Minor American Studies Minor

American studies offers a unique opportunity to explore the culture and society of the United States from a perspective that is inherently interdisciplinary. A minor in American studies provides a structured program to encourage students to cross traditional academic boundaries and to integrate the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

The minor in American studies is an effective program complement for those majoring in the related fields of art, music, dance and theatre; communication, English, and foreign languages; history, geography, and political science; philosophy; sociology, and criminal justice; as well as interdisciplinary majors in women's studies, African American and African studies, and international studies. The minor is also effective for international students, who may wish either to better understand American culture or to acquire an expertise useful in their home countries.

All students minoring in American studies must take AMST 300, cross-listed as ENGL 396 Topics in English and HIST 396 Topics in History (Topics: The American Dream), and 12 credit hours of designated courses divided into two fields (the arts and the humanities, and the social sciences), for a total of 15 hours. Please note that some courses listed below require prerequisites. Students may not use more than one course from the minor to satisfy program requirements in another major or minor.

Requirements

Designated course listings for the minor in American studies are as follows:

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
AMST 300	Perspectives in American Studies	3
Select at least one course in the arts or the humanities from the following: *		3
ARTH 322	American Art and Architecture, 1600 to the Present
ENGL 340	American Drama
ENGL 342	Southern Literature
ENGL 345	American Literature to 1860
ENGL 346	American Literature Since 1860
ENGL 447	The American Novel to 1920
ENGL 448	The American Novel 1920 to Present
ENGL 465W	African American Literature
ENGL 466W	Asian American Literature
MUSC 460	History of Jazz
Select at least one course in the social sciences from the following: *		3
COMM 340	Media and Popular Culture
COMM 434	African-American Rhetoric Voices of Liberation
COMM 473	Television and Society
COMM 479W	American Film History
COMM 481	The Documentary Tradition
GEOG 350	Geography of the United States and Canada
HIST 345	Native American History
HIST 346	Colonial and Revolutionary America
HIST 348	The Early American Republic, 1787-1850
HIST 351	The Civil War and Reconstruction
HIST 353	Robber Barons, Reformers, and Radicals: The US Gilded Age and Progressive Era
HIST 355	The United States, 1945-1991
HIST 357	The United States in the 1960s
HIST 361	African-American History to 1865
HIST 362	African-American History Since 1865
HIST 363	Women in U.S. History
POLS 312	American Political Thought
POLS 407	American Presidency
POLS 408	American Constitutional Law: Individual Rights
POLS 409	American Constitutional Law: Powers of Government
POLS 410	African American Politics
POLS 412	Politics of the Civil Rights Movement
POLS 415	Women and Politics in America
SOC 320	Social Inequality
SOC 340	Sociology of Women
WMST 302W	Dimensions of Diversity: Intersectionality Among Women

*

No more than two from any single department.

The director of American studies can approve other courses not listed above to fulfill the minor, including 400-level topics courses, provided they substantively address some aspect of the creation or perpetuation of an American identity.

For completion of a minor, a student must have a minimum overall cumulative grade point average of 2.00 in all courses specified as a requirement for the minor exclusive of lower-level courses and prerequisite courses and complete a minimum of six hours in upper-level courses in the minor requirement through courses offered by Old Dominion University.

For further information, contact the director of the American studies minor program, Dr. Drew Lopenzina (alopenzi@odu.edu)