- America Abroad

Institution:

The Evergreen State College

Subject:

Description:

Faculty: Sam Schrager (American studies), David Marr (American studies), and Eric Stein (anthropology). Major areas of study include American studies, literature, history, anthropology and international studies. Class Standing: Juniors or seniors; transfer students welcome. Exceptions may be made for sophomores on the basis of a writing sample and interview with faculty prior to registration. For information, contact Sam Schrager, (360) 867-6335 or schrages@evergreen.edu or David Marr, (360) 867-6751 or marrd@evergreen.edu. Democracy . . . is the rock upon which we toil, and we thrive or wane in the communication of those symbols and processes set in motion in its name. - Ralph Ellison To educated Europeans around 1800 the new republic called The United States of America was founded on an incredible idea: that human beings could govern themselves. Uneducated Europeans only a few decades later were struck not so much by this odd idea as by the promise of a new start, the lure of opportunity. The numbers tell a story: the handful of visitors who came to America to see with their own eyes the new land and to witness self-government firsthand versus the 35,000,000 immigrants who crossed the oceans between the 1840s and the close of unrestricted immigration in the 1920s. When foreign observers such as Alexis de Tocqueville were finished looking around, they went home. The many millions, though, stayed here, and continue to come. These complex comings and goings-of people and ideas-underlie Americans' fascination with democracy. Where, we will ask in this program, do these democratic ideas come from How have they been contested and shaped in the harsh crucible of American history What are their imprints in personal lives What do our characters as Americans owe to the cultural traditions of racial, ethnic and religious groups who constitute the nation's citizenry Focusing mainly on the mid-nineteenth century to the present, we will examine works by novelists, historians, ethnographers, essayists and filmmakers who, like Ralph Ellison, take fresh looks at American experience. We will also explore reverberations of these ideas in the rest of the world. In finding "America" abroad, we will consider some of the contemporary manifestations of American presence and power in various locations. Using an anthropological lens, we will reflect on people's often ambivalent readings of American tourists and soldiers, American aid organizations and NGOs, Hollywood mediascapes, and Americancommodities. How, we will ask, ought we to understand American representations of foreign "others" in travel writing, cinema, or museum display The program will involve close readings of texts, writing, research, and ethnographic training. From mid-winter to mid-spring, students will undertake independent research projects either abroad or in the U.S. Projects in foreign countries will be community-based and will combine service learning with research on an aspect of American culture or on values and practices in another society. Faculty will assist students in identifying service opportunities, which include health, education, youth, agriculture, community development, women's empowerment, and human rights. Projects within the U.S. (locally or elsewhere) will be either community-based field research projects or text-based projects in history or literature. In the concluding weeks of spring, the class will review students' ten-week projects in light of the leading issues of our inquiry. The program will provide a strong, supportive context for independent projects, volunteering or internships, and senior theses. Total: 16 credits each quarter; 12 or 14 credit option fall and winter for students taking a foreign language in preparation for study abroad. Enrollment: 75 Internship Possibilities: With faculty approval from mid-winter to mid-spring. Special Expenses: $90 for three day fieldtrip. Approximately $1,500 to $3,000 for students studying abroad from

Credits:

16.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.evergreen.edu

Phone Number:

(360) 867-6170

Regional Accreditation:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Calendar System:

Quarter

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