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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
This course explores the effects of McCarthyism and the Cold War on American intellectual and cultural life in the 1950s. It will also examine dissents from the consensus that gave rise to the rebellions and counterculture of the 1960s. Special attention will be paid to McCarthyism and the origins of the civil rights movement. Renewed stirrings of discontent amongst women will be considered, as well as the start of a new left and counterculture represented by the Beat Generation.
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3.00 Credits
An overview of the history of photography in America from its beginning in the 1840s to the present, emphasizing its relation to society and the arts. The course will cover both documentary and aesthetic movements, including such figures as Brady, Muybridge, Riis, Hine, Evans, Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Duane Michals, Cindy Sherman, etc. The cultural meaning of the Civil War, of westward expansion, of the Great Depression, of the Civil Rights movement, will be studied in relation to photography. Slides and readings on photography and American culture and on how the camera affects our seeing and thinking.
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3.00 Credits
This course explores the way visual media (film, video, television) have in various ways recorded or documented the social and historical “reality” of American life. A number of issues will be explored: What is the place of documentary within American society, as information and as entertainment? And why are we so attracted to it? How close to “reality” can visual media come? How does documentary compare with non-documentary film in its effort to represent American culture and history?
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3.00 Credits
The Documentary Mode has been, since the 19th century, one of the richest forms of expression and representation in American culture. Drawing upon the life experiences of real people, it has attempted to record the disparities of class, race, and gender, as well as the social structures of American society. This course will examine the range of documentary forms in American culture, including visual and print media (photography, film, reportage, etc.), from the 19th century to the present.
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3.00 Credits
Why are Americans so fascinated by reproductions of the past? The rise of living history museums, the popularity of Civil War reenactments, and the ever-growing market for retro consumables all point to a population bent on reliving a mythic past. Retro America will attempt to contextualize and examine this phenomenon through a series of questions including: How do individuals go about “claiming” the past and why? Who or what informs these notions of the past? What does “historical simulation” reveal about the relationship between humans and objects? Although Retro America will cater to a wide variety of interests, it will have special appeal for students interested in History, Material Culture, and/or Cultural Studies.
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3.00 Credits
This course uses Philadelphia as a case study to show how history can be read from the fabric of a city and why and how we go about preserving these buildings and structures. We will trace Philadelphia history from the counting houses and markets of the Colonial period through the factories of the 19th century, up to the automobile-oriented architecture of today. Students will become familiar with the battles to save our built history with the use of tax credits, easements, and the historic registers. Note: The class may include several walking tours of Philadelphia.
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3.00 Credits
An exploration of ways U.S. cities have been physically shaped over the past 100 years, paying special attention to the leading movements and theories concerning the growth and design of urban space. Readings are from topics such as: Olmsted and the park movement; the city beautiful movement; the modern city and the skyscraper; Lewis Mumford and the garden city movement; the organic city of Jane Jacobs; the postmodern city of Robert Venturi; the dystopian city. In addition to studying the literature of cities, the class explores Philadelphia as a case study, with students developing techniques of observation and analysis, in an effort to understand the city of Philadelphia within the broader framework of thinking about American cities.
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3.00 Credits
Many see the 1960s as a time America fell apart—drugs, sex, anti-Americanism, and the loss of the work ethic. Yet the ’60s produced the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-Vietnam War Movement, a revolution in music, Vatican II, and the Counterculture. Martin Luther King, the Kennedys, Marilyn Monroe, and the astronauts—fame and untimely death. What was it like when America still had hope? How did it change us as a society and not change us? Why are so many still so angry about all that or miss it?
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3.00 Credits
A study of significant works of fiction, poetry and non-fiction that voice concerns of the alienated and the dispossessed with emphasis on the struggle against conformity and for social and economic justice from the Great Depression to the election of Ronald Reagan. Some research required.Note: Equivalent to English 2114 (0152).
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3.00 Credits
This course will examine the relationship between our legal system and American society. Does the law shape social mores or is it merely a reflection of them? What role should the court play in protecting individual rights? We will study the evolution of American jurisprudence in the area of abortion, affirmative action, freedom of expression, separation of church and state, and examine emerging areas of legal debate including the right to same sex marriage, the legalization of prostitution and the constitutionality of Megan’s law.
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