Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 271 | Mixed-Race America: Race in Contemporary American Literature and Culture | 3 |
| ENGL/JWST 289 | Jewish American Literature and Culture of the 20th Century | 3 |
| ENGL 359 | Latina Feminisms | 3 |
| ENGL/ASIA 360 | Contemporary Asian American Literature and Theory | 3 |
| ENGL/WGST 361 | Asian American Women's Writing | 3 |
| ENGL 371 | The Place of Asian Americans in Southern Literature H | 3 |
| ENGL 472 | African American Literature--Contemporary Issues H | 3 |
| HIST 236 | Sex and American History | 3 |
| HIST 241 | History of Latinos in the United States | 3 |
| HIST 332 | Identity and Community in Modern Jewish History: The Case of Durham | 3 |
| HIST 376 | History of African Americans to 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 377 | History of African Americans, 1865 to Present H | 3 |
| HIST 385/WGST 382 | African American Women's History | 3 |
| HIST/WGST 576 | The Ethnohistory of Native American Women | 3 |
| HIST 589 | Race, Racism, and America: (United States) Law in Historical Perspective | 3 |
| HIST 361/WGST 360 | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Histories in the United States | 3 |
| LTAM 291 | The Latino Experience in the United States | 3 |
| MEJO 342 | The Black Press and United States History | 3 |
| POLI/WGST 217 | Women and Politics | 3 |
| POLI 220 | Race, Ethnicity, and Electoral Representation in the United States | 3 |
| POLI 419 | Race and Politics in the Contemporary United States H | 3 |
| POLI 422 | Minority Representation in the American States | 3 |
| PSYC 467 | The Development of Black Children | 3 |
| PSYC 503 | African American Psychology | 3 |
| RELI 141 | African American Religions H | 3 |
| RELI 142 | Catholicism in America | 3 |
| RELI 242 | New Religious Movements in America | 3 |
| RELI/JWST 243 | Introduction to American Judaism | 3 |
| RELI 245 | Latina/o Religions in the United States-Mexico Borderlands H | 3 |
| RELI 248 | Introduction to American Islam H | 3 |
| RELI/ANTH/FOLK 342 | African-American Religious Experience | 3 |
| RELI 423 | Ethnicity, Race, and Religion in America | 3 |
| RELI/ASIA 445 | Asian Religions in America | 3 |
| RELI 540 | Mormonism and the American Experience | 3 |
| RELI 580 | African American Islam | 3 |
| SLAV/JWST 469 | Coming to America: The Slavic Immigrant Experience in Literature | 3 |
| WGST 233 | Introduction to Latina Literature | 3 |
| WGST 368 | Women of Color in Contemporary United States Social Movements | 3 |
| WGST 553 | Theorizing Black Feminisms | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Special Opportunities in American Studies
Honors in American Studies
The American studies major offers a two-course honors program: AMST 691H in the fall semester and AMST 692H in the spring semester. Students must propose their thesis and contract with a faculty advisor during the semester prior to the beginning of their senior year. For each semester of honors work, thesis students must submit a signed learning contract to the Department of American Studies during the registration period. During the two semesters devoted to honors work, students conduct individual research and prepare an honors thesis under the supervision of a faculty member. Students also will attend a weekly seminar at the discretion of the advisor. Students must maintain a 3.3 cumulative grade point average to be eligible. With the approval of the associate or the assistant dean for honors, students with a slightly lower average who have a reasonable expectation of meeting the requirement within one more semester may embark upon the honors thesis, understanding that if they do not attain the 3.3 standard they may continue the research project as independent study but are not eligible to graduate with honors or highest honors.
Experiential Education
The Department of American Studies offers a seminar on Service Learning in America (AMST 398) and offers credits for approved internship projects (AMST 493). Students have learned about American studies by serving the community in museums, schools, social agencies, and other cultural institutions. Many courses in the folklore program also offer experiential education credit through ethnographic training and fieldwork opportunities.
Study Abroad
The Department of American Studies encourages students to consider a semester or more of study abroad and has developed close relations with several American studies programs in different countries. Studying American experience in international contexts is an integral part of understanding the place and influence of the United States in the world. Student learning is enhanced by the perspectives gained by examining how American subjects are taught in universities around the globe as well as by encountering the international students who enroll in American studies courses in Chapel Hill. Study abroad offers students of folklore the opportunity to understand the rich vernacular and traditional cultures of other parts of the world from both a local and a comparative perspective. Students can receive American studies major credit for selected study abroad programs and are encouraged to make study abroad part of their academic plans. Study abroad courses can count toward the global American studies major or minor. Students interested in this experience should consult with the director of undergraduate studies or with the Study Abroad Office about international exchange programs sponsored by UNC–Chapel Hill. Furthermore, American studies majors and minors may apply for the Julia Preston Brumley Travel Scholarship, which is only available to American studies students, to help fund their study abroad.
Undergraduate Awards
The department awards Julia Preston Brumley Travel Scholarships to help fund international travel and study abroad. The Peter C. Baxter Memorial Prize is awarded annually to the outstanding senior majoring in American studies.
Undergraduate Research
The department offers credit for AMST 396 and FOLK 495. Majors can develop a two-semester honors thesis project (AMST 691H and AMST 692H) in consultation with an advisor. Students have received summer undergraduate research fellowships, earned research support and travel awards, and presented their work at the Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research each spring.
