ENAM 803: Seminar in American Studies

Syllabus

Texts (available at University of Virginia Bookstore):

• Michael Kammen, Mystic Chords of Memory.
• Stephen M. Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves:Walt Disney World and America.

Calendar of Meetings

1/13: deTocqueville Review

1/15:Organization and Introduction: The Capitol Project

1/20: Individual Conferences

Note: Scanned article due 1/26.

1/27: Individual Conferences

2/3: Public Memory

• Michael Kammen, Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Memory in American Culture.

Suggested:

• Peter Burke, The New History, its Past and Future, pp. 1-23, from New Perspectives on Historical Writing.
• John Bodnar, Remaking America : Public Memory, Commemoration, and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century.
• Paul Connerton, How Societies Remember.
• James Deetz, I would Have the Howse Stronge in Timber, from In Small Things Forgotten: The Archeology of Early American Life.
• Umberto Eco, Travels in Hyperreality from Travels in Hyperreality
• Ivan Karp, Christine Mullen Kreamer, and Steven D. Levine. eds.,Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture.
• Ivan Karp and Steven Lavine, eds., Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display.
• Phyllis Leffler and Joseph Brent, Public and Academic History : A Philosophy and Paradigm.(C)
• Lawrence W. Levine, William Shakespeare in America from Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America. (C)
• David Lowenthal, Changing the Past, (pp. 263-363) from The Past is a Foreign Country. (C)
• David Middleton and Derek Edwards, ed., Collective Remembering

Note: Gateway Revision/Extension proposals due 2/19.

2/10: The Incorporation of Memory

• Stephen M. Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America.
• Yesterland courtesy of Josh Johns.

Suggested:

• Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre in the Rue Severin.
• Robert H. Lavenda, Festivals and the Creation of Public Culture: Whose Voice(s)?
• David Lowenthall, Changing the Past, from The Past is a Foreign Country.
• Popular Memory Group, Popular Memory: Theory, Politics, Method.

  2/17: Constructing the National Faith

  • Reading: Art in the United States Capitol. (R)
  • Lois Craig, et al, The Federal Presence: Architecture, Politics and Symbols in United States Government Building, pp. 8-43, 46-65, 81-85, 133-155,175-179,208-226, 244-252,310-322, 364-375, 530-537.(R)
  • Kirk Savage, "The Self-made Monument:George Washington and the Fight to Erect a National Memorial," Sally Webster, "Writing History/Painting History:Early Chronicles of the United States and Pictures from the Capitol Rotunda," Vivian Green Fryd, Political Compromise in Public Art: Thomas Crawford's Statue of Freedom, from Senie, Harriet F. and Sally Webster, eds., Critical Issues in Public Art: Content, Context, and Controversy. (R)

  Suggested:

  • Vivian Green Fryd, Art and Empire. (R)

  2/24: Gateway Revision Workshop.

  | Gateways | Gateway Projects |

  Note: Gateway Revisions due 3/7.

  3/3: Gateway Workshop I

  Spring Vacation: 3/8-3/16

  3/17: Gateway Workshop II

  3/24: Gateway Workshop III.

  3/31: Gateway Workshop IV.

  Note: Gateway Projects due 4/4.

  4/7: Design Conference: Final Projects

  4/14: Workshop I

  4/21: Workshop II

  4/28: Workshop III. Last day of classes.

  5/2: Exams Begin

  NOTE: Final Project due 5/7.

  5/9: Exams End.

  Note: Prospectuses for M.A. theses are due June 2. The prospectus should briefly (5 pp.) describe the nature of your project including its essential argument, theoretical and methodological assumptions, its significance, and technical requirements. It should also include a bibliography of primary and secondary sources, at least ten of the citations should be annotated.

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  • Digital Reserve Book Room

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