American Studies Course List

Spring 2016
AMST 100
01
02

Introduction to American Studies

MWF
TTH

9:00-9:50
2:30-3:45

Dr. Kathy Bryan

Dr. Michelle Stefano

AMST 100Y
01

Introduction to American Studies

MWF 9:00-9:50
Dr. Kathy Bryan

AMST 200

What is an American?

01
02

AMST 210
01

AMST 300
01

AMST 310
01

AMST 320
01
02

AMST 322
01

AMST 325
01

AMST 352
01

AMST 375
01
02

AMST 420
01

AMST 422
01

AMST 490
01

AMST 680

MWF
MWF

11:00-11:50
9:00 - 9:50

Dr. Kimberly Moffitt

Dr. Ellen Gorman

Introduction to Critical Sexuality Studies

TTH

10:00-11:15

Dr. Robin Epstein

Approaches in American Studies

MW

2:30-3:45

Dr. Theodore Gonzalves

Gender and Inequality

MON

4:30-7:00

Dr. Dabrina Taylor

TV In American Culture
TTH
TTH

11:30-12:45
10-11:15

Dr. Michael Hummel

Dr. Michael Hummel

American Society & Culture in Film

WED

4:30-7:00

Dr. Jason Stevens

Studies in Popular Culture

MWF

10:00-10:50 Dr. Ellen Gorman

American Culture: Global Perspective

MW

1:00-2:15

Dr. Kathy Bryan

Studies in Asian American Culture

MW
MW

10:00-11:15
1:00 - 2:15

Dr. Tamara Bhalla

Dr. Theodore Gonzalves

Seminar in Global America: Imagining Jews in Film

MON

7:10-10:00

Dr. Greg Metcalf

Preserving Places, Making Spaces in Baltimore

THU

2:30-5:00

Dr. Nicole King

Senior Seminar
TUES

2:30-5:00

Dr. Tamara Bhalla

Community and Culture

THU

2:30-5:00

Dr. Nicole King

Combined with AMST 422

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NEW & SPECIAL TOPICS COURSES

AMST 322 American Society & Culture in Film
Wednesday 4:30-7:00
Dr. Jason Stevens

Religion and American in U.S. Film

Since the age of silent movies, religion has proven a popular, profitable, and still controversial
subject in American cinema. This course will introduce students to the topic by combing narrative
analysis, film history, and religious study. Questions may include: 1) How have filmmakers adapted
Hollywood genres in order to promote belief? 2) How have commercial representations of holy
figures, stories, and miracles altered peoples sense of the boundaries between the sacred and the
profane? 3) How has censorship shaped the content of films dealing with faith? 4) In what ways
have films shaped Americans perceptions of religious nationalism, millennialism, and empire?

AMST 422 Preserving Places, Making Spaces in Baltimore

Thursday 2:30-5:00
Dr. Nicole King
In the Preserving Places course students will analyze and conduct research on historic
neighborhoods in Baltimore and conduct oral history interviews to better understand the
connections between the decline in manufacturing and the rise of arts, entertainment, and tourism in
Baltimore city. The semester will include a focus on places in the historic industrial hub of extreme
south BaltimoreBrooklyn and Curtis Bayfor the Mapping Baybrook website and the Mapping
Dialogues event at the Baltimore Museum of Industry (funded by the Maryland Humanities
Council) on April 5. The research focus will shift to explore the effects of deindustrialization in
Baltimore and the exploration of a new economy where arts, entertainment, and tourism are touted
as reviving the city. Will the arts help Baltimore grow or do arts districts lead to gentrification and
replicate the history of inequality in the city?
Permission Required: please email the instructor Dr. Nicole King nking@umbc.edu if you are
interested in enrolling in this course.

AMST 420 Seminar in Global America: Imaging Jews in American Film

Monday 7:10-10:00
Dr. Greg Metcalf
This course explores the changing images of Jewish identity in Hollywood film and the role of the
Jewish experience in shaping Hollywood film. By examining cinematic representations in light of
historical background, students will evaluate stereotypes and the cultural functions of fictional
images. Students will acquire critical movie-viewing skills as well as insight into the reading and
analysis of cultural symbols and values.